Happy Anniversary, Baby!

7 years ago today I couldn't wait for that older guy standing next to the girl in white to say, "Her mother and I do." As much as I love Mike Dugan, I just wanted to rush down that aisle and push him out of the way so that I could take my place next to my girl. I couldn't wait to be her husband, her protector, her provider, her confidant, her friend for ever. It's still my favorite thing.

We've gone through a lot in 7 short years: love, hurt, happy, sad, high, lows, better, worse, two cats, two kids, a dog... We've even passed through the very valley of the shadow of death. And I wouldn't change a thing. You see, now I know what true devotion is, what true loyalty, true love, true caring, true joy is. I know because Liz showed me.

Now, I'm far from perfect, but I'm a better man today, all because of a girl. I still love walking down store aisles with her arm in mine. I still love holding hands in the car. I still can't wait every day to come home from work or wherever and rush over to my place next to my girl. She is my favorite person, after all.

Happy Anniversary, Lizzy!

Who's Laughing Now?

Finally, I’ve found a quick minute to blog again! It’s nice to get some time for my own brain for a change.


I said that I wanted to talk about some of those amazing questions that God used in the Bible to teach us some amazing lessons. The first one I would like to address is found in the story of Abraham and Sarah. God made an awesome promise to Abraham, saying that he would be the father of many nations. God said that Abraham’s wife, Sarah, would have a son. Well, when God was having this private conversation with Abraham, Sarah, as wives have a tendency to do at least in my experience, was being a bit nosy. She was eavesdropping on the whole conversation. (Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind my wife being nosy. I wouldn’t remember anything or get anything done if she wasn’t. Something tells me Abraham wasn’t much different from me in that regard. My wife calls it “Male-itus”.) Naturally, when people start talking about you, you want to hear what they have to say. And this wasn’t just “people” this was GOD, Himself, talking to her husband about her. Can’t you just see Sarah, crouched outside the tent, her ear hovering at the tent-flap opening? The Bible says that Abe and Sarah were very old and “well advanced in age”. How long had they been married? How much had they gone through together? Anything that concerned and affected her husband affected and concerned her. So, she listened.

“He thinks I’m going to have a baby? Ha. That’s a good one!” Sarah, close enough to overhear God speak but far enough away to think that He couldn’t hear her, began to laugh at the absurdity of the idea.

Genesis 18:13-14


And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I surely bear [a child], since I am old?' 14) Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son."

With a quick question, God exposed Sarah’s lack of faith and reminded her of exactly who she was dealing with. Sarah endured a lesson I believe God is anxious for us ALL to learn.

How many times has God spoken a promise to us? How many times has He placed a hope or planted a dream inside of us? And how many times have we looked at the absurdity of that calling, of that idea, and laughed at it? “Yeah, right! Like I could ever do that! Please!”

But God is thinking, “Why are you laughing at my plans for you? Is anything too hard for me?” I think we would be amazed at what God wants for us and what He could do through us IF we could just open our tiny minds and believe.

So, the next time some awesome thing comes to mind, some vision of greatness that you could achieve for the Kingdom of God, don’t laugh to yourself and push the thought away. Ask yourself, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Don’t underestimate what God can do through you. Remember Sarah, step into your destiny, and enjoy your promise.

Need an Answer? Here's a Question.

Since the very beginning of time, we humans have had a unique propensity to seek out and do exactly the OPPOSITE of what we really need. God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and said, “Everything will be cool as long as you OBEY one simple rule.” What did Adam and Eve do? They DISOBEYED. When they realized that they were in a fallen state, when they encountered Sin and NEEDED forgiveness, did they run to the only person that could help? No. They HID themselves from the solution amongst the vegetation. Dopes.


Now, what was God’s response to all of this foolishness? Did he come yank those kids out of the trees and give them a sound paddling while reprimanding them in staccato fashion, which tends to be the normal course of action in my house? “I – TOLD – YOU – NOT – TO – EAT – THAT – FRUIT!” No. He walked calmly in and called. He just called… and waited… patiently… just like He does with you and me. We mess up, we hide, but He continues to call and wait.

