Creating Space

This is my effort to keep creativity in my daily life. It is suprtisingly hard - even for someone who loves it so much. Fear of creating something crappy then feeling like time was wasted and the invading busyness of life are perhaps the biggest enemies of creation. This is my move against them.

My wife and I sectioned off an area of our tiny living room and designated it "creating space". I repurposed my son's crib to be a table that I could stand up and draw at. Celeste also has a table with her sewing machine, fabrics and papers easily accessable.

Asher in bed sleeping (he will be a part of this soon), music on , dancing, and drawing. Perfect!
I very much enjoyed taking out my pencil crayons, pens, inks, paints, pastels, markers, and crayons - lining them up neatly in front on me on the table, enjoying each color, the potential it holds, and planning how to best use each medium. They have been packed away in my desk for too long. Whenever I have had the urge to create - it was always too much work to create a clean space, unpack everything and begin. Inconveniece outweighed trying something new. That cannot be an excuse anymore.

Here is what I drew the first night. I honestly stood there with no idea what to start with but I had to put a crack in the wall with something. I don't know why this came out. My thought process started with the letter A - which went to alligator- which turned into dragon. Whatever, something was there and I colored it with marker (I havn't used markers in years).

Creator, created, create

If I can be permitted to pull out a characteristic of God that consistently moves me and leaves me in awe – it’s God the Creator. I have been thinking a lot about creativity lately – His creativity and my own reflection of it. These thought have surfaced after finishing a year of academic school (away from my animation desk), through reading “Untitled” by Blaine Hogan, anticipating and working on the promotion of “Inciting Incidents”, and excitement about attending the STORY conference this fall with Moody Publishers. A lot of prompters in my life right now pushing me in this direction. Ultimately my questions is “Where does creativity fit in with God, in my worship of Him?”

It should – based on who God is. It needs to – After all the Bible begins with Him creating and even just this morning, look at the beautiful sky. God has given us 2 main ways to know Him. At school it’s called special revelation and general revelation. The Bible and creation.

I have struggled a bit at Moody (Year1) with this – and this struggle mirrors a struggle with Christianity as a whole. Too much focus on only one way of knowing God. We have pared down the ways in which we can know, worship and understand God to very few, and placed a disproportionately large emphasis and expectation from these few.

It comes down to Bible reading and teaching. That’s about it. Very structured and very limited. This stuff is great – I love it actually, but it is not the extent of either our relationship or the ways in which we can know God. For example, we have contained our spirituality so much that if we miss our Bible reading on a given day, we feel like we didn’t make time for God that day. Of course, when our time for knowing and being in relationship with God is restricted to the minutes we have His Word opened in front of us we will feel lacking if we miss it. We beat ourselves up because this small time contains a majority portion of our learning relationship with God. Yet we may go for a long walk by the ocean, or read a children’s story book to our kids or take some photographs of nature and not count any of these as valid God relationship moments. It’s the same with church. Our learning moments with God (our Christianity) revolve completely around what we do on Sunday morning – and the large majority of that is structured teaching.

At school we had Naima Lett come in and do a one woman drama/dance for one of our chapels. She fluidly worked her way through the women of the Old Testament; from Eve to Mary covering each story with personal feeling and emotion that I have never received through structured teaching or even Bible reading. But many students discounted this experience as take or leave it. It wasn’t preaching so it wasn’t really valid. They wanted personality, personal experience, creative expression to be pushed off to the side so they could worship our infinitely creative God more accurately through a well preached 3 point sermon.

Hmmmm. This doesn’t feel right. I want to experience God through life, not just be taught and know about him from class. I want my spiritual life to be my life.

Experience – That’s the breaking point, the word that has been divorced from church for so long. So many Christians are timid to link it to Christianity and the pursuit of God. I worked in a creative environment where creativity was expected for so long that now that I am outside of it, I see how much it is lacking in other places – especially Christianity – and how much I need it to be a part of my life. I had no idea.

It’s humorous that it took attending a Bible school to make me want creativity more than ever and to show me how vital it is to a healthy spiritual life. I haven’t figured out yet how it all fits in, but I am determined to try. I don’t want life to be disconnected – especially God (Christianity) and the rest of my life.

Now I am not saying everyone need to be an artist – an actor – a musician – (not that it wouldn’t hurt to give some of these a try as worship) but please allow it to be part of your experience in knowing God. Realize that He can be known and wants to be known outside the churches walls. And for that matter inside the church walls in more ways than we are doing. Invest in dramas, play with lights, music, color, video, spoken word, poetry, dance. I am excited just dreaming up the ways we could reflect God’s own creative nature in our worship of Him.

