I know that this is the time of year when we are all thinking about what we are thankful for. Things like family, home , and jobs. I am thankful for those things as well, but I am also thankful for all of you. Also remember that being thankful should be an everyday event and not just limited to a one day out of the year.

                                                                                                      Rhon Johnson

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Power Statement:

I’m thankful because I choose to be 

Rhon Johnson    (1966 –      )

There was a time in my life when I was so rigid when it came to people. If they used file language  or had a drink or two, a was so judgmental. I was about to become so heavenly minded that I was was no earthly good. I was extremely foolish and ignorant about what it means to truly love someone. I desperately wanted to help people live better lives but I was clueless about how to do so with those that were not as heavenly minded as I appeared to be. The bottom line is this, we just need  to be around people and love them because they are people. Hopefully our  life will help some of them along the way. Condemning people will never work, but loving them will work every time. Love is one the most powerful forces known because it takes no account of ones behavior, it is only concerned about the the person.

Rhon Johnson

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If we isolate those that we perceive to be walking a lower life, then how can we ever help them find their way.

Rhon Johnson (1966 –       )

No matter how hard we try  to avoid them, they always seem to somehow divert our attention away from what we need to be paying attention to. Distractions are constantly being launched at our minds as weapons of mass incompleteness. If we don’t figure out a way to deal with these little demons appropriately, then the end result of most of what we are trying to do will be tagged and stamped INCOMPLETE!!!!! We all have a race to run, and we all want to cross the finish line. I know that there are some things that will happen and we must stop and pay them some attention. I’m not referring to those things. I’m talking about those things that are not going to be profitable after we have given them the time of day. Stop and think for a minute, you know the kind of things I’m talking about. These little demons will come at us from those that live in the same house, and even those that share the same bed. Think about Adam for a minute when he stood there and watched Eve talk things out with the devil, when he knew that it was all wrong. But because he wanted to please her, he allowed that to brake his focus concerning what he was supposed to be doing. So, what I’m I saying here? I’m saying that if we are going to run and finish our course, there are going to be some days when we just have to be unpopular to get the job done. Our focus is our weapon that allows us to fulfill our dreams.

Rhon Johnson

Power Statement:

No focus, no finish, its just that simple.

Rhon Johnson  (1966 –       )

The word is getting out that I have written a book about my child and adolescent years. But “Bound By Nothing ” is not just a book, but also a movement. A movement that is going to help us re-structure our culture. The Bound By Nothing Tour has not even began to scratch the surface concerning the work that it has to accomplish. The tour is headed into our public schools, our prisons, and our churches. You might ask why we are starting there, well the answer is as simple as the one given by the famous bank robber Willie Sutton, when asked why he robbed banks. He replied, ‘Because that’s where the money is.’ You see, the tour is headed into those venues because that’s where we will find our children and people that are still  bound up by the issues of their past and current situations. If we are to reform our culture, we must do so by reaching out to our communities and connecting to people right where they are. The message that we must send is that they are important to us and our society, and that we need and desire them to be an interactive part of who we are and what we are doing. I have been working with people for a long time, and I have come to find that if we are not made to feel important early on, then we are most likely to behave in such a way that does not reflect who we really are. In order for us to feel important, we must have someone that has taken the responsibility to mirror or reflect back to us a clear picture of what we are supposed to be developing into. The problem is that there are so many things trying to reflect back to us. These things all say, ‘ hey, look at me, this is what we are supposed to be.’ So how do we know what picture to model ourselves after. This can be difficult for some, but the truth to the matter is this, in that moment, must of us know what is right but we just don’t know how and or lack  the courage to turn away. This is why it is so important that those of us that have the knowledge, through whatever means, and that have the courage to respond appropriately, get busy doing so. The time is now!  We have to pull together because we need a major cultural reformation in our society so that we as a people can be bound by nothing.

Rhon Johnson

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Power Statement:

Tie my hands and bind me up and I will use my mind to figure out how to get free; but bind my hands and my mind both, then I may never even know that I need to get free.

Rhon Johnson (1966 –      )

It has taking me a long time to really understand this to the point of seeing my behavior as a component that could possibly make or break the life of another. I have always believed this and I have even written about it before. As I visit with you through these words I am realizing how difficult it is to be aware that someone is watching us just about all the time. Someone who looks up to us and wants to know if  we are the real deal or not. These words are not to say that we are to live a perfect life, but quite the contrary. We are to do our best, but when we do make a mistake, we must know that this is the most important opportunity to show that we are the real deal. Trouble will come and it will come because we just do things that cause problems.  When this happens, apologize and do what it take to make it right. Those that are watching don’t need a perfect role model but a real one that knows how to bounce back from their mistakes. This is the most valuable lesson that we can teach those that are watching. So many of our young people say within themselves, ‘it’s no use, I’ll never be able to live up to them, they never make any mistakes.’ By and large, most of our role models are afraid to allow their imperfections to show. This gives those that are watching very little hope, and teaches them to pretend as if they have it all together when in reality they are dying of guilt on the inside over many things that they have not gotten right.One the best things that I have ever done with my sons is share with them my mistakes. These conversation have allowed us to become very close and made it easier for them to come talk to me because now they see that I am just like them.

Rhon Johnson

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Power Quote:

If I am to be like someone, then I must truly know that someone.

