J0nny Ling0

EX10, Please, don't get me wrong! This wasn't really a positive experience. It was a very stupid experience, a story written with the thought in mind of pointing out out how ridiculous it was, and how I, as a dumb 22 year old wanted that "pat on the back" at any cost. It was a time when I had lost my true sense of self worth by NOT believing that God's approval of me was all I needed. And because of this, in that particular situation where the CC had instructed us to do just what literally occurred, I took full advantage of it not just to "make myself a better leader for God's people", but primarily to get the pat on the back, which of course is the opposite of the true motive God seeks from us. "For if I have not Charity, I become as a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol"-Or, a loud mouthed fool in a room full of people... But, for some reason, I really liked that particular Rev. Corps Coordinator. He really was the antithesis of my character, really. I loved the outdoors, I loved to wear my ragged cut off Levi's 501 blues, I was young and single, he was married and very "domesticated" and starchy, whereas I always have loved the "wild and wooly" lifestyle like being at Gunnison and building the log buildings (also why I am in Alaska I guess), but, for some reason, even though we were very different, I really liked him. I think what it was was that I liked his teachings on Christianity in America, and sometimes he was really funny. He cracked me up with his mannerisms, his "dungarees" and Western attire, which just didn't quite seem to "cut it". And sometimes he'd get on a roll in a "self deprecating manner" that was very hilarious. But unfortunately I sought his approval instead of God's, and an example of it was this incident. And the thing that seems so ironic to me was that not long after that, he kicked me out of Gunnison and sent me back to Emporia, because I was "fishing too much". I wrote a pretty funny story about that and how he caught me and G*nny A*t*n fishing when we should have been at breakfast. Yes, I led her astray. It's written in the archives here maybe in that it wasn't too long ago. Maybe Tom Tuttle can find it if you want to read it EX10, for I have no doubt you'd get a kick out of it... Anyway, maybe I didn't present the sarcasm in this one quite well enough, but my intention was to illustrate not only the tragedy of folks seeking approval other than God's, but also the silliness of a "speaking in tongues with interpretation battle" which was asked of us in that particular training situation. And, I guess I just like to write Stow-rees... :)

I remember one time at Camp Gunnison, a certain red haired, smallish, but man of of serious conviction with perfectly pressed "dungarees", red checkered snap shirt, and Dingo cowboy boots, challenged we Way Corps to be bolder with our manifestations during the meetings. He told us that even if five or six people respond to the request; "Would someone please stand, speak in tongues and interpret", that everyone should "fight it out" and keep on manifesting until you "emerged victorious" as the "last man/woman standing" and ended up being the one who spoke for God during that particular round of manifestations. For after all, we should want to be the one who speaks for God in those situations, and, "I want to see more boldness here!" And so, one time, when we were up in the "Hayloft" of the Barn, at a Corps night, I decided that I would in fact "fight it out to the bitter end" if necessary, and do as Rev. TJ suggested. And so, at the appointed time, Rev TJ says after some prayer; "Would somone please stand, speak intongues and interpret!" And immediately about ten people jumped to their feet, and we all commenced to boldly speak in tongues. And as this continued, a few people (the girls first), dropped out and sat down. But I and the other Young Men Of God continued to speak in tongues without a hint of "dropping out of the competition". It was getting pretty uncomfortable for me, but, I was determined to do as the "General commanded", for to me, his suggestion was tantamount to a command. And so, we continued on. By this time there were only about four of us left, as the others had "thrown in the towel" (the cowards!) and sunk sheepishly into their chairs with tightly squeezed eyes. And then, as we kept on keepin on, two more guys sat down, and it was up to me, and my good friend J*m Sch*tm*y*r, to see who would emerge as God's primary spokesman. And yes! I knew that it would be me! For I had already vanquished nine contestants! How could I lose after such victory? I couldn't get into trouble for it, for, It was suggested by none other than The Red Haired Stranger himself! So, I kept on. And, by now, instead of only "peeking" through slits of my eyelids like I had been to see who was attempting to out do me, with a withering stare I looked at Jim just daring him to keep on going while I spoke with even more volume in order to make him falter and drop by the wayside. And as I stared at him, I also saw that every eye in the room was looking from me to Jim to TJ and back, as we battled as Speaker In Tongues Men, and, TJ was radiant! Oh yes! I was in my glory! I knew then that there was no stopping me, and I knew that I would be the victor. Yes! The Victor! And as I gave the eagle eye to my good friend Jim, abruptly, he stopped, and he mouthed the word "s h i t." And promptly he sat down. Aha! I thought, I did it! I have vanquished my brother in a "speaking in tongues and interpretation battle!" And I won! And TJ will finally approve of me now! But then, as I kept on speaking in tongues, it dawned on me that I now had to interpret, and that I'd better come up with a rather loooonnnggg interpretation. And so, I stopped as TJ beamed at me. I closed my eyes and asked God to help me, for suddenly I felt fairly ridiculous, and like an idiot standing there in front of all of my Corps Bros and Sistahs who had watched the spectacle and realized that I was the biggest moron of the bunch. I am poisitive that those who had sat down were secretly counting their blessings. And then came forth the interpretation: "And know that I am the Lord thy God....." And I froze. I drew a blank as I squeezed my eyes tightly. But then, with renewed vigor, I burst through my fear and gave forth a long and fairly coherant interpretation. And when I was done, I sat down, and closed the book. No wait, that was something Jesus did. I wasn't reading a book or scroll. But I did sit down with tightly shut eyes as I head TJ say; "Now that's what I want to see! Boldness to speak for our Hevenny Father!" And after the last prayer that Corps night, he came over slapped me on the back, and told me of what a great job I did. I was beaming, no doubt thinking that God must have made a special place in heaven for me as I broke my hand patting myself on my back! Ahh the glory! And as I stood at the back door of the Hayloft, shaking the hands of those who had been present, a man came to me with tears in his eyes and said; If you want to know about manifestation battles, I'll tell you more than...."...no wait...That part didn't happen... ANYWAY, Unfortunately, that was before I showed up late for breakfast and the "You were fishing, weren't you Jonny?" incident caused me to lose all credibility with him because of my "pursuit of the wily pices...." And so, did anyone else have any "speaking in tongues battles"?