When a children’s book, (yes, I am suggesting you buy and read this book. I literally was choked up reading the first chapter. What a gift to be able to so beautifully picture and communicate God’s “Secret Rescue Plan” and His “Forever Happiness’” in a way children and adults can get it) an illustration, or a one woman drama can communicate more to me about God and what the Bible says than an entire class on Theology – I know we are dropping something really important if it is not a part of our worship.

Hard stuff? Run!!!

Another post of questioning (these may define me more than posts of answering). Sometimes, growing up, we have been taught – by Christians, in churches (examples from all those around and above us) – to act or respond a certain way, and as you read the Bible you realize that… well that’s not exactly how we are supposed to act. Sometimes, the right way to act is even acknowledged in words and in sermons; just not by lifestyles and actual responses. 

One of these areas is in suffering; hard times, the gross stuff that comes into our lives. 

We have all heard of the same experiences. Place your own here: sickness, mistreatment at school, not treated fairly at the workplace… whatever it is – our response is usually the same. Pray for healing, for a new job, for circumstances to change – all of these responses implying the same thing; our life is not supposed to be like this. We deserve a measure of happiness and comfort so take control. If you have the power, remove yourself from the trial – God would want that. If you don’t have the power, pray and ask God to take you out of it. Back to happiness. 

Is this how we are supposed to pray? Does God even answer when we pray this way?  Let’s look at 2 different situations. In sickness and at work.

In Sickness 

I remember the prayer chain at our church. Someone is sick, really sick and so a chain of phone calls instantly materializes. I remember one of my parents answering the phone- their face growing serious absorbing the news and accepting their role. They now had a mission. They had one or two calls they would rapidly make- passing on the news – before we as a family would pray about it. Ok, up till now – fantastic! Christians should view themselves as brothers and sisters; as family. To feel concern and empathy with those who are struggling is commanded. 

But so often I simply prayed for recovery, we all did. Please make insert name here better. Make the sickness go away.  

Did the prayer get answered? Sometimes. Never immediately – more like normal human recovery. But often not, especially the really serious ones. They still usually took the natural course that disease or severe injury took. Death. 

This reveals how we often view sickness; an accident!

Do we think that God messed up? That a health issue came into our lives unnoticed by Him?  It slipped by God unnoticed and so when we pray we bring it to His attention. He will then heal us, restoring the happy life we know He intends for us. I’m not doubting that God can heal, but where in the Bible does it tell us to pray in such a way – especially in light of so many verses that say our trials are purposed by God to perfect us.

It seems we need a subtle shift in our prayers:

We need to go from praying: God – take this away, show Your control and make things happy for me again

 – to –

Teach me what You want through this trial. Thank-you for it. I know you are using for my good. (It almost sounds ridiculous as I write it that I could ever suggest this to someone who is going through a serious trial.) What else can these verses and the many other in scripture that address trials mean?

James 1:2-4 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (NLT)

James 5:11 We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. (NLT)

What if God was shown to be powerful – not by healing us of our sickness – but rather by living in us and allowing us to face even the worst of trials with a peace and confidence that those without Christ cannot understand.  It doesn’t make sense to me to pray for healing – and then sit by and watch it get worse – even to death.  Did God not hear – did He again just not have it in His plan to heal?

Maybe we prayed wrong and so He didn’t answer in the way we expected. If, however, we pray for Spiritual strength to make it through a trial and knowledge of God’s good purposes through our trial – I think we will see it answered. I hear stories of great sicknesses and I rarely hear it end – “Wow God miraculously healed”. Instead it was: “Wow I can’t believe how God used them though the trial, I have never seen someone handle it like that before”.  Most (all ?) healings in the Bible were not to believers of Jesus. They were a show of power to an unbeliever. Power over sickness = power to forgive sins.

At Work

My second example is a work situation. Or to put it more generally a situation in life where we don’t feel like we are getting what we “deserve”. By far, and maybe exclusively, when this sort of situation is encountered by Christians, I hear encouragement to quit or remove ourselves from the situation. With so many options in the world today, why would we stay in one where we don’t get what we “deserve”. Yet the same principles apply. Trials, hard times, awkward situations, do not accidentally come into our lives. They are intentionally placed by God. The expectation is that we stay under them, trusting God not only for the strength to get through it, but also for ultimate justice in the end; in His timing. We have developed such a high standard of what we “deserve” and what “fits” into our comfortable life that thoughts that our purpose is to show Christ’s strength during extended hard times is unimaginable. To simply leave a trial because we can is not only to miss what God is trying to teach, but it is also to miss what God is trying to show others as you endure a trial as a Christian. For some reason, it is not through the pleasant times that God has chosen to display Himself in us most strongly. I wish it was.