Rev. 3:20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

When Adam and Eve finally had the courage to answer the door and come out of hiding, they came with excuses and whining but God, well He just had some simple questions. “Where are you? Why did you hide? Who told you that you were naked?”

So many times we slink up to God with our guilt, our whines, our complaints, and our excuses. We come in looking for someone else to blame and seeking for a quick fix to the problems. We think we need ANSWERS, but God stands with a handful of QUESTIONS. There we go again, getting it all backwards and looking for exactly the opposite of what we actually need.

So many times in the scriptures God gives the answer with a question. I’d like to try to cover some of those amazing questions in the near future on this blog, but in the meantime think on this. What would we find if we stopped looking so hard for answers and started listening a little more closely for the questions God may be presenting to us? Instead of demanding, “Why are my finances in such a wreck? Where is the money going to come from to pay my bills?” God may be asking you a question like, “Where have you placed your trust? Can you find contentment in Me without all of the stuff?” You may be asking, “Why am I constantly getting hurt? Why can’t any of my relationships last?” But God may be saying, “Where have you invested your emotions? Who are you looking to for fulfillment?”

Look at your problems. Think of the answers you desire. Maybe there’s a question in there that you need to find.

What questions is God asking you?

We Need a Resurrection Injection!

Elevation Church Easter Opener from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Crisis!

Here’s a little something that I’ve wanted to post for a while, but I can’t seem to get the time to even breathe lately. Maybe that’s why this quote means so much to me. All I know is there are a lot of people who are going through some very troubled times lately. And that’s just those of which I am aware, doubtless there are many more. I hope this gives you the encouragement and resolve you need to get through these times and realize that it is all well worth the struggle in the end. Pass it on and encourage someone today. At least we aren’t on a frozen battle field; losing a war like those who heard this the first time it was read. We know what those brave men went on to accomplish. May we somehow tap into that same spirit and determination that they showed in such abundance, but which has become so rare today, and reach new heights worthy of their sacrifice, worthy of the wonderful blessings of God that they initiated.


THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX) but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth...


Quitting this class of men, I turn with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have nobly stood, and are yet determined to stand the matter out: I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it. Say not that thousands are gone, turn out your tens of thousands; throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but "show your faith by your works," that God may bless you.


Thomas Paine “The Crisis” December 23, 1776

My Place In This World

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about the very first chapter of the Bible. This is the story of Creation, for those of you less familiar with how things go in the Bible. First, God created Light and Dark, Day and Night. Then, He created the Sky and Water. Next, He made dry Land and all of the plants and trees. For these first 3 days, God was busy setting the stage. He furnished the set, got it all fixed up just the way He liked it and THEN He brought in the players. For the Day and Night, on day 4 He made the Sun and the Moon and Stars. For the Sky and the Water, on day 5 He made the Birds and all of the Fish and creatures of the sea. And finally, on day 6 He made all of the Animals and Mankind. Such beautiful symmetry, such careful planning is evident in the pattern of Creation. First, he made the Habitations, then the Inhabitants. First, He built the house then He brought in the occupants. He never created anything that wasn’t well prepared for in advance. On day 7, He rested. He sat back and enjoyed the show.


Understand this, before you were ever born, God had a place prepared; a niche tailor-made just for you. When you begin to question your purpose and wonder if you even matter, remember this.

Psalm 139:16-17 “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”

He made you. In all of your complexity, sophistication, uniqueness, quirkiness, idiosyncrasies, flaws, and perfection, He planned it all out and executed the making of you FLAWLESSLY. Everything about you was on purpose. But before any of that, He took great care in making a place for you, a job for you, and a fulfilling purpose. Just like He made the garden first and then placed Adam in it, instructing him to take care of it, He also has a place and a job for you. And working and living in that place is the most fulfilling thing you will ever do.

Have you ever seen an eagle or a hawk soar in the sky? How amazing is that? Have you ever seen an otter swim? You know those dudes are just having a BLAST. They are just doing what they were created to do in the place that God created for them. The same will be said of you when you find your place, accept it, and begin to live and work in it. It will be just as fulfilling as that eagle soaring or that otter playing.

