If you are one of the few and the chosen to live in proximity to a discount movie theater, then you can relate to the simple joy that premiere entertainment at bargain prices brings. The pleasure is multiplied if you have kids, emphasis on the plural form, as an excursion with the family to the movies can add up rather quickly. With gratitude for the reduced rates at our local Cinemark 12 in Springfield, Oregon, my children and I have been able to learn about patience and enjoy viewing several movies on the big screen that we otherwise might have skipped.

In our latest journeys to the theater to indulge our minds in modern art (yes, sarcasm), I have been haunted by the eerie yet inspiring clap-slap beat from the latest Jeep commercial. The tune carries a thundering beat akin to that of Tom Waits “Underground” without the Danny Elfman flavorings which made it such a fitting backdrop for sequences within 2005’s kid friendly Robots.

Through some searching and the conclusive assistance of Marilyn from Road 2 Nowhere, I was pleased to discover that this tune hails from The Man In Black himself. Johnny Cash fires up his signature rasp and simple guitar strums to craft his take on the traditional song “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” The track is one of the many covers of songs new and old for his post-mortem album, American V: A Hundred Highways.

For whatever reason, this track nor the album is available in an mp3 format. The closest in tonal spirit that I could find was Kevin Lovatt’s rendition from his Johnny Cash tribute album, The Man In Black. While no artist can replicate the full bodied sincerity and hollow drawl of Cash’s signature vocals, Mr. Lovatt communicates the depth and gravely delivery of Cash as close as anyone I’ve heard. I am not particularly fond of the off hand tonging woven into the closing bars of Kevin’s version, but all in all it his is still a beautifully somber piece of music.

In observing the video for Cash’s version, it is interesting to hear the turmoil in Johnny’s voice and see a who’s-who from the entertainment industry dramatize the impression left by this representative of a ragamuffin gospel. While his spiritual legacy is far from complete, the shadow of Cash may be one of the few voices of simplicity that resonates above the grinding of the gears from the fecund machines of glitz and glam. Mr. Cash had to confront what was reported to be his favorite verse from the Bible, “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13) For Johnny’s sake, as well as yours and mine, I am thankful that salvation does not depend on personally accumulated good-enough, but the self-sufficiency stripping truth of “If by the Spirit,” as we are not left to earn or fight for eternity by our own merits.

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There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. Proverbs 14:12