Anyways, as with every question there are many lines and blurry areas. However, big picture, I think I have gotten this wrong most of my life. I am trying to understand what the Bible says, so that I can pray in a way that makes God happy, and live even through the hard times in a way that shows Him off best!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

Here is another "homemade card" post. I wanted to make a Mother's Day card this year since this is my wife very first Mother's Day (yay!). I admit it looked a little bit better in my head. I tried a few different versions of this same idea but the one with watercolor worked the best. We are a little bit of a coffee obsessed family so this was for sure the idea that I was going for! Man, I wish I could paint.

Here is a poster I made for New Life Community Church. After the service, we are always encouraged to stick around and have coffee and a snack and spend time with the others that attend. This is just to direct them where to go!

I had an interesting conversation in class about a month ago with a guy and I have not been able to rid it from my head because I think it reveals such a flaw in the way we think and view others.

This guy sits down beside me in class and for some reason or another we get on the topic of being in school again with so many young people around us. (We are both on the older end of the student population... we're talking a 10-15 year gap between most of the students). He was expressing how he has trouble sometimes taking the kids in the class seriously because they sometimes seem like they don't want to be there. He thought that many of the students were lacking in spiritual maturity and basically just wasting their time in Bible college on foolishness. To back up his claims, he gave me an example. A few days ago in chapel a kid had sat down beside him and put his feet up on the railing for the duration of chapel. He was even barefooted. From this, the guy I was talking to read disrespect, a careless attitude, and a lack of desire to be in chapel from the kids posture and judged the kid's spiritual state as weak becasue of his actions.

However, soon after this story had the t been told, the teacher called the class to order and we all took out our notebooks and began to take down what the teacher was saying. To my suprise, I noticed that this guy spent the next 10 minutes of class texting on his phone - which, for me, is probably one of the most disrespectful things that you can do in class. Since then, I have had many classes with this guy, and I can't help but notice that he does this every class, and on top of this, he is often late - again, for me personally, another sign of disrespect. So how could this guy judge a student for putting his feet up in chapel when he himself texted away in class like what the teacher had to say was unimportant.

He had no idea that his own actions could be read as just as spiritually vacant as the kid's he was judging.

We all have a set standard in our mind of what makes someone respectful or spiritual and it is so easy to judge those that don't fall within those parameters as failing. Yet we don't realise that we may be falling just as short according to someone elses parameters.

This is a large reason why Jesus called us not to judge. Our judging is often very flawed and biased and we are unable to objectively see ourselves. On top of this, we are simply not able to see the heart. Once we realise that we are not the standard of perfection, and that others could most likely find things in us that are worthy of being judged I think we will be less quick to judge.

There was an insightful devotion my wife read to me a few days ago that I think speaks to this issue. It is from "My Uttmost For His Highest" and it says:

"If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way of the Spirit of God
works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people
are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn in into comments
of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf."

As you percieve faults or weaknesses in others, instead of judging their hearts so quickly:

Wait.

Realize that there is a hundred percent chance that you also display faults - many that you are completely unaware of.

Pray for that person, not in a judgemental prayer, but in a way that shows your love and care for them and a realization before God of your own incompleteness.

So this is the struggle I am trying to apply in my own life. Yes... when I saw this guy texting, especially in the context of his judging, I immediately passed a judgement of his own spiritual awareness. I cannot do this. Regardless of the wall I have about texting in class I will not it let me dictate anothers spiritual condition. Instead of thoughts of judgement, if I really think they need "spiritual fixing" I will pray for them.

Not judgementally, but in love.

Johnny Hart B.C. Comics

Since I have been so busy with school for the last few weeks to do much posting of my own, I thought I would share someone else's comics with you instead. I saw one of these BC comics by Johnny Hart making its rounds on facebook so I looked for more. I had no idea the kind of Bible content he included in his comics. I have been trying to do this exact thing with some of my own comics lately, but this guy is really skilled at it. I actually remember reading this comic in the papers as a kid but growing up in a Christian home either the content was far to normal and it didn't stand out - or it just went over my head.... yep.... probably just went over my head. Anyways I am loving these and making a mental note to take a closer look at this strip!Enjoy!

It's vacation... questions aside, and drawing tablet in hand.

I have been visiting my family for the last 2 weeks on the east coast of Canada. It is the first time that both my wife's and my parents have met Asher, so needless to say, he is being spoiled with attention. It has been implied that it is pretty much an unpardonable sin to keep grandchildren away from their grandparents for more that a month at a time. You've gotta love moms who become grandmothers!

