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Friday, January 14, 2011

Bon Jovi had a point



Thinking about anything other than his frizzy hair is hard to do when remembering 1980s Jon Bon Jovi. I can't help but wonder if the man had ever considered the use of a diffuser. Or perhaps testing out a few other hair products. A mouse, instead of a gel, perhaps. Or maybe just the use of shampoo.
Any of these things might keep me from being so distracted by his rakish locks that I can't concentrate on the actual song.

Then again, maybe that was his ingenious plan all along. He was actually trying to inspire his fans to seek a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. Subliminal like. Much like a magician's slight of hand. Look at the hair, don't think about what you're headbanging to.

Without realizing it, the words are shoved into your brain and rooted there. Much, again, like Bon Jovi's mane.

Then again, maybe he was just trying to sell a tune so he could score free women and the free addiction of his choice. At this point, it could really go both ways.

Whether he meant to or not, the Jov-master had a point. We really are living on a prayer. And if not, we should. In fact, if not, that could literally explain the majority of problems of our age. Not living on prayer.

Lately, I've been thinking about this whole prayer thing a lot. This could be an actual gold mine. Pray? Leave my problem/fear/worry/concern with God? Expect an answer? Expect Him to do what I can't? And all I have to do is accept His decision?

I don't know. There's got to be a catch. Is there a 30-day prayer-back guarantee?

Trusting in God has become so passe'. Instead, we flick a bic, link arm and arm, and sing, "We are the world," while feeling this overwhelming hippy'fied nuance that Jesus is love and love is Jesus and Jesus wants me to be happy and being a @$#% to anyone and everyone makes me happy. Sweet, sweet self-gratifying love.

Ah, that's the good stuff right there. Take a hit off that, baby.

Besides, we're too capable to ask anything from God, or even believe in His existence. We're powerful. Independent. We make our own destiny. We control our own lives. We are the ones we've been waiting for.

That's why we need government assistance to pay our mortgage, buy food, subsidize our business, and burp us when necessary.

Still. We don't need God. Only pathetic weaklings seek a higher power. All we need is Oprah and the federal government.

We're contradictions of incompetence: wanting what we don't need, needing what we can't get, and getting what we shouldn't have. But it's all good. We're more evolved than previous generations. We're educated and smart.

Then we create irrational fears about cow flatulence.
(That's an entirely different post. But for future reference, here's a scripture to think about when freaking out over cold winters and hot summers:

As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease. Genesis 8:22, NIV)

Standing on faith isn't easy. I haven't figured it out yet. It appears to be one of those things that happens less when you talk about it and more when you do it. And the doing is so much harder.

But it appears to be the key. Not a key. THE key. The key to a more peaceful existence. The key to contentment, less stress, more emotional stability and maybe even less physical pain or fruitless exertion.

Praying. Yeah, praying. I wonder if He'll thrown in a free set of Ginsu knives.

3 comments:

Jason Michael Shuttlesworth said...

True story: Three years ago I prayed on the way to work for God to send angels to shut the mouth of an annoying co-worker...just like Daniel in the lions den. During the entire 8-hour-shift he never spoke, but kept making these mmmming and hmmming sounds.

Things like this tell me God likes me.

Tara Lynn Thompson said...

Yep. That. And the whole dying-for-you thing. Either or.

kristin said...

Love it.