You Just Can't Compare Them

One day, several years ago, I brought plain paper to the art museum. In the past I had been content gazing at the masterpieces, but today I was eager to capture them myself. I sat myself down on a bench in front of Degas' Ballet Dancers and just looking at it I knew I wouldn't sketch the whole thing. So I focused just on one dancer hoping to make the ballerina on my page a replica of the one Degas had immortalized in paint.

As you can see from the picture I dug out just for you, things didn't go so well. Sure, it's a ballerina, but it isn't even comparable to what inspired it. I couldn't find the exact painting, but this is one that would be similar.

What we humans do compared to what God does is similar to me trying to copy a great painter. Look at the contrast between these two verses:

"Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."

and

"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good."

Now, it doesn't take an expert to realize that 'very good' and 'a striving after wind' are different.

God does things differently than we do, and although what he does may seem bizarre (for example 'instead of attacking that city, march around it without talking.') but I have to admit God's way ends up working while my way doesn't.

We've often got very different ideas about how to get the same result.

And from my experience, and hearing about the experiences of others, I'm going to trust God's way not my own.

Click Here If You Listen To Music

I'm looking for music, and I am recruiting your help.

I like music. I listen to it practically non-stop, so it's not wonder that the songs I like are becoming trite, worn and annoying. I'd like your help.

I'm looking for songs with good lyrics, that honor God, and have a good, exciting rhythm.

I've found musicians that have a couple of those factors, and such discoveries were exciting.
They are artists like Scott Phillips and Pompton Lakes, songs like Half Acre, Come Thou Fount, Blue Lips, Mr. Pitiful...

But I'm on a quest to find songs with all three.

I used to think that such a thing didn't exist.

So far, I haven't found anything to debunk that original theory.

And that's why I need your help. I realized the other day that I'm probably not the only person in the world who would listen to this music, who would appreciate it. And one of these other people likely has some musical talent, and they created it. I just need to find it.

Suggestions Welcome.

Immediately, Completely and Without Complaint.

Let's not forget about Joseph this Christmas. I think that man deserves a little more credit than we usually give him.

He's basically engaged to Mary, and he finds out she's pregnant. He could have said something, and she would've been stoned to death (oops) at worse, and shamed/shunned at the least (if I understand correctly). He didn't say anything.

He could have divorced her. He thought about it, actually. Apparently, he decided to sleep on it before making a decision and while he slept an angel came to him in a dream and explained everything. He didn't divorce her. Which might mean people thought Jesus was born out of wedlock, and Joseph was willing to live with that.

Those things aside, Joseph was a very obedient man.

When my mom was training my sisters and I in obedience as kids, she would tell us that true obedience means you do it "immediately, completely and without complaint." We weren't supposed to dilly-dally, do things halfway, take the easy way out or whine about it. I'm not at all saying I learned this very well or quickly... there's a reason those words have stuck with me so long (I must've heard them a lot).

Joseph's mom must've taught him this, too (I wonder what the Hebrew words for "obey immediately, completely and without complaint" are). He must have learned that lesson well because his response to God's angelic directions is noteworthy.

Near the end of Matthew 1, the angel tells Joseph, among other things, to call the baby's "name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." And almost as an afterthought, in the last verse of Matthew 1 it says of Joseph, "And he called his name Jesus."

It doesn't end there. in 2:13-14, the angel comes back and in a dream (Joseph sure seems to sleep a lot! That, or heaven and earth must be on different time zones...) tells Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and move to Egypt. No telling when or if they'd come back. And look at the wording:

...an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt

The wording of the angel and the description of what Joseph did are parallel. Authors word things intentionally. I take this to mean that Joseph obeyed "immediately, completely and without complaint".
Joseph wasted no time. He didn't wait until it would 'be a good time', he 'rose' and took them 'by night', which sounds to me like he woke up after that dream, packed up, and left.

Joseph didn't stop someplace convenient between Israel and Egypt. He went all the way, and waited for God's command.

Joseph didn't complain about God uprooting he and his family (at least, the complaints weren't recorded, so that's my guess. Plus, it fits nicely with the phrase I learned as a kid).


And then in verses 19-21-- Same thing! Same parallel wording. Same obedience.

The obedience that married Mary.
The obedience that named Jesus.
The obedience that moved to Egypt.
The obedience that returned to Israel.

Immediately. Completely. Without Complaint.

Not Like Playing Telephone

Jesus was born on earth. 

The angels told the shepherds, who went to see it for themselves. 

And once they saw Jesus they told everyone they could find. 

It wouldn't have meant as much if the shepherds heard what the angels said, and then went and told everyone. 

Jesus, in person, healed people and forgave their sins. 

Those people had encountered Jesus in a very real way. 

And once they saw Jesus they told everyone they could find. 

Sometimes Jesus even told them not to tell anyone, but did they listen? No, they went and told everyone. 

Jesus rose from the dead. 

The women ran and told the disciples, who ran to see it for themselves. 

Later, they saw the risen Jesus and they told everyone they could find. 

They didn't do this right away, granted, but once they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, no person, no authority, not even death could keep them from telling everyone. 

What about us? 

Sharing the gospel isn't like playing telephone. You can't just repeat what you think you've heard someone else say, and you don't have to. You can experience, firsthand, the grace, love and transformation of making Jesus Christ the Lord of your life. 

