Category: Johnny’s Cafe
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In Marti Fischer’s shoes
We’ve discovered that empathy is walking a mile in someone else’s shoes — to see the world as they see it. And if this person is important to you, then the things they see will be important to you as well. So in this final look at empathy, let’s climb into Marti Fischer’s shoes…
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Coming together versus pulling apart
It was humanly impossible to hear this scream and not feel pain. This was not play-acting. There was something wrong, and someone was in trouble.
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Moved with compassion
When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. (Matthew 14:14) Empathy is not just a feeling; it’s a feeling that compels us to do something.
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Day Two: In someone else’s shoes
Empathy requires that we step outside ourselves. Empathy requires a level of selflessness that may be a hard reach for some. Once again, Jesus would be our example, who gave up His right to be God in order to be a human being. Jesus was in our shoes the whole time because He shed His…
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Empathy: Day One
Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. I intend to spend this week learning about and writing about empathy. It is my goal to not only understand it by Friday, but to have it. That’s a tall order for a narcissist like me.
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We may need to break some glass.
I have always been fascinated by the famous Edward Hopper 1940s painting I used in yesterday’s Catch of a stark corner cafe in the middle of the city in the pre-dawn hours with three guests seated at the counter and a server working the night shift. There is nothing on the walls, hardly anything on…
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Finding Jesus down at Johnny’s
Now if Jesus were here I think we’d find Him today Down at Johnny’s Cafe. This line worked well as the punchline of the song, but it’s a little misleading. It implies that Jesus isn’t here today. Well, true, Jesus isn’t here physically — just as the song represents — but there are many other…
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When the truth is hard to come by
And the stories they tell, you can’t tell If they’re true or they’re fable. from “Johnny’s Cafe” by John Fischer In an era of fake news, truth is becoming more and more of a rare commodity. Politicians are especially susceptible to fable-telling. We…
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Don’t look now, but your hope is showing.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15 This verse is important as much for what it doesn’t say as for what it does say. It bases the communication of our message…
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The frequently overlooked significance of birthdays
First of all, a great big THANK YOU to all of you who have flooded Marti with well wishes and birthday greetings. If she hasn’t gotten to yours yet, it’s simply because she is overwhelmed. She told me it was a special day yesterday and you all played an important role in making it…
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Today’s the day
Today is a day like no other. It’s a turnaround day — a one-of-a-kind day, a picture day, a stop-the-presses day, a balloon day, a strike-up-the-band day. It’s a make-her-feel-like-a-million-bucks day. It’s Marti Fischer’s birthday, for heaven’s sake! Born on September 27 (I will not disclose the year lest it dispel the myth that she…
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Dig rock ’n’ roll or dig your own grave
There’s one more insight to be gained from the concert Marti and I attended last weekend (see Monday’s Catch: “I Dig Rock ’n’ Roll Music”). I had mentioned how it was a tour through the music from 1962 – 1975 performed to an audience of boomers by a band of millennial musicians. It certainly confirmed…
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Busy bee
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! Proverbs 6:6 If the Bible tells me to study an ant in order to learn something about being wise, I’m sure I can learn pretty much the same thing from a bee. It says something about God’s created order — the natural world…
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I Dig Rock ’n’ Roll Music
z Saturday night Marti and I attended a theater/concert event at our local playhouse entitled I Dig Rock ’n’ Roll Music: A Celebration of Folk-rock Then and Now. It was basically a musical guided tour through the years 1962 – 1975 — a time that embodied an incredible pop music explosion of creativity and social…
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What Chandler and Einstein have in common
Chandler taught me a lesson the other night. Now, if I could just learn it. The lesson is quite simple: I need to do a little less thinking about things and a lot more doing. And I need to trust the gifts of those around me and not have to do everything my way.
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Back to RJ’s Cafe
So I’m back at RJ’s Cafe (my Johnny’s). Got here in time for my favorite booth. Only three tables are taken right now. There’s a family with two young kids starting a birthday off with breakfast at RJ’s. A heavy-set bearded man wearing a knit beanie at the table next to me goes over there…
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Don’t judge; join
Don’t go to Johnny’s Cafe as a missionary to the lost; go as the lost. If the heart of God is with the lost, where does that leave those who aren’t lost? What about them? What about those 99 other sheep, and the nine coins rattling around in that woman’s purse, and the elder son?…
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The focus of the Father
Now if Jesus were here I think we’d find Him today Down at Johnny’s Cafe. This, of course, is the punchline of the song, and the whole point of it. Get yourself down to Johnny’s Cafe because that’s where the Lord is. We were reminded yesterday that the heart of God is where the lost…
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Here’s to the notorious sinners
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! Luke 15:1-7 What a ragtag, motley, mixed-up slice of humanity Jesus dragged around with him! First, you have the disciples, who…
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Coming out of cultural isolation
If you’ve got nothin’ to say to folks at Johnny’s Cafe You’ve got nothin’ to say at all Having nothing to say to the folks down at Johnny’s Cafe has more to do with whether we want to say something versus having anything to say at all. We all have plenty to say at Johnny’s;…