Thoughts on John Daker

I am finding that keeping up with a blog is harder than I thought. So to all my readers (reader), sorry. As White Goodman would say (Dodgeball): I am a skidmark on the underpants of blogging society.

I thought about my last post a few times since writing it - mostly about John Daker. Do watch before proceeding:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8beYR1iBQ

Now, let's break this down. The three characters in this drama: the young girl, the piano player, and John (f-ing) Daker, are obviously all down and dirty Methodists, attending and serving First United Methodist in whatever city they're from. By the looks of it, 2 of our 3 main characters may already be dead. The filmwork - old - probably done in the 70's. The piano player? Already bald and probably close to 65 years old. John Daker - looks to be about 60. This puts them in their mid to late 80's at least. The church room they were in? Obviously old.

And they are, or were, probably both Christians, assuming they adhered to most of what Charles Wesley taught, oh and the bible too.

So then I was thinking about John Daker, and his priceless - no, stunning - rendition of Christ the Lord is Risen today. It truly gets no better than the final word he sings, instead of "hallelujah", it's "aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh". John Daker, it can be assumed, is in heaven, or will be someday.

And what will it be like to run into John Daker in heaven? What questions will I ask him? How does our first conversation go? Hypothetically:

"John? John Daker?"
"Yes?"
"Um. . . .wow, this is weird. . . .you know, I wrote about this very moment when i was alive on my super popular blog."
"I know. Jesus told me. And your blog wasn't popular. jeremyparsons.blogspot.com? That's the most boring name ever."
"It was popular! I had dozens of hits. And Jesus read by blog? What did he think?"
"Laughed his butt off. In fact, he laughs each time he watches that talent show video of me."
"There's high speed internet in heaven?"
"Yes, but that's not the point. Jesus likes the video - especially the rendition of Amore. BUT HOW THE HECK WAS I SUPPOSED TO REMEMBER THE WORDS WHEN BALDY WAS PLAYING SO FAST??"
"I know what you mean....but John, really, I laughed so hard at your video more times than I can count. Thanks. What did you do for a living....."

And a conversation starts.

It's staggering to me that eternity is what we have coming. Eternity in total and complete peace. No bullshit with human relationships, no frustration with things like church, no hard labor, no saying goodbye to loved ones. And eternity to meet each and every follower of Christ, to know them fully, and to love them deeply. Even john (f-ing) daker. Someday, each follower of Christ can hear his story. And that's billions of people to meet. . . .

It makes my heart break for the guys I work with. They're the most hardened, crude, and arrogant guys I've ever worked with. And the more I hear about each of them, the more I see a lot of brokenness in their lives. Divorce, custody battles, monetary struggles, drugs, alcohol, prison - all used as a front to some messed up issues in their lives. They need Jesus - but what do you do with the gospel for them? Maybe I should do like Michael Scott did with Dwight in the office:

"Hug it out, B*tch." I'll let you know how that one goes.

Just my thoughts. . . .