Sacred Speakings

In 1Samuel 19 Saul begins his trail of attempts at killing David, his enemy. At one point David flees to the prophet Samuel and hides with him until Saul gets word of David's whereabouts and he seeks him there.

Here's the scene: David and Samuel are at a place called Ramah with a company of prophets. Saul sends messengers to capture David. When they come close they see a company of prophets prophesying and the Spirit of God comes upon them and they too prophesied. Saul finds out and sends another group of messengers. Same thing happens. Saul sends a third group- same thing happens, they all prophesied. So what does Saul do? Well if you want something done right you do it yourself; right? Right. So he goes. And what happens? The Spirit of God comes upon him and he stripped off his clothes, laid naked all day and night, and prophesied.

God's presence so powerful that men sent, ultimately, for destruction are overcome by it and prophesy. God's presence so powerful that enemies prophesy.

Have you ever noticed how people like to divide and classify what is sacred and what is secular? And by so dividing they give God an allotment of what He may speak to them through. Because if God is only in the music deemed sacred, then there's no business listening to the music deemed secular...because He's not there...so they might say.

What we have done by creating this man-made divide of sacred and secular is that we have deafened ourselves from hearing more, blinded ourselves from seeing more, and handicapped ourselves from experiencing more.

Everything is sacred.

And if we, God's people, carry His presence in us then oughtn't our life and daily interactions with the world take on the happenings of 1Samuel 19? Where all that approached prophesied? If we carry His presence in our comings and goings, that means that everything we approach has the ability to speak to us and to prophesy. The graffiti on the wall, the dying oak, the Muslim, the drunk on the corner, the rap on the radio, the toy isle in the store, a cold cup of coffee....

Do you believe His presence is powerful enough to speak through anything? Even the things that disgust you, anger you, and even hurt you?

There are millions of things out there prophesying, even the rocks and trees cry out. Will you listen? Will you approach? Or will you limit yourself to your segregation? You decide.

Can't to Can

In the last chapters of the book of Judges you read a gruesome story about a war between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of Israel. (Check out Chapters 19 and 20 for that story). When the fighting was over, the tribe of Benjamin was left in really bad shape. Tens of thousands of Benjaminites were killed obviously leaving the population in dire need.

Now Israel had previously sworn that they would not give their daughters as wives to the tribe of Benjamin and here they are left with a predicament. Do they watch a tribe of Israel die out or do they help? Judges 21 tells of how they worked, fought, and saught out a way to provide wives to their brothers.

The rest of the tribes could have stopped at what they couldn't give and left it at that, but instead they worked to find a way to give.

So many times we stop at what we don't have and we end up not giving anything at all.

Israel had to get creative. They had to think outside the box, outside the limitations. If they really wanted to help, which they did, they would have to find a way. Do we do that? Do we look until we find a way? Or do we hesitate at 'The Borders of Can't'?

Watch this video and see how this guy embraced his "can't" and turned it into something beautiful.

Don't stop at what you think you can't do, what you can't give, and look for what you can give. Don't settle for only supporting someone else's way giving, although good. Giving to someone else's means of loving their neighbor and brother will never fulfill you like you loving your neighbor and brother as only you can would.

Look beyond. Get creative. And find a way to help if you really do indeed care.

Gallery of Recent Work

So I'm mostly posting these to be able to pin them to my Pinterest, but hey you can see them here too. I'm trying to just keep creating and keep trying to get better. And I'm all around better when I have a good creative outlet....so are you actually.

 

The Exchange

I look at our culture and how we have need for nothing. Everything you could ever think up to meet the most crucial needs to the most superficial needs, exists. We are kept alive, not because we can feed ourselves but, because we are being fed. We have little motivation to spend time learning about self-sustainability because it's unnecesarry in our present life and, we assume, in our next life. And since we are duped into being ever fed, we cease to grow beyond this keeping; we fail to mature.


We have this unspoken idea of what the new earth will be like and within that idea lies an assessment of what we will be like; we will be perfect in a perfect world. Well what does that look like?

What if the new earth is a blank canvas left to our creating? If that's the case, have we been adequately preparing ourselves for life in the new earth?

In the forests of Belarus during WWII thousands of Russian Jews fled to the forests and lived there in hiding. It came to be that intellectuals became of less value than the tradesmen. Learned men who had looked down on the common men now found themselves fully dependent on those "lesser" skills for their survival. It was the upperclass, educated men and women who were found to be of less use in this new life.

Building a house or a shelter, hunting, fishing, collecting water, gathering, making our own tools, etc. What if all these skills will be necessary in the new earth? How useful will we be?

Or do we expect that, in our perfection, we will be equipped with the knowledge to perform any task we might face?

Is that God? Is that like Him? To just instantly endow us with everything? Or is that our "cultural theology" talking? The culture that performs for us. The culture that has spoiled us. Handicapped us. Stifled us.