You have a place, you have a purpose, or else you wouldn’t be here.

Help! I'm in a Box and Can't Get Out!

When did life get so compartmentalized?


Today you have to make your choice between Oldies, Pop, R&B, Rock, Country, Christian, or talk radio. And you can’t mix them up, either. You make your choice and that’s the compartment you stay in, that becomes your identity. You’re an old fogie, a band-wagon groupie, a booty bouncer, head banger, red-neck, do-gooder, or a right wing extremist.

Why do we feel the need to separate everything and everyone into labels? With so many digital-age networking methods, that “bring us all together”, why do I see people more separated than ever? There’s the MySpace crowd, Facebook followers, Twitter tweets, and on and on. We have a thousand “friends” and very few relationships.

And it goes even further than that, with Italian Cuisine, Tex-Mex, Chinese buffet, fast food, dine-in, 20 items or less, self checkout, credit card only, cash only, express lane, truck lane, HOV lane, sedans, coupes, vans, SUVs, crossovers, soccer-moms, working-moms, gas powered, diesel, hybrid, Democrat, Republican, Independent, Apple, PC, Coke, Pepsi, iPhone, Blackberry, cable, satellite, HD, LED, Plasma, Christian, Atheist, Humanist, scientist, other…

All of these bubbles are reminiscent of a bad Lawrence Welk Show nightmare. All of these divisions of society are bouncing around, bumping into one another and never being allowed to actually connect. For such an enlightened, inclusive society, all I see are more labels, more separation, and more loneliness.

Wasn’t there a time when there was just one big bubble? You could use the term “American” to mean “all of the above”. The first friends I ever made in school were a brown boy named Roshan and an Asian kid named Vincent. We were quite the 3 amigos, not knowing anything about ethnic pride or racial prejudice. We were just buddies. That’s all. Not too long ago they used to play gospel music right along songs about love, life, and the heartland. But now, you’ve got to keep those things separated. We don’t want our religion bucket spilling over into our politics bucket or our entertainment bucket.

I was at a community music event this past weekend where they were playing some of the best blue-grass music I’ve heard in a long time. (Now, don’t go shutting me out because you don’t like blue-grass. Remember, resist that bubble mentality.) They started singing an old gospel song about knowing who holds the future and that He holds my hand, right in the middle of songs about living in a hollow and about foxes running wild. A little lady in front of me snuck her hand in the air and began to worship God a little right there in that old courthouse building. I caught myself thinking, “Now, is that appropriate?” But then it hit me, why not? Why can’t we love Jesus at the same time we are loving our country, our homes, and our families? The way I see it, isn’t the love of Jesus supposed to touch all of those other things as well anyways?

Let’s do this, shall we? How about we break everything down to its most common denominator and group it as such? Let’s make just one big category out of it all and just call it what it is, LIFE. And then, let’s crawl out of our tiny bubbles into that one big bubble. Feels kinda nice, doesn’t it? It’s roomy in here. And you know what happens when a bunch of people get into that one big bubble together? Well, a whole lot of Life… together. I think I heard it called “abundant life” somewhere.

What do you say?

Who Needs Sleep?

When I was a young Art Major in college, I used to say, “Sleep is overrated. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Now, as a business-hours father of two, I look back and think, “What an idiot! I can’t believe I had a chance to sleep and PASSED!”

Have you noticed the number of mattress and bed commercials lately? Cruises, vacations, spas, night-time cold medicine, everyone is trying to find a way to get some REST.

Now, there’s a difference in sleep and rest. I know of some folks who get plenty of sleep, but never seem to get enough rest. And I know others who never seem to sleep, but they always appear well rested. How can that be?

I’ll tell you. Sometimes it’s not just your body that needs rest. What about rest for your mind or, most importantly, rest for your soul? Unfortunately, many people are trying to find rest for their souls by getting all the rest they can for their bodies. We often think that one more vacation will straighten out all the kinks. One more cruise or a better mattress will give us better rest, but we’re missing the target. We’re treating a bad ankle when it’s our wrist that hurts. “Here’s a band-aid for your cold.” Sorry, that just doesn’t help.