And umm, by the way, Hi Tom, and NiKa, Rondo and Tom Tuttle. Nice to see you and hear from you. And thank you for making me an honorary ninth Corps bruthah Mr. Tuttle! But most of all I have my Hevenny Father to thank... And Tom Tuttle, there is a special installment for you concering Rev TJ over at the About The Way Forum. A new Thread entitled "Speaking In Tongues And Interpretation Wars". For you Tom...

Hi Tom. Hi Fellowshipper.

And so, where do you go? Go here! http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/ I am not sure if I can give you discounts, but, if you want a world class cruise, you will get one from here without the expense of a big, fancy, white cruise ship like Royal Caribean Cruise Line ships or a Celebrity Cruise Lines ship. The Alaska Marine Highway has ships that are clean, very ammenable, and can carry your car or RV at a cost that is way lower than a cruise ship. This also means that if you have your own driving machine, you can take your car, truck, or RV off at any port and "go cruising" in any Alaskan port until you are ready to come back to another ship and keep cruising northward (or southward), depending upon what you want to do. It is a really neat gig, and way cheaper than the cruise ship route. I refer to our ships as "Utilitarian Cruise Ships". Not as fancy as Royal Carribean, but way way nicer than traveling in your basic station wagon or Chevy van. They are very nice... And, the sights are every bit as wonderful as one might encounter on the "Odyssey Of The Sea" or some other fancy cruie ship...

Deuteronomy 22:5 "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God." This may also give you something to go by. But, you'd better get those blue jeans off I guess, and into that skirt or dress for the rest of your life. But personally, I do see a huge difference between a man dressing in drag, and a gal weaing blue jeans and a blouse. In my son's high school, they would have a thing that they'd do during "spirit week" (school spirit), called "Dress Like The Opposite Sex Day". Of course, my kids never did it, but amazingly, my son was branded as a "hater" by his high school teacher because he refused to do it. And so, at least I'd say that going by your "gut feeling" is probably the thing to do. Like some one said "You're the Mom", and, I might add, the situation "is as it is". This guy could be a flaming pervert. OR, it is simply the silly thing of a macho coach looking like a chick to make the kids laugh. But you are the Mom, and the one who is closer to the situation than any of us. Your call...

And you too Belle!

Why thank you bros!

