Rabbi Encounters

I just put up a new page to chapter three of Rabbi Encounters . Rabbi Encounters is a project I have so much passion for...I just wish I had more time for producing it. I love taking the stories of Jesus and re-thinking them into a modern context...it's a lot like what I do when I teach. Somehow...seeing the woman at the well as a "goth" chick...and the well as a Laundromat...I don't know...for me, it's breathing new life into the story itself. Not that God's word needs new life...that's not what I mean....maybe I mean breathing new life into me as I see this from a new perspective.
It's fun trying to imagine how an encounter with the Rabbi Christ went down.

subliminal message....

Lardimus Maximus

So...the saga continues. Sigh.

Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?

Does anyone really care? So I'm reading an album review about the Yeah Yeah Yeah's latest in Paste magazine. (Not that I'm cool enough to read Paste on my own, my daughter Jessica brought it home to me from a Sufjan Stevens concert)
Anyway...the reviewer says that the Yeah Yeah Yeah's are his favorite group to come out of the "aughties". He just writes it like that, as though I'm supposed to understand...which at first I thought it was a typo...then I put it together.

THIS is the aughties. We're livin' in it! The Urban Dictionary proves it, by quoting a USA Today article which uses this term in describing our present decade.

Think of it. Four years from now, VH1 will be doing shows called "I love the Aughties"!

Honestly, I'm really glad to know this, as is my wife. When I informed Robbie that we were living in the aughties, her countenance brightened, and she said "Good, I always wondered what we were supposed to call this...I knew it wasn't 'the thousands' because that sounds weird."

I'm going to call the next decade "the Deca's".....just a little heads up.

Surf Art

About two years ago I went through a phase where for a week straight I just started painting these small, 11x14 or so, paintings of surf. I really enjoyed that...and I keep promising myself that I will carve out some time to do that again soon.

The Great Lard Off...week 2

Ok...so this is getting brutal. I'm still not sure those scales are accurate.

Cleaning House

So...Robbie and I went to work cleaning up my office/studio today...and three hours later, we completed our mission. During the purge, we went through a pile of old pieces of artwork I'd done back in the mid-80's. So....I may post some of them now and anon.
Here's a pen and ink drawing of a loon from a time I was convinced I wanted to be a wildlife artist. (as always, click on the image to see a larger version)



And then there was the time I was sure I wanted to be an illustrator who specialized in airbrush art.



Some of the stuff I found from back then made me quite nostalgic. It's nice to have a record of where you've been...somehow it makes today so much more meaningful.

work-a-day world

So...even though I do exactly what I really want to do in life, draw and teach...sometimes it still gets frustrating seeing the same view all the time, as I'm here in my work space. No matter what, we humans are prone to weary of our environment...never seem to be quite settled. I think there's a reason for that.
Anyway...this is my mess o' desk:

Evangelost

I read the book F.A.Q. (Frequently Avoided Questions) by Chuck Smith Jr., and chapter 4, "Do I Have To Sell God?", really struck a chord with me...and I drew this cartoon, which I posted on a few other message boards, but hadn't done so here.
Behold:
You see...that has always been a sticking point with me, ever since I left the church as I'd known it. Why do we treat something as important as the gospel like a salesman trying to get commission on unloading a timeshare? We've lost the basic meaning of the gospel...which is relational from beginning to end (relationship with God restored, relationship with mankind empowered). We've seen the message of Christ as something we need to get people to buy into, instead of doing what the gospel says, and loving people as a demonstration of the gospel's reality, and allowing that to be the introduction of our faith.
I'm not saying there is no place for sharing through words the truths we believe in, but I AM saying that there are natural ways in which those truths come to light, where we as Christians aren't under the unnatural pressure to formulate the right come-back or question to clinch the deal!
Clearly, I have a strong opinion about this. It's my blog....I'm allowed.

Lard Off

So...we had our staff meeting today. Staff meeting, you say? Yes...believe it or not, we actually get together and try to figure out what we're doing. Today, we also implemented something else...the great Eastgate Ministerial Lard-Off.
Behold:

Five Years Ago

I spent the morning watching the memorials which were televised, and also watching MSNBC's re-broadcast in real time of that fateful morning. Along with everyone else who was awake, I have a crystalline memory of that morning. Not just of the events as they unfolded on my TV, but also the emotions which battered me like getting caught in the impact zone of an overhead wave and tumbled. Thoughts of my kids at school, were they safe? Wondering what this meant. I remember that stunned silence when the second tower fell, and in that moment which seemed to teeter on the abyss of a loss of reason, Peter Jennings quietly breathing "My God."
I remember what flashed through my mind....the Scripture that just popped up....
and its interesting that with a few minimalist brushstrokes, I can convey an image of that which everyone would recognize. Something which would have just looked like an odd abstract on Sept 10th, 2001.
I also remember that even in that day of despair, there were glimpses of good that echoed back to God. The startling images of people running in terror away from that scene of devastation...but also the images of another group of men, grim with determination, who were walking TOWARD that storm. Heroes who, for that glorious moment, reflected the heart of The Hero, and reminded us that there WAS and IS hope. I remember seeing angels.


Five years later. May God grant peace on earth.

Pollock!

There's this wonderful site I like to visit when I need to clear my mind...called Jacksonpollock.org . Sometimes I have to be careful that I don't spend too much time there, because for me, it's downright addicting.
Here's something I did there (after cropping and embelishing slightly in Photoshop)

Toys on my shelf

I have this Batman action figure that sits on the shelf opposite my desk...and the lighting was just right the other day...so I drew this from it (pen and ink-photoshop colors). I'm sorry, I like Batman.

Zombies are tricky

The thing about zombies is...when using them for an allegory for the Gospel, it's important not to get too obvious. Zombies are not subtle by nature, and working with them tends to elicit the urge to move toward obvious conclusions. As I'm pondering the storyline (I probably won't write it out first, but let it develop page by page), I think I need to reign in the allusions a bit.

I started toying with the idea of doing the story in rhyme...like a children's book. Not sure I'm up to that time-wise though.

Anyway...here's another sketch, done in pen and ink. (click on it to see large version)