As Asher has been passed around from person to person at our church and various family events Let me share with you my top five words that have been used to describe him (they are all synonyms):

-Full
-Heavy
-Chunky
-Bulging
-Woah

What's exciting however, were the baby kittens that had just been born at my wife's parents house. I love kittens - they rank near the top of "best things in the world". As soon as I heard that there were 8 kittens living in their barn I knew that my son must hold his first kitten. I was so excited that I could introduce little Asher to these small creatures that define "awesome" so completely. While he did little more than impose a death grip on their fur and repeatedly mash their faces, I am pretty sure that he was convinced of their awesomeness. It was great!
Here are some convincing facts on why kittens are great!

1.) They have three eyelids, like birds.
2.) If you were to illuminate their urine in the dark with a black light, it would glow
3.) They actually drink by scooping water up backwards with their tongue.

I know...amazing, and they are so fluffy.

A QUESTION OF SHARING

Please bear with me as I share a few things - some questions. I will offer no real answers, because I am in no way qualified to do so and I am only at the questioning stage, but these are some things that I am wrestling with. I have been in college for a while now and I think for the most part, as we begin, they want to just encourage us to read the Bible and think. How does it apply, what does it mean to my everyday life, my everyday decisions? After all, Christians believe that the Bible is not simply a truth to be read, acknowledged and then shelfed. It is not simply Israel's history book and the start of the church. It should have implications in daily life, now, in this century, however distanced it is. Its principles should be guiding my life more than the principles in the culture around me. Most Christians would agree with me at this stage. But, for the most part, it is a completely new discovery for me to determine how the Bible affects my daily life. The more I read and the more I study, the more I realize how deeply it should affect my daily life - far deeper than it does, or than I ever thought it should.

Of course, as I read, I have questions. Who doesn't? I hope you will bear with me as I voice some of them. Writing things out is part of my learning process :) I have a few, but this is the first.

As I finished reading through Hebrews, I was struck by the applications that the book encourages, but this one verse stood out.

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such
sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Heb 13:16)

There is not much hidden here. It is a pretty straight forward command.

Share your toys. Is this not an almost universal lesson that we teach kids? If Tom has 2 Cars toys, and Sam has none, then Tom should share one with Sam. It is pretty easy to enforce with kids because it is so simple. Two toys, one for each - few complications besides simple math. But if the lesson is going to mean anything to the kid, or if we deserve any authority to enforce such a lesson, is it not fair to see if we are applying the same principles to our own life? I mean, if Tom grows up and sees that his parents don't actually believe that sharing is right the lesson was meaningless. (This gets into my thoughts of why Millennials are leaving the church in such high numbers),

So how do we share? Check out the picture below.

Let the cake be what God has blessed us with in life. All of it. Then look at the verse in Hebrews. (Which are by no means the only verse that talk in this way.) "Share"... it's simple right? We know the expectations we have of this word when teaching kids. Does it look like this?

(Yes the piece he shared is exactly 10%....thats coming in another post) This is not really sharing, yet this is what we do, I have done, I still do. I am battling how this applies to me (If you couldn't tell). The fact is I can't even look at my own culture, and city and justify this as sharing. In my own church there are those that have needs. If I step out onto the city block there are some who have nothing. This doesn't even begin to factor in a global perspective of Christians in complete poverty all around the world while we keep our cake. The end of the verse in Hebrews says sharing and doing good are sacrifices pleasing to God. Yes sacrifices. It will not necessarily benefit us to go with less so others can have... but it is pleasing to God. Becuase it is uncomfortable to us or leaves us with very little is not a valid excuse. If we suffer a bit because of our giving - that falls under the concept of sacrifice.

1 John 3:17 is a common go to verse but it says

"If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his
heart against him, how does God's love abide in Him? Little children, let us not
love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

Does not hearing about devestation to fellow believers in a different country count as us "seeing them"? To choose comforts here that are extra and indulgent, more shoes, (I speak from guilt on that one) expensive coffees, the newest technology... is that not "closing our heart against them"

So my question is... Why is it that we are comfortable being comfortable in light of this simple command? Why are we taught to share as kids and grow up to realise that it is a scam, a philosophy meant to apply only until it starts to invade on our culture dictated comforts, until its a sacrifice?

I have no answer. I am not living the answer. But I am wanting the Bible to dictate my money and possesion choices more than the culture does and I am finding that its a hard line to draw.

That's my question for now?

