JOHNNY CASH

 Johnny Cash (Presented by Fathom Events)

What does he have to do with Christmas?

Nothing really except that to celebrate Christmas you have to believe in miracles, and he experienced one.

He believed.

I received two free tickets to a Fathom concert which was a documentary about Johnny Cash. I alwaysloved Johnny Cash, but I soon came to realize that I didn't really know the real Johnny Cash at all.

He was born in Arkansas, and they were dirt poor - his family had a cotton farm and the whole family farmed it every single day - the mother included.  They started early in the morning and worked until late at night.  No bathroom inside - no running water.  One thing they did have was a piano - and they sang gospel songs every night.  Johnny had a Christian upbringing.  

One thing hardest thing for Johnny to deal with all his life was his father - the show stated that his father never told him that he loved him - I think that bothered Johnny and added to his addictions later on in life. 

The one steady in his life was that he always wanted to sing.  

The second hardest thing that hurt Johnny was the accidental death of his teenage brother Jack.  Jack wanted to be a preacher and he was Johnny's best friend.

His first 35 years he spent building his career.  He served in the air force and when he was there - he found his first true love, Vivian.  

The rode to fame was rough - he spent endless times touring and never being home - not with his wife or children.

He started taking drugs to sleep and drugs to wake up.  Multiple pills - multiple times a day - drowning them down with alcohol. 

He was a rebel and spent time in prison and singing to prisoners at Folsom.  He was becoming the Man in Black.

From Wikipedia - "Cash said he wore all black on behalf of the poor and hungry, the "prisoner who has long paid for his crime", and those who have been betrayed by age or drugs. He added, "With the Vietnam War as painful in my mind as it was in most other Americans, I wore it 'in mourning' for the lives that could have been' ... Apart from the Vietnam War being over, I don't see much reason to change my position ... The old are still neglected, the poor are still poor, the young are still dying before their time, and we're not making many moves to make things right. There's still plenty of darkness to carry off."

These struggles drove Cash to a place of hopelessness and desperation.  He reached a breaking point in the late 1960's when his addictions were at their worst.

The story goes where Johnny decided to go inside a dark cave in Tennessee.  The purpose was to consider ending his life.  Apparently, he had a come to Jesus meeting that changed his life forever! A miracle.  

His deep Christian faith had just begun.  His next 35 years were about redemption.

He started bringing his faith more out in the open.  He did end up divorcing his first wife and married the famous June Carter - who was also married at that time.   

His faith in Jesus was the thing that helped his addiction.  He would say "I have fallen and gotten back up.  Please help me and I will help you."

He wrote one Christian book and made one movie called the Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus.  He became friends with BILLY GRAHAM. He actually attended 30 crusades with Billy Graham.   

One of his last songs he recorded was HURT originally was sung by Nine Inch Nails. 

"Why did Johnny Cash sing the song Hurt?

The original artist, Trent Reznor, believed the song’s story was about a young person spiraling into either self-harm or drug addiction. The Johnny Cash version provided the song a new light with an interpretation focused on an older man who knew his life was coming to an end.

Did Johnny Cash die after singing Hurt?

When the video was filmed in February 2003, Cash was 71 years old and had serious health problems. His frailty is clearly evident in the video. He died seven months later, on September 12; his wife, June Carter Cash, who is shown gazing at her husband in two sequences of the video, had died on May 15 of the same year."

I just thought some of you might be as interested in this as I was - I love learning about people.  It makes me feel good to know that miracles exist.

Hope you enjoyed this.