Johnny Cash.

I have this thing about Johnny Cash, and I will explain why later but let's first start with the story of his. At least the parts I would like to cover. He was born in Arkansas in 1932, to Ray and Carrie Rivers Cash who owned a farm. After high school he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force there he met his future wife Liberto. They settled down and Cash tried to get a record deal for a gospel music, but the record lable didn't want to go that route. So Cash wrote other songs like Hey Porter, and Cry, Cry,Cry. Through the 50's and 60's he continued to produce many great hits. With this though he acquired a drug addiction. Through these years he was singing 300 shows a year and got divorced. By 1967 Cash had fallen for a woman named June Carter who was on his singing tour. With her help he was able to get clean and marry June. Now I have yet to read The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love and Faith of an American Legend, which is an autobiography about Johnny Cash and his trials through life. But I do know a few things. After he married to June he came back to his faith. He majored in Theology and became an ordained minister. All of these things brought deep spiritual thoughts into his later music before he died. And really that is the reason I'm bringing this up. I do not think the Johnny and June movie gave enough emphasis to this. So many people miss who he was. He was a man, who I do not believe really loved his first wife. He loved her yes, but not in the way he loved June. There was something so special about their love. It was really transendental. There happens to be many country singers and listeners that dream of a love like that. And there happens to even be a song about their love.

But really I almost think his music speaks for itself. Now I don't know if your are the kind of person that listens to the lyrics. I mean really listens to them. But for the time being, you will be. I want you to listen to these lyrics and really find what he's saying.

The Man in Black: This song disects why he only wore black. And it's simply for the reason we are sinful. But truly it's more than that. We aren't always kind, giving, loving, helpful. Some days we don't offer any positive actions to the Lord. And so he reflected that in his clothing. I respect that more than you'll ever know. Becuase not only did he see that we needed a change but he was the change that he wanted to see. We all need to get to the point where we are the change.

God's Gonna Cut You Down: I love how this is so blunt you can't even miss the message. We sin we sin and we don't stop. And we act as like it's okay beucase I'm forgiven and saved. But he shows us it's so much more than that. And that we belittle the Lord's strength adn wrath everyday.

Hurt: This is a Nine Inch Nails song, that he re-did right before he died. This song may seem creepy or haunting, but there's a reason. It's reflection of all of his wrongs in his life. I think we sometimes need to realize how sorry we should be. Becuase I know we aren't as sorry as we should be. We have fallen short and more than just that we've missed our mark by too many miles to count.

All of these songs are so powerful, truthful and they make us hurt. And if they don't I think we should re-evaluate ourselves. Johnny sometimes felt so sad by our reality that he wanted to run away to the woods and cry. Yes, he really did say that. And guess what he's right. We really need to look at our wrong doings. Ourselves and as a part of humanity. And we need to work every day to be just a little better. That effort, relization and care will always make a difference.

So why do I care about Johnny? I did say I'd get back to that thought. Well truthfully I'm not cool and loved him on my own. My mother introduced him to me through my grandfather. I investigated Johnny to find out who my grandfather was. My grandfather was like Johnny and he loved everything he was about. When all of us were little he would sings songs to us. One Christmas we made a sing-a-long book to his songs and all 50 to 60 of us sang them together. It wasn't till four or five months ago I found that one of his favorites song we all know by heart was sung by Johnny at one point. Chawin,Chewin,Gum.

His life was a testimony for the Lord and I hope you can take that away from this. But this has taught me something else also. We need to take the time and get to know those around us. I may not have had the time when I was younger to get to know my grandpa as I wish I could. But we need to ask our grandparents about their lives and really get to know them. They may seem old and senile but that's not the point. When you are old you'll have things to tell, so listen to them you never know what you'll find. And maybe you're like hey but I'm close with my grandparents? With that I'll ask how many times have you asked them about their lives when they were younger? If you do then ask more get to know them. They have experience and they got to live through some awesome decades. And not just our grandparents our aunts, unlces, cousins. Everyone has a story, and we need to be the ones to sit there and listen. I think that's what Johnny would love and of course so would the Lord. Maybe if you need osme convincing to ask your grandparents questions or don't know what you should ask. There's a song by the Judds- Grandpa tell me about the good old days. This song is also featured on an older post about 90's country music.