Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire!

By: Bill the Butcher

If I’m going to Hell, I’m going there playing the piano!

Top that, killer!

Jesus takes a pretty good hit from the more secular among us. But, it was never easy. Born in poverty, working under the weight of an oppressed nation, being a member of a minority, and His foster dad died when he was very young. He never wrote a grocery list, but he gathered followers all over the country, and gave sermons to huge crowds without a sound system. He even provided snacks for those who showed up. All that, and he got busted during an after dinner party with his production crew. In the words of Ol’ Jerry Lee, “Top that, killer!”

Walked out of His grave like he had good sense!

His message was simple. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Woven into His many parables were formulas for doing just that. If you look at these stories you’ll find some things about God, the hearafter, and what you might expect after you get there. Sure, he preached hell fire, but his listeners were living hell fire under the yoke of the Romans, and they understood all too well the ultimate cost of free speech. So Jesus spoke in riddles. And those who had ears did hear. A lot of what Jesus talked about was how to get through the day. Good Samaritans, working for the boss, of not throwing a rock at the wayward woman crouching in the village square that you paid the night before. And his detractors for over two thousand years have tried to prove that this carpenter from the ghetto didn’t just get up and walk out of His grave like he had good sense!

The wild side of life had many highways and byways leading into it

The wild side of life had many highways and byways leading into it, but only one way leading out, and that way is Jesus! You can read, study, and understand all you want from other authors, philosophers, or your brother in law, but in the end there is a final chapter. There is a last breath, and the one thing for certain is the day after that will be different for you.

Very few could have been more blessed with worldly goods than Jerry Lee Lewis. He had a God given talent that defied explanation, and he developed that talent with the best of his ability. And he entertained us. If you haven’t heard a Jerry Lee tune that made you tap your feet you just need to go up on top of some hill and become a guru because you are already brain dead!

You gotta love ‘em. They’re family!

But, Jerry Lee was human. Oh my GOD was he human. I would venture that he was one of, if not the most humanest of humans that ever crawled out of the swamps of Louisiana, and I know all about swamps because I crawled out of one too. About the only thing he never did was marry a man, but he married or consorted with just about everything else up to and including those he picked up at a family reunion. Hey! What y’all looking at. You gotta love ‘em. They’re family!

And a few misses along the way

He rose and fell, and rose again. He made hits and misses, and not a few misses along the way. He cursed his base nature, but wanna know what? He never cursed Jesus. He never denied Christ. Now, he denied heaven because he believed he’d never get there, but his knee did bend before The King of Kings.

And you may deny, lie, or cry, but you will surely die!

All things must pass. One thing that is sure is that if you make it into your twilight years you will need a flashlight to see. And you may deny, lie, or cry, but you will surely die, and your sins will find you out. It’s up to you what they find on that day.

He’s gonna want ‘em back!

Jerry Lee Knew. And he never doubted. He accepted his base nature, but people forgot about someone that Jerry Lee knew. And had known all his life. As he sang Jesus Hold My Hand with his family member, Jimmy Swaggart, with his right hand hanging limp by his side, Jerry Lee seemed to have leaped over the Great Balls of Fire, and was about to arrive where he’d been all along, to the amazement of atheists and theologians everywhere. And in heaven there Was a Whole Lotta Shaking going on when Jerry Lee arrived. Are you amazed? Don’t be. Love one another, as you love yourself. Treasure you bothers and sisters, and appreciate them. God gave us all these people in all shapes, sizes, and colors, yes, and even political affiliations, because He’s gonna want ‘em back!

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