Here is another comic I am working on for work. The theme is anxiety. I liked this one better in my head than on paper. This still looks too busy. Hmmm.

Thought I'd share this. The Moody Standard (the college newspaper) does a feature called "The Artist Next Door". They asked to do an interview with me and wanted some samples of artwork to put in with the interview. I wanted to compile some of the shows that I have worked on into a single image, so I did some google searching and pulled some images together to make this line up of characters. It brought back some good memories as I was searching through so many images from each show.

Here is another series of images that I did for the website I run at work. I am struggling to make it look unified and not just random. I decided to start simple again. Black and White... no color, and see where it goes from there. I find it easier to make multiple images when I have a clear theme in mind. I decided to go with this bathroom door man image for a post and then it turned into the design for several more. This was a good lesson. I am not good enough with design yet to carry something consistently through many images,but a specific image like this little man helps.

I will say these are probably my favorite of all that I have designed so far, and they were by far the simplest as well.

Valentines Day - Stickman Theology

Francis Chan at Founders Week
Wednesday night was the big night of Founder’s Week 2012. There have been many great speakers throughout this week – You go Jill Briscoe! – but tonight, Francis Chan spoke. Not only Moody church and all of its overflow rooms were full, but also Moody Bible Institute overflowed as upwards of 6000 attended with countless more listening online to hear a word from Francis Chan – in a suit. Really?

It looked odd as he walked onto the stage. He must have sensed it because he addressed it right away. “Funerals and Founder’s Week - the only times I have worn a suit in the last fifteen years”, he joked.

His participation, however, in Founder’s Week was anything but dead. He began to speak about his difficulty in harmonizing. The Getty’s had just led the church in a song where they had encouraged and taught us to sing harmonies. This musical ability is something that Francis Chan has pursued most of his life. Often running home excitedly to his family, he would present the possibility of a successful harmony that he had imagined during the day only to have his musical family laugh at him.

Some people get it, and some people don’t.

It’s the same with the gospel.

Chan remembered back to his time in college learning the Word of God. Awestruck by the truths that were revealed, he didn’t understand how other students could head off to intramural football, or lunch, or anywhere so casually after hearing what the Bible held. Had they not heard the same thing he did? God Almighty - Ruler of the Universe – becoming man. Wow! He had to do something! So he would go off wandering the city alone needing to tell someone about this God.

Some people get it, and some people don’t.

Francis Chan was struggling with several thoughts as he spoke. On one hand, he had never felt like his life was more congruent with Scripture then at this time and he wanted to share the joys it brought. On the other hand he was greatly troubled by what he saw in today’s church. He asked if we ever have that nagging feeling, as we profess and live out Christianity, that something is not quite right. Do we read the Bible, look at our lives and our culture, and realize they don’t quite match up; that something is off? Deep down we know that we are not really living like the Bible commands. We don’t resemble the church in Acts.

How can the number of Christians far outnumber the foster kids that need a home? Did we
miss something in the reading of the New Testament and how Jesus commanded us to live?

How about the command to make disciples? Instead of putting in the difficult work to build community, sharing our faith boldly, and entering into situations that are impossible apart from faith, we have changed the system so that evangelism can be done without courage. We let pastors and programs do discipleship.

In a moment of transparency, Chan stated how he hates sharing his faith. It scares him. He hates continually bringing a message that will only garner rejection. He said he would rather “pet a cat” or “run a triathlon”. It is difficult, but we are disciple-makers. Not only did he challenge us to get into the Scriptures, but he also challenged us to actually do what the Scriptures say and not let people talk us out of it. Read it and do it. Get outside the Christian circle. Get into the world.

As he reached the end of his time Chan had saved perhaps the toughest rebuke for the older generation. He admitted that he had not expected to be speaking to a room with so many “mature” people. He assumed it would skew younger.

After thinking for a moment, He respectfully stated, “I meet very few elderly people whose lives make sense to me, biblically”. Chan stated that as he gets older he is playing “hot potato” with his possessions. He doesn’t want to end his life and have “stuff” hoarded. He said it should only make sense to risk more than ever as you grow older because you will soon be meeting Jesus.

Chan asked the older people straight out if they know who they are going to meet? Do you get it? Every person in the Bible who has ever met God has been terrified. Have you really read His Word? It commands that we give to those who are needy and take care of the fatherless. Knowing who God is, and that we will be meeting Him soon, should we not err on the side of caution and risk everything to do what He commands? The older we get the more we should realize that the world has nothing left for us. He challenged them to live like this. Be crazy, and take risks. Show young whippersnappers how to live.