And if you do, don't keep it to yourselves. Be like the shepherds, the healed and forgiven, and the disciples. Go and tell everyone. 

"Stay in My Head. Stay in my Head"

When I was seven or eight years old, I had a habit of forgetting things. Sometimes I would forget to do my chores, or where I hid my Diary, or an event, a joke or even a conversation I had hoped to remember forever.

 So, naturally, I devised a way to remember them. I would just concentrate on it and poke my head with my finger and order it, "Stay in my head. Stay in my head."

I was so convinced that it worked I taught the method to my sister. To this day, she claims she tried it later that day when I got in big trouble, and she hasn't forgotten it. I, on the other hand, can't seem to remember anything I'd commanded to stay in my head.

Remembering things is still hard for me.

I forget what I read in my Bible.
I forget to send write letters to my family.
I forget the verses that I had hoped would shape my life.

I forget the ways God has answered my prayers.
I forget the goodness of God.
I forget to trust God.
I forget to thank God.

If you were hoping for my new, fool-proof method, sorry. I still haven't figured this one out. But I'm on the journey to it, and I have a feeling I'm close.

Raising Kids for True Greatness by Dr. Tim Kimmel

Since I spend over 30 hours a week with kids, teaching and training them, I decided it would be a good idea to read a parenting book.

Dr. Kimmel compares and contrasts the world's striving for success with God's intentions for greatness.

The 'conversation' Dr. Kimmel and I had through a chunk of the book went something like this:

Dr. Kimmel- It's a process, not a moment
Me- well, that makes sense. Most things in life are, afterall.
Dr. Kimmel- Do you want to know the five attributes of great people?
Me- of course.
Dr. Kimmel- the first is humility.
Me- sounds good!
Dr. Kimmel- another one is gratefulness.
Me- Ooo, that's a good one.
Dr. Kimmel- generosity is also important.
Me- yeah!
Dr. Kimmel- and the one that sums them all up?
Me- well, what is it??
Dr. Kimmel- a servant attitude.
Me- wow, bulls eye! I can already see how these character traits are important and would change lives.
Dr. Kimmel- well, now do you want to know how to raise kids up to embody these traits?
Me- of course!
Dr. Kimmel- model them.
Me- wait-- what??
Dr. Kimmel- I'm serious. Not only those, but also abundant-thinking, being others-oriented, trustworthy, tenacious, courageous and compassionate.
Me- oh dear.
Dr. Kimmel- and the things that wrap them all up nicely are grace and love.
Me- oh, that's all?

And you know what, reader? It makes sense, doesn't it?

Everything starts with how you yourself live life. And although I don't have much of a plan for how to train my students, I know where to start:

With myself.

Gossip in the Park

by Nicole DeVries

Our friendship had a chance that spring
as we walked in the park and shared everything.
Two friends in the park comparing thoughts and life,
sharing ideas and problems, joys and strife.


By the time summer came, we knew each other well,
and there were few comfortable things left to tell.
So, we took the easy escape and became common babblers,
by quickly filling the space and talking about Others.


Always careless, often selfish, were our thoughtless remarks,
every word was soaked up by the hushed, empty park.
Fall came and changed colors, but our whispers stayed the same.
And so we walked, and so we talked, and so we bared every triumph and shame.


We looked forward, each walk, to hearing and sharing
what others were doing, saying and wearing.
It was good and securing to affirm our beliefs,
but the base satisfaction was shockingly brief.


Each word that tore down our view of friends
was like the harsh, bracing, tearing, autumn winds.
The trees became bare; colorless and empty,
just as our talks became predictable and airy.


By the time the winter drifts covered the trees' thick, coarse bark,
whatever had started this friendship had faded to dark
and we no longer walked and talked in the park.

Don't Stop

Creating art and telling a story are much the same thing. Both need imagination to tell of an idea. Art tells stories, and carefully crafted stories are pieces of art. Often, I limit art to sketches and paintings and computer graphics, and telling a story to a voice and words on a page and movies but they are much more.

Jason Sandberg is a supervisor at a printing company who fell in love with art and storytelling. It happened when he was six years old, holding a Jack Kirby comic that seemed to have come to life. Now, on top of his 'day job', Sandberg pursues art. "I'd like to create art full-time," Sandberg says, "the mix of children's books and paintings should prevent me from getting into a rut."

Sandberg's impressionistic art gives him "a sense of delight and discovery, an opportunity to ponder why the non-real can cause an aesthetic response," while his realistic paintings give him "month-long ice-cream headaches, but I feel stronger at the end." Through it all, Sandberg hasn't forgotten what it is like to be a child in love with art.

When his young daughter showed a fascinated interest in his paintings, he jumped at the change to do a painting with her. It turned into an annual tradition that will serve, as Sandberg says, as "a yearly time-capsule".

Sandberg's paintings tell part of a story. They do not use words, but they do not need to. And yet, he "had the desire to create beyond the moments depicted in the paintings. I wanted to depict a beginning, middle and end." This drove him to picture books-- picture after picture, paired with words, to tell a whole story. That, my friends, is art.

He said, " I have come to the conclusion that the act of making art can't make someone an artist. What makes someone an artist is the inability to not make art, and discouragement or support can't affect that."

That said, maybe you write novels, compose poetry, create youtube videos, paint, sketch, write music, or something else entirely... if you can't seem to stop, you just might be an artist.