We need to realize that it’s our minds and our souls that need some attention. And there’s only one treatment that works.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

“Now, wait a minute. Yoke, learn, burden… this doesn’t sound like my idea of REST.” But, we’re not talking about rest for your body; we’re talking about rest for your SOUL. You can find rest for your soul in many ways, sometimes to the exhaustion of your body. For me, it may be drawing in my sketchbook. For someone else, it may be a long walk in the woods, pulling weeds in the garden, or tinkering around on an old lawn mower. It’s not the same for everyone. Hanging out with a crowd of people is exhausting for me, but it’s energizing for my wife. One common denominator is the key. In your own way, using your own unique creation, connect with your Creator. It’s the only way to get the rest you’re looking for.

Tap into His creativity while you draw. Tap into His cleansing nature as you pull those weeds, His salvation as you restore that old motor, His compassion as you mingle. However you do it, tap into Him.

One thing is for certain, you can’t get the rest you’re looking for through sleep. In that way, I guess sleep really IS overrated.

(By the way, you can click on any of the drawings you see in this blog to see a larger view. Hope you enjoy the pic of Union Station, today. Being a hotel, I thought it was appropriate.)

You Are No Accident

We came home from church the other day and my daughter, who is about to turn 5, began to jump around singing a song she had just heard at church at the top of her lungs. “Shout for the victory, Shout for the bumble-bees, Shout!” Needless to say, the actual words of the song are a little different, but I liked her version, too.


Sometimes we forget what a wonderful world we live in and how intricately and perfectly designed it all is. So many times we just run out the door, jump in our cars, and hurry off to work, without taking a moment to appreciate the grandeur that surrounds us. At least I know I do that. But if we go by what the Bible says, we have no excuse because “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork (Ps 19:1).” Later on it says that nature speaks all languages, so anyone can know that there is a God… IF you’re willing to listen to what is being shouted all around you.

Do you realize that even if you locked yourself away in the darkest, most remote dungeon in the world, you would still have the most amazing testament of a loving Creator with you, declaring His existence? That’s right, it’s YOU. The crown jewel of all of creation, nothing screams the existence of God like you do. Who can explain the perfection of the human eye, or the complexity of the ear? Who can design a more efficient mechanism than the human heart or build a more cooperative, powerful structure than the skeletal system? And it all works together perfectly, sustaining its self, growing, adapting, and healing its self. What engineering! What intricate planning and flawless execution to make… you!

How can you think that He doesn’t care?

Saint Augustine said, “People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.” Don’t miss out on the best there is, don’t forget to see what a wonder you are. As an artist, I know, you don’t make a masterpiece and fail to become attached. You are God’s masterpiece, and He is VERY attached to you.

So, join in with the choir of Creation and declare the glory of God. Live as His handiwork. SHOUT! Shout how much He loves you! Shout how amazing He is! Shout… even for the little bumble-bees.

You Can't Keep A Good Man Down

We had to get on to our 2-year-old, Lex, the other day, so we stuck him in Time Out. I tried to take advantage of him being in one place for a few minutes to scratch out a very quick sketch. What is it with these kids that won’t sit still? Well, as you can tell from his expression (hopefully), it didn’t really have the impact on him that we were going for. Somehow he got his hands on a book and enjoyed a nice, leisurely browse through the pretty pictures. He seems to be able to be content in just about any situation. And this is quite frustrating for his parents who are trying to discipline him as he appears to be impervious to our efforts to make him uncomfortable and sorry for his actions. Granted, maybe I should have taken away the book if I really wanted him to be miserable in Time Out, but it just wouldn’t have made any difference, really.


“Oh, you took away my book? That’s okay. Wow! Look how fascinating my HAND just became!”

Lex can entertain himself for hours with nothing at all. He plays with his toes, digs in his belly-button, watches his hands move in the light, or sings silly songs to himself (which he finds exceptionally hilarious). According to my mom, he gets all of this honestly. Apparently, I was similarly endowed with the ability to occupy my little brain as a child.