My lovely daughter "Tialani", 21, recently graduated from the Tongue Point School Of Seamanship as an Oiler, AB (Able Bodied Seaman), and Junior Engineer tagged her first job as a United States Merchant Marine. The Company, The Alaska Marine Highway (the same company from whom I retired in 2001), is flying her out of here to meet her first ship, the M/V Taku, which carries cars and passengers up and down the Northwest Coast from Prince Rupert, British Colombia, all the way up to Skagway, Alaska, stopping at all the ports in between. The vessels she will be working on are here: http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/services/d...s/vsslinfo.html If you scroll on down, you can find the Taku, her first dispatch. The Taku is the very first Marine Highway ship I ever rode on. I rode her from Prince Rupert, BC, as a passenger when I graduated from the Way Corps and was sent to Juneau to "start a twig". She's a nice, clean, well run vessel, and a good friend is the Chief Engineer. I worked on her for about three months as a "relief" before I took a permanent job on the Matanuska. Anyhoo, I had to bring it up...

Can one still find "Bit 'O Honey" candy, or Mary Janes" ?

Thanks TOTW, And, I too think that this whole thing has it's humorous side. I couldn't wait to see what Lenno had to say, and when I saw it, I laughed. But as far as the critical judgement about how and when the news about it got out, I don't care to judge him or the Whitehouse critically on it. And yeah, I did see that CNN poll, and took it as a matter of fact. At this point, a surprising 58% say that Cheney handled it the wrong way. Well, I think that it is just too bad that people think that they can sit back as arm chair quarterbacks and criticize someone who made a mistake like that if they have never been in that or a similar situation. And as a matter of fact, the only One I have ever mentioned this to was God. Even my son doesn't even know how dangerous that situation was. I haven't and won't mention it to my wife for I know it will scare her to even think about it, and I guess also, I would be embarrased if she knew. But, I have shared it here, for, I am mostly anonymous. I am not likely to come face to face with those few here who do know me, so I thought I'd share it. Yeah, it was really scary, and like I said, I haven't really taken the boys hunting since. I probably ought to though, and just get over it...

For me, to sit in judgement on Dick Cheney over this issue would be terribly unfair. When we as humans go forth and do things that have an "element of danger to them", we run the risk of making mistakes and screwing up, and possibly having tragic consequences. One time I was hunting ducks, and my ten year old son Riley was with me. He was very excited about it, and overjoyed to "be with Dad" on the River where there were a ton of ducks. At one point, we snuck up on a "raft of ducks" (it was a tidal situation), and it was looking really good. They were Green Winged Teal, very good to eat, and I stood the chance of bagging three in that one incident if my aim was true. And then, as the ducks arose from the water at my "yell" (I could never shoot a sitting duck), My ten year old son Riley, in his excitement stepped dangerously forward of my twelve gage shotgun, and as the blast went off, he said that he had "felt the blast go by his head" and that it had scared him terribly. And me? I was shaken to the very bone. I know the power of a twelve gage shotgun at close range. A twelve gage shotgun at close range can nearly cut a man in half. And to the head, well, I just shudder to think about it. In fact, every time I allow myself to "go there" in my mind to that incident with my precious Riley, I quake with fear, and just thank God that it did not end up as one of those incidents that we read about from time to time where a "Father Accidentally Shoots and Kills Son In Hunting Accident". Oh yes. To this day (and it was six years ago), everytime it crosses my mind, I ask God to help me not think about it. It is just way too much for me to bear even to think about, and I physically shake when it comes to mind as I ask God to relieve me. In fact, I have shunned going hunting with my boys since then, even though Riley does not know how close he came. If I told him about it, I think I would break into tears in the re-telling. We are humans, we phu ck up and sometimes the repercussions are more than negative. I am simply thankful that "the worst" did not happen to my sweet little "blue eyed son", for I would forever be singing; "Where have you gone my darling young one?" And so, for me to judge Mr. Cheney? Well, I just won't do it. He has said that when he saw his friend go down, "he was horrified". Well, that's good enough for me, for, I truly feel his pain. Fortunately, my pain is not as bad as his... And that's all I have to say about that.....