Rhon Johnson (1966 –      )

I know that many of us have things that have happened in our lives that just seem to be too ugly to look at. Some of these things may need to be examined to help us understand why we are the way we are, especially if we need to make some changes in certain areas. I know as I wrote my first book “Bound By Nothing – How I Became The Role Model I Never Had”, I had to look back at some very ugly things in my life to be able to tell the story. As I did so, it came to me that I had chose not to look back at many things that I needed to take a look at because they were so painful. But as I did so, I began to recognize that my behavior now had been shaped by many of those events that took place way back then. I was able to see negative and positive behaviors that had manifested through events that I had gone through. The whole process helped me understand me and address issues stemming from those events. Remember also my friends, this life is a process and that all change takes time.

Rhon Johnson

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Power Quote:

Pain can either make us better or bitter.

Tim Hansel 

I have not meet anyone that’s not searching for the real meaning of joy. The dictionary in my opinion falls way short of expressing the meaning of this deeply rooted emotion. Yet, is it really an emotion or something deeper? The dictionary says that it is an emotion of great delight caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. I have seen many search for it in all sorts of things. Money and wealth are usually at the top of the list for some, for others it might be the size of their home or the the cars that they drive, for others it is the finding of the perfect mate and having what would appear to be the perfect family. I have witness some search for it in the letters to be acquired behind their names or the title that they hold on their job or in their community. The list goes on for things that we as people pursue thinking that these things will cause us to arrive at a place that will allow us to say, I’m here, I have complete joy. But for the mass majority, we are chasing things in a way that will not cause us to realize true joy. I myself have chased after many of these things and gotten them to find out that it was just a dirty trick that was being played on me. Today, I am forty-six years of age and I feel like at times I have completely wasted my life chasing things that have no more power to create joy than a car without an engine could produce horse power. Listen to me my friends, I’m not saying that those things that I called off are bad to pursue, it just depends on why we are pursuing them. The bottom line in my opinion is this, anything that we pursue that is not being pursued as a means to help others will turn out to be a rude awakening. The good news is that we can get a clue and begin to use what we have pursued and obtained to bless and encourage others to pursue things in life that will also be blessing to someone else. I may have shared this with you before, but it is very relevant here. I remember having a conversation with the Lord about the need of  people in my immediate circle in a negative kind of way. The answer the Lord responded with was absolutely perfect. He said, “You know Rhon, when I was creating you, I didn’t have you on my mind.”  Absolutely powerful!! Its in our DNA, we deeply feel better longer when we get to a place in life and realize that our lives are to be spent like money to make the lives of others better. Therefore, the question is, when our time comes to move on from this world, will we have made a mark of positive influence on the life of another?

Rhon Johnson

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Power Statement:

Real joy is the witnessing  of a  gesture we have made, that has been received by someone that has a need in their life for that very gesture.

Rhon Johnson (1966 –     )

If it is over my friends, then there is not much that can be done about it. My father walked out of my life when I six years old . The day he walked out, he didn’t even say goodbye or acknowledge the fact that I even existed. When I became a man and was a father myself, one of my uncles came to me and and told me that he saw my father in a nursing home. I knew in my heart that my dad probably didn’t have much time. In my heart, I felt that the Lord was encouraging me to pay him a visit. I told the Lord that I was OK with what my father had done and that there was no need for me to try and hash things out with him before he died. The Lord did not contend with me, and left me alone for about week and then  impressed upon me again to go and see my father. Once again I responded by saying that I was fine, I don’t know that man, therefore I don’t need anything from him. This time the Lord responded, “But he needs something from you.” That’s all the Lord spoke to me, but out of that I knew that my dad was in torment on his death bed over what he had done to me, and that I was the only one that could put his mind at ease. I decided within myself to go and see him to let him know that I was fine and that I was not angry with him. Several days past and I had still not gotten around to seeing my dad. Then one day my wife got a phone call from her best friend saying to her that either her husband, his twin brother, or his father passed away, because there is a picture in the paper of a man with the last name Johnson that looks just like him. I procrastinated  and missed the opportunity to help set my dad free, and then, just like that it was too late. As I looked at his picture in the paper I began to regret the fact that I failed to go see Him. Then right at that moment the Lord spoke to me and said, “He is dead and there is nothing you can do about it now. Let it go and move on with your life.” I thought to myself that it was kind of harsh to do that when just days ago He(The Lord) was so insistent that I go and see my dad. Then it hit me, that God does not want any of us to live our lives with regrets, no matter what it is.

Rhon Johnson

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Power Quote:

Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.

Katherine Mansfield (1888 – 1923) 

There is absolutely no way to get round it. Difficulty will show up in our lives. How we look at difficult situations determines how we look at the thing that are not. We all want things to be easy all the time. But can we really have one without the other. How would we understand and enjoy those events of life that are just so easy if we do not have difficult ones to contrast them against. Seeing this would almost say that we should embrace difficulties because from them will come the ease of life that we sometimes enjoy. 

Rhon Johnson

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Power Quote:

Difficulty and joy are mutual friends.

Tim Hansel

Loneliness is a terrible thing because it slow and tormenting to the mind. It makes us feel as though we are not loved, and it cause us to slip further and further away from others. I grew up as an only child and spent a lot of time alone, and as I came into adulthood I continued to isolate thinking that this is just way I am. It has taken me many years to figure out that it was not healthy to be alone as much as I desired to do so, and I’m not just referring to physically. Some of us have relationships where people are so close to us that they are literally breathing the same air, yet we may be alone or our behavior is causing them to be. Look around my friends, there is someone in your circle that is experiencing loneliness  it may even be you. We all need each others help.

Rhon Johnson

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Scripture Reference:

Genesis 2:18 

And God said, it is not good that the man should be alone; I will make  him a help meet for him.