Although this is often a humorous frustration to me as a parent sometime, I think it is something from which we can all learn.

Didn’t Paul say in Philippians 4:11 “…for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” And again, when writing his first letter to his pupil, Timothy, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” (I Tim 6:6)

Just think about how frustrating it must be to those forces that try to defeat us and distract us from our purpose, those enemies who try to shut us down and make us miserable and forget our Faith, when, instead of losing our minds and weeping and wailing while thrashing on the floor, we find a way to be content. How irritating it must be when we are reduced to a situation of having absolutely nothing, yet we continue to console ourselves by clasping our hands together in prayer, take walks in the sunshine, hug our loved ones close, and laugh and sing and praise our generous Savior even when there are no indicators that we will ever be saved.

“Oh, you took away my house? That’s okay. Wow! Look how fascinating my family just became!”
“Oh, you took away my health? That’s okay. Wow! What great insight into the suffering of Christ!”
“Oh, you took away my loved one? That’s okay. Wow! Look what comfort, look what peace in the Holy Ghost! Why, it’s beyond understanding, isn’t it?”

You know what, Lex? That frustrating contentment thing that you do so well, you keep it up. I think it may prove to be a pretty powerful tool after all.

You Gotta Try This

Have you ever been to Sam’s Club or Publix just to grab a snack from the little ladies handing out food samples? I know I have. I’ll grab an empty shopping cart and stick some ambiguous item in the basket just to give me an excuse to circle around them 2 or 3 times. Like I’m going to buy plantains! What? I just love those little white-haired ladies and their tooth-pick skewered, delectable delicacies. After all, do you know a better way to get people to buy your product? I’ll admit that I have been walking directly toward Chick-fil-A and pulled a 180 when the little guy handed me a bite of Bourbon Chicken. When your product is good, you don’t mind sharing a little bit here and there. Let the sample speak for its self. If you really believe in it, you’ll know that a taste will never be enough. It just leaves them wanting more.

We humans love to share our experiences. It’s like the experience just isn’t the same unless you have someone you can share it with. “Here, you’ve gotta try this. It’s the best pie you’ve ever put in your mouth.” Or have you ever done this? “Here taste this, isn’t that disgusting or what?” And we do it! Good or bad, if someone offers us a taste, we’ll try it, most of the time.

Here’s the thing, the sample sells. It's the most honest form of advertisement that there is. You can't hide behind flashy packaging if the sample tastes nasty. And your packaging can be dull and boring, but if the sample is good enough, it will still sell.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been blessed beyond measure. My life has been jam packed with the goodness, the grace, the forgiveness, the faithfulness, the joy, and the love of God. But am I keeping it all to myself? Every time I come into contact with someone they should walk away with a sample of what I have. I should be passing out bite-sized samples of goodness, grace, forgiveness, joy, and love all the time. But is that what I’m doing?

The fact is, whether you want to admit it or not, this is exactly what happens all the time. No matter what, every time you encounter another human being you pass a sample of yourself over and walk away. Honest. Now, the question is, what are you giving away? Are you giving away rich, flavorful tastes of Heaven, or bland, tasteless, rotten attitude? Face it, you’re going to share yourself with someone and they are definitely going to taste it. Let’s make sure we keep plenty of the good stuff on hand, shall we? And it better be real, too, because you can't fake a sample.

Psalm 34:8
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him.

And if you ever want the best cheeseburger in Nashville, be sure to visit Rotier’s on Elliston Place.

The Great Unknown

 Acts 17:22-23 (NKJV)

22) Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23) for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you

For living in the Information Age, I’m amazed at how clueless I can feel. Surrounded by all of this data, I think I’m just getting dumber. I mean, I look around and think, “Wow. Look at all the stuff I don’t know.” I think most people don’t know where they really are or where they’re really going. We’re just stumbling around in the dark. And you know where that leaves you? That’s right. Lost.