I've been peppered by birdshot by some guys that were shooting clay birds down by the river. But I was in a pick up truck and was driving toward a group of guys throwing clay birds who and shooting in a direction 90 gegrees to the right of where we were driving towards them. And so, when we were showered by bird shot hitting the windshield and front to the truck, we figured we weren't welcome and backed out of there. Those guys didn't know us and I 'spose we were invading their space. Still, didn't have to shoot us though! Geez! But there was no damage to the truck... Now to me, I just can't wait to hear Jay Lenno tonight, or Letterman. This must be like a "gift from God" to those guys that they can use for their "jokefodder". And, I would be willing to bet money that The President has already ribbed the VP over this one. And so, thank God Mr. Whittingham was not seriously wounded or killed, and we can all be thankful of that. And if people really are "calling for Cheney's resignation", well, fuggem... And by the way wasn't there a onetime vice president who shot a political opponent? I believe that would have been Aaron Burr, the vice president at the time, who challenged Alexander Hamilton to a duel and shot him to death. Some say that Hamilton missed Burr on purpose, but Burr made sure his aim was true. And so, was Burr a Republi-con or a Democ-rat?

Q.) Do I still believe in believing? A.) Yes. Why? Because Jesus said it is the thing to do, and I believe in Jesus. I know that I can trust Jesus. :) "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Matt 21:22

"Lord I've got an ego inside". From some song by JN

Thanks Cool Chef, and it was thee reminder of the lobsters that brought me back! Cheers!

Hey! Am I on the "Mark and Avoid List"? I used to be a Way clergy guy. Do any of you "in the know", know whether or not someone like me is on the list? Is there a list somewhere? I "copped out" in 1990. Is there a list of those who are considered as "fallen" anywhere? JL

Watered Garden After this thread, and the unbelieveable hardness of people's hearts, I feel the very same way. I love you because of my (our) lord Jesus Christ, and I look fwd to spending Eterninty with you! You are absolutely wonderful, and don't let the bitter haters here talk you out of it, which, I am sure you won't! Bye bye you all! Jonny Lingo...

I simply do not believe this...But of cousrse then, I must be a ph o ckin g idiot... Have a nice day.

And who are "the people in Belize?" If you know them but don't want to post his/her/or their names, could you PM me?

Yeah, Rascal, sigh. That sums it up for me too... :)

"You forget where you ARE?" Where is where we are? Are you are saying that we are at a site that is reserved ONLY for people who believe that The Way was/is evil from beginning to end and want only to speak negatively about it?. This must mean then, that I or anyone who has anything good to say about The Way and any (but maybe not all) of our time spent there, is WRONG and UNSYMPATHETIC? I didn't think that this was this kind of place. Pawtucket: Is this the kind of place the Grease Spot Cafe is?

Yeah Toppie, That's one for the books. Or at least for the "threads". Hah!

I too agree that there must be more to this story. Too much has been left out.

Oh Tom Tuttle. We thoroughly thrashed Richard T. I "rode" his back, shoulders, and head all the way to the bottom of the muck filled pond while pushing his head in the muck. That is why he was so pi$ $ed. Later after I was "ordinated" and on somewhat "level ground", I went up to him and asked him about it. I asked him if his lightning like retaliation was because of us disrespecting him as a clergyman, or, was it just a "basic payback" from one guy to two others? And he smiled and so; No, I was just royally pi$ $ed off! You guys nailed me so bad I had to do something!" And so, I respected that. And you know, I liked Richard T. He made laugh a whole lot, and I really didn't resent his tough guy thing. I loved his teaching also. I went into the Corps because I wanted discipline, and the challenges dished out to me under his leadership were what I wanted. Call it weird, but, I really loved my first year in rez. Ya know, now that I think of it, there was an incident my first year when a bunch of us were playing touch football with LCM. At one point a guy on my team who had played college football blocked Craig and knocked him flat on his a $$. And after our play against Craig's team was successful, and the guy who knocked craig down did some fist pumping and general celebration for having pulled off a good play, Craig "spiritualized" it and reamed that guy out saying that he was disrespectful to God and His Word, and that "You "Joe" couldn't even carry my jock strap, and don't deserve to breathe the air I breath!". And to that guy's credit, later on he told me that it was just plain bull s h it for Craig to have done that. "Thought he'd played college ball" he muttered. And maybe that's why I wondered if we'd "dissed" Richard T "spiritually".