Young people are reading their Bibles and seeing this incongruence between what they read and life as they have been taught it. Instead of radical Jesus following they are being taught how to age comfortably. Retire, relax, enjoy.

Francis Chan’s frustration was as clear as his passion. He is not happy sitting down to a comfortable life, and he is not comfortable seeing this attitude so rampant among the church. He addressed, at a later question and answer period with the students, some of his critics who accuse him of promoting a poverty gospel. Instead of softening, he pointed out how ridiculous it was that a man – clearly in the top five percent of the world’s wealth – could be perceived as being radical as he lives with less to give away more. He stated how clear the situation would be if the starving families of the world literally sat outside our door as we ate. Our distance from them does not negate responsibility.

“That’s stupid” he said of people who had saved up thousands in stocks and bonds just to lose them in the economic downturn. If the money had been given to the needy as the Bible commands, they would still have treasure in heaven. Stewardship is not putting your arms around and protecting the wealth God gave you; it’s giving it wisely.

It is clear, As Francis Chan spoke and the students discussed afterwards, that he strikes a chord with this generation’s mindset. Francis Chan is one voice, but one that is motivating a generation to radical and complete obedience to the Bible – something that seems to be lacking in the western church.

It's Founder's Week at Moody! All week long we have speakers coming in and preaching and teaching. Tonight was the first session and our president, Dr. Nyquist spoke. I recapped it below. There is way more coming this week. Check back on Thursday for Francis Chan, and Friday for Ravi Zacharias! I know right? It's going to be a great week!

“Hostile Happens”.

With these words from Moody Bible Institute’s president, Dr. Paul Nyquist, Founder’s Week 2012 began. After being led in worship through some of the great Christian hymns celebrating our hope in God, and witnessing an impressive display of flags representing Moody Bible
Institute’s vast international community, Dr. Nyquist took the stage. The theme this year is “The Hope Within Us”, and it is centered around 1 Peter 3:15.

Hostile happens. For Christians in today’s culture, this is a reality. As we hold to the words of the Bible yet see the culture around us change and take on increasingly ungodly values, we find ourselves out of step with society. If we do not mimic the culture around us: hostile happens.

“Tebow”. Dr. Nyquist dropped the name with a knowing smile. Nothing more needed to be said, and everyone laughed. Of course he was going to go there.

Sick of hearing about him or not, everyone is aware of the hostility Tebow has faced as he lives out his faith in front of the world, and Dr. Nyquist reminded us of some of the scathing criticism that has been directed at Tebow for his belief. This is hostile happening, and with this reality, we are faced with the questions: What do we do? How do we face it? How would God have us live in the midst of it?

Thankfully, we are not the first to face this challenge. Dr. Nyquist directed us to our theme passage in I Peter and the story of others who have faced the same problems.

In I Peter 3:13-17, Peter answers our questions, but first asks us a rhetorical question. “Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? (ESV I Pet. 3:13)” The answer should be a resounding “No one”. If we really are doing good, and if we are passionate about doing good, then no one should want to harm us. God has placed a moral code in every one of us. If you rob the poor it is bad and if you give to the poor it is good. We all recognise the good in an ideal world so – when we do good – no one should cause us harm.

Unfortunately, it’s not an ideal world.

It is a fallen world.

When we are zealous for good – hostile happens because good reveals wrong.

But wait, we have a clear command from God to be passionate good doers, it is simple right?

Problem: We don’t do hostile well. The responsive laughter from the audience at Moody Church showed that each one of us know that this is true. Continuing through 1 Peter 3:13-17, Dr. Nyquist presented three simple points to help us do hostile well.

1.) Be strong. Don’t fear them; rather take courage in our Sovereign Lord.

2.) Be ready (to give an answer). Nyquist pointed out that since we are told to be ready at all times, we can infer that we will indeed be asked. People will be curious or furious, but they will ask.
At this point Dr. Nyquist offered a personal tip as we attempt to give an answer. “Leave the church words in church”. He proceeded into a nonsensical speech filled with “blood of the Lamb’s”, “sanctifications”, and “imputations”. These are words that will not inspire hope in anybody. They will simply confirm our weirdness. We need to be prepared to take the church to the streets and approach people with the gospel of God where it impacts and applies to them. That's what it's for.
Before moving on to the final point we must note a further requirement from Peter. As we give an answer, it must be done in gentleness and respect. We are commanded to win souls, not arguments. – Not sure how to do this? Take a look at the life of Christ.

3.) Keep clean. We are commanded to keep our consciences clear – so that – those who slander us will be put to shame when they see our good works. That may happen immediately, or we may never see it happen. Again, we are called to trust God.