For generations, men and women have been raised in a world surrounded by awesome displays of a brilliant Creator. Everywhere you look, creation screams the existence of a grand Maker. We have stood for ages before these wonders with eyes wide, jaws dropped, scratching our heads, but to us they just remained monuments to an unknown god. So, we claw at the edges, stretch as wide as we can and gather up what we can reach. We crumple it all down, wad it together, fold it up nice and neatly. We roll it up real tight and try to squeeze it into our tiny, tiny skulls. And then, we give it names like Science, Creativity, Reason, and Love. But we don’t realize is that these are all just parts, pieces, and fragments of a greater Whole, a God that is still… unknown.

Luckily for us, this God is not happy with being the “Great Unknown”. He desires to make Himself KNOWN more than anything else. So, He did what we couldn’t do. He stretched His arms wide and reached across the immeasurable distance of Himself and gathered Himself up at the corners. He crumpled Himself down, wadded Himself up, folded it all up nice and neatly. He rolled all Himself up real tight and squeezed into a tiny, tiny baby. Then, He gave Himself a name and lived a life that fully made known the unknown God. That was Jesus.

And now, you know.

So, no matter what you’re looking for, stumbling around in the dark, try looking there. You might learn something amazing. You just might find out that you’re not as lost as you thought you were. And you know where that leaves you? That’s right. Found.

You're Weird

That’s right. You. Reading this blog. You’re weird. But then again, the weirdest guy I know is writing this blog. And thank God, too! Aren’t you glad that we aren’t all the SAME? I am just amazed at how diverse, how ornate, how random and intricate the people of this world are. My wife was telling me about a couple she overheard at her work arguing about whether there were any truly ugly people in the world. Well, I’ll tell you. There are ugly people in this world. I know. I’ve seen them. But that’s okay. If they weren’t ugly, the rest of us wouldn’t be so dog-gone good looking. Okay, okay, I may be pushing my luck to call myself good looking. But my point is I know some ugly people. And I know some ugly people who use it in a powerful way. That’s right. They put people off guard and break down defenses and refuse to intimidate. They make me laugh until I cry and make my head spin to think that what is so beautiful inside makes me totally forget how ugly they are on the outside. And I know some pretty people that make me want to gag sometimes. Nuff said.

The point is this, we’re different. We’re weird. We all are. But it’s how we handle our differences that make us either great or annoying.

There are some who try to use differences to separate, to alienate, and to segregate. (Can I get an Amen?) They use their uniqueness as a means of leverage in order to get more for themselves, claiming victim status because of how they are made. Can you believe that? As if your peculiarity makes you a victim. Please. That’s a blessing, baby. It’s our different opinions, our different perspectives that give us value. Your uniqueness was given to you as a clue to what you can CONTRIBUTE not what you are entitled to GET. Use your weird self to educate, to elevate, and to liberate! (Ah – hah!) As my friend Scott says, “Don’t hate. Cooperate.”

Here's what another weird guy had to say about it.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Beginning

Hello, Internet World!

Well, I guess I'm starting a blog. I have held firm to my stance against Facebook, Myspace and the Twitter-minded people. I still think they are self-indulgent, colassal wastes of time... usually. However, I have begun to soften somewhat of late, and I feel I can comprimise by starting a blog that may or may not be worth reading. I hope that I am not drifting into the Dark Side with this, but here goes anyways.

I hope to write about the things that I love the most in this life, God, Family, Friends and of course Art. As a Christian, I am commanded to bring glory to my Creator in all that I do. So, I will try to not bore you with meaningless insights into ME, but rather to use the abundant blessings that God has surrounded me with to show how great He is. Mostly I'll be posting some sketches that I have been working on from my sketch book (because I feel like Creativity and God are so closely related. He is the great Creator, after all, right?), snippets of my family life (because being a husband and a dad is probably my favorite blessing), concerns and observations that I have been mulling over in my little skull (because I hope to inspire thought and conversation, NOT because I think I have it all figured out), and quotes from the Bible and/or other great sources to uplift and edify the reader.

This may be a lofty goal, but I hope to have FUN along the way. God bless and enjoy.

This is a sketch from earlier this month of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Nashville and here is one of my favorite passages from the Bible.

Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)
28) Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. 29) He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30) Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31) But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. they will soar on wings like eagles: they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.