“Tebow”. Yep, we're going there again. Nyquist shared with us an article from The Chicago Tribune. The writer, observing the controversy that is Tim Tebow’s faith on the field, stated that you could rip on him all you want, but it’s clear that he pursues humility and goodwill and for that, people will have his back.

Unwilling to start the week on a downer, Dr. Nyquist confessed that his intent was not depression.

Reality is.
Hostile Happens.
How do we face it?

Face Hostility with Hope! A hope that gives courage when attacked. A hope that gives an answer when questioned. A hope that assures us that God will make all things right.

What are your thoughts on hostility? Do you face it? Can we call what we face hostility in light of persecution around the world? Do we really live differently enough from the world to merit hostility or have we blended in so well that we are accepted? Is the “suffering Christian” just a lofty concept we experience in theory but distance ourselves from in life? Any favorite verses about the hope within us?

A project I am working on with a friend... It's his story so I will say little about it... but here are the first drawings that I attempted for it!

Here are some designs that I've done for work. Each day we post an article on various topics. You can see here that it ranges from Dr. Who to the Jeff Bethke video. Each one needs a title card. These are small and simple but I enjoy doing them.

Here is the final Stickman Theology that I created for the social media campaign at work. I am already thinking of some fresh ideas for our next topic... Anxiety.

Also, Valentines day is coming up pretty soon and I want to have a few for that day as well! The drawing part of these is easy because it's simple stickmen, it is coming up with ideas and presenting them in a unique or funny way that is challenging me.

Ok... so where did I leave off?

How Does God Meet Us

How does God meet us? Accoprding to Exodus 19-20. It is with distance.
This is different, because you and I, when meeting someone we really want to meet, will do and say things to draw that other person close, yet the first thing God reveals when meeting us is the distance between us. For some reason it is the most inportant thing He must communicate.

Why Does It Matter

Why does this matter at all? Why is it important to see the way in which God meets us?

Most people want to meet God, and the only book that He gave us that tells us about Himself and the world He created says that everyone will meet Him someday. To say there is a God is not a stretch, most people know that and believe in a higher power or a spiritual reality. It's the same thing that happens when we look at a beautiful painting or sculpture and we know instinctively that there is a creator who made it; when you look at nature, the world, other people, you know that there is a creator who made them.

But how we get to know this power, or creator is a different matter. Some think there are many ways that one can get to know God it just depends on the person. Others don't think they have to do anything and just belive that they will end up in His arms the moment they die. Do a poll at a funeral sometime. ( I am just kidding, thats probably not the place for it.)

But what does the Bible teach. It is for sure neither of these options. It is important because the only control we have over what happens to us after death, when we meet God, is our choices right now. We can't flip through the Bible for the 101 on meeting God while standing in line at the gates of heaven like so many comics depict. It is settled by that time.

The problem is that most people don't know the terms that God has laid out to meet Him and they try many different ways, thinking that these methods will eventually allow them to meet God. For some, it's living a good life, if the good outweighs the bad then God will accept them. For others, they believe that God is good and loving and so regardless of how they live or what they do, when they meet God they can arrange a deal and be accepted by Him.

Where do your methods of meeting God come from? Check them out... it's kinda a big deal. From reading the text in Exodus again, seeing God, even from a distance pretty much terrified the Israelites. There is no record of any of them trying to work a different deal that the others had. God sets up the standard and this is not something you want to get wrong.

This section of the Bible shows us that there is distance between our Creator and us, between perfect happiness, perfect fulfillment and us. The only method given so far is perfection on our part. Which is not even possible.

That sucks. Simple logic tells us that it is in His hands alone to solve this problem. As He first meets humans He highlights the difference that lies between and gives an impossible set of laws to keep as the only solution. Even God recognises that it is outside the reach of any human to ever maintain the perfect standard needed to be in the presence of God. Thankfully we don't have to read much further to see that God has solved the distance problem.

A New Kind of Meeting

If perfection is the solution, and we cannot attain it, then we must look to God to help us - to do something more, or something different.

But God already had a plan, even back then at this meeting, for fixing the gap between us. The solution was a person. Jesus. All through the Old Testament God makes promises to close the distance between us and He finally does it in the form of Jesus. God has always required a life in place of sin. It is the cost. In olden times, the Israelites would sacrifice an animal to make this payment. Yearly, daily, they did this and God forgave their sins. However, 2000 years ago, Jesus, God's son, died. Because He was perfect God allowed that death to pay for all the sins of those who accepted this truth. He became the animal, so to speak, that was sacrificed, paying our sins and so erasing the distance from God those sins had made.

Thats it. Done. When you realize the significance of what this means, your life will not be the same.

This is the big turning point in history, and it revolves around how we meet God. He no longer meets those who desire to know Him with distance. If we hold on to what Jesus has done, with everything we have, it is our doorway into a restored relationship with God. Instead of seeing sinful humans that He must distance Himself from like He did with the Israelites, God sees the death of His son that has covered our sins and allows us to freely access Him.

Groupon Has Nothing On This Offer

Because of Jesus, we have a whole new way of approaching God. The only way of approaching God. God is the one who has put the distance there for the protection of His perfection, and He is also the one who has offered a solution for each one of us to bridge that distance. He has simply not offered any other way besides Jesus.

This is good news!. All you who get excited about groupon or flyers that come in the mail? This is the offer you need to celebrate!

How do you meet someone?

A better question is, "What do you do when you meet someone that you want to get to know?".

I have been observing this lately, deliberately watching people's first meetings. It's quite interesting actually, I would recommend everyone doing this.

What is your body language?
Do you hold eye contact. Do you shake hands? hug? kiss on each cheek? I am not a very physical person with others. I shake hands but that's about it. Sometimes I will even just opt for a wave with no contact at all. However, I am pretty deliberate to give off body language that shows my interest. I turn towards people and stay focused as they talk.

What do you say?
Conversation is usually a little panicked at the start. After initial "Hello's", both parties are quickly trying to find that point they have in common. Whether is it a past experience, a hobby, or a country that both have visited. It is a rush of topics till that one subject that can secure further conversation is revealed. It can get awkward if nothing in common comes up within the first few tries. If all else fails we fall back on the weather.
It's a search to relate, what do I have in common with this person.

There is an interesting story in the Bible about a first meeting. It's fascinating. How would God meet humans? The Deity meeting the dust people He created. How would He meet people the Bible says He loves so much. It should be a perfect model to follow as we meet others we love.

Not so much.

Take a look at Exodus 19:17.

Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their
stand at the foot of the mountain.(ESV)

What a meeting! You think you are nervous meeting royalty, a celebrity, or your girlfriends parents? The Israelites were about to meet the Deity who had just miraculously rescued them from the harshest slavery they had every known. And Moses facilitates this meeting.

Yet God does not greet them with a warm handshake or a strong embrace confirming His unconditional love for them.

They are met with distance. Physical distance.

And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go
up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall
be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot;
whether beast or man, he shall not live." (Exodus 19:12-13 ESV)

As God descends on the top of the mountain He commands that the people not approach. They are to keep a strict distance upon punishment of death. Even animals are not allowed to step on the mountain or they too will die.

What does He say? If His actions seem alienating wait till He speaks.

There is no "Hello"
no... "What did you think of the plagues? Pretty nice?"
no... "How are you guys feeling... you have been walking for a while?"

Instead He gives the law. The 10 commandments
Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery. You know how they go. Not only has God greeted them with a physical distance, He has now added a moral distance to this greeting. He is outlining the kind of perfection needed to be in His presence. With any human meeting this would not go over well. By the time you finished your 5th commandment the person you were meeting would be long gone. But God is different, and He needed to establish this with His people. God loved the Israelites unconditionally. He had chosen them when they did not choose Him and had done nothing to earn His favor. We know this because He said it over and over again.

The problem was the same problem that we still face today when we want to meet God. He is perfect and we are not. We have chosen to sin, to choose what we want over what God has told us is the best plan for us. We can't help but sin and every one of us does it. We are unable to recognise that He created us and He has already established the conditions in which we will be fully fulfilled and happy. They are only found in closeness to Him. But, to be in His presence, in our current condition would make Him not perfect. So while He loved the Israelites with a mighty love, the fact that they were imperfect sinful humans, kept this from being a close meeting. God needed to maintain an impenetrable barrier of distance.

He was at the top of the mountain, they were at the bottom.
Physically separated.
He is perfect, and He gave the law that they would have to keep in its entirety to be perfect themselves. A necessary impossibility.
Spiritually separated.

As we seek for God and want to "meet" Him, the exact same barriers are still in place.
Born here on planet earth, each one of us comes in the same way.
Physically separated.
Spiritually separated.

But.... there is good news. A lot has happened since the 1400's B.C. Ever since God's first creations chose to disobey God this barrier has existed but when God chose the Israelites. He started a movement that was only the beginning of breaking down this barrier. And since this first meeting He has done a lot more work in removing it.

This post is getting kinda long... I will continue in the next!