So if this new earth will have need of such things, oughtn't I be preparing beyond, what we compartmentalize as, spiritual? In my preparations, striving to be a good steward of my time, on this earth for the next, will I not also find a better me here and now? In seeking to be better for what lies ahead am I not becoming better for the present? Learning to farm, to sew, to build- tapping into the Creator's intimacy with creation- rather than buy, buy, buy.

He told us in this next life the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Could this be the exchange; that we would find ourselves without the skills and the abilities to be co-creators in the new earth because we wasted this life for ease?

DIY Sketch Frame

I saw this in Target for a price I was unwilling to pay so I decided to make it for myself. Ending cost = $2

So here's my How To:

Supplies: frame (I found an old one laying around), sketch book (found one at Dollar General for $2), exact-o knife, elmers glue, super glue, and a ruler

 

 

1. Rip off the cover of the sketch book being careful not to mess up the already existing glue binding. Then reinforce the binding with elmers glue using your finger or a brush to smooth it out. Leave it until it dries.

2. Measure the size of the frame and cut your sketchbook to fit. You can use an exact-o knife or you can use a rotary cutter (either works).

3. Now that you have your sketch book sized down, you want to measure out the inner part of the frame and carefully cut that out.

 

4. Super glue the frame and press the sketchbook until it dries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Draw away!

Viola!

 

Lomo Lesson

I got this old camera at a thrift store for 99cents. It takes 110 film which I had to order off of ebay. And I am so protective of what pictures I take with this thing. I'm not even really sure how many frames I have to use. Once it got past the obvious, I started treating every frame like it was my last because I honestly thought it was. It's a rare film, not only because you can't buy it in stores anymore, but also because it expired in 1980 which naturally gives it effects that artists strive to recreate- therefore, EXTRA RARE.

I find myself carefully framing, taking my time with each shot, making sure that it's going to be frame-worthy. Truth be told, I have no idea what kind of pictures this camera is going to turn out; they may be total crap (hence why I found it for 99 cents) and the film could be so old that it doesn't develop at all. I have no idea what the end is going to look like.

But that doesn't stop me from wanting the best.

It doesn't change the rarity of it all. It could totally bomb and I could end up with a roll of useless negatives OR they could be INCREDIBLE. It's a chance worth taking because what if...

Bottom line, this life is rare. And if I played my life like I took my pictures then I could probably end up with some pretty INCREDIBLE moments. I don't know what the end is going to look like, but that shouldn't stop me from wanting the best. Because what if...

 

21 Swings

21 Swings is an interactive public project recently set up in the streets of Montreal by Canadian design collective Daily Tous Les Jours. "Pre-recorded sounds from a xylophone, piano, and other instruments were programmed into color-coded swings that when in use play various notes, however when swung in unison with careful cooperation, more complex melodies and harmonies arise. An additional “secret mode” was programmed to only play when all 21 swings were in use." (description taken from thisiscolossal.com)

Watch here:

 

What I LOVE about this project is how utterly heavenly it is. It combines sound, light, movement, color, community, simplicity, rest and more into one thing. The fact that it requires that you lay down your felt need to hurry in order to sit down and swing, which then entrances you into a new pace, almost a new realm, is a wonderful thing in and of itself. But, I find it to speak infinitely more.

We all have 5 senses and while much of our history has developed the art that entices these senses individually, now we find ourselves seeking to combine the arts to bring about something even more spectacular. It's no longer just about visual, or audio, or texture, taste and touch, it's about how we can combine them and join in.

We know that God is the Creator of these things. We recognize His artistry in creation's marvels; but have you ever really thought of God as an artist? Have you ever thought of God as a musician? He created sound and gave sounds to many things but did you also know that He wrote songs? (One such example is in Deuteronomy 31:19,21) And have you ever thought of God as chef, director, curator, designer, etc?

If God is the I AM, not a singular thing can define Him except the name which encompasses all of His qualities, and if God is not a human being which experiences things through their senses; what if God is Himself a sense to be experienced. What if God is as much to be found in smell as He is in feeling? What if God is to be found in taste as much as in hearing? ("Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!.." Psalm 34:8) Just a thought.

One of my favorite scenes in literature is the creation of Narnia in The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis. Aslan sings Narnia into creation that brought about light, movement, color and unison. Another example of what I'm talking about can be found in The Shack by WM. Paul Young. In Chapter 15 the character's eyes are healed for an evening to see as the trinity sees, that the world around him interacts through color and light; that people exude colors from within themselves and relationship creates an array of light and colors. It paints a picture of a redeemed world where our senses reach their full potential and we interact on sensory levels we have not yet reached nor known.

I think anything that brings together different aspects of creation is a glory to behold. I think that whoever created these 21 swings was very in tune to the feelings and wantings of man; his need to rest, to be inspired, to tap into those child-like thrills, his need for simple refreshing, his need for community and others. One man on a swing makes one sound, but together they make another sound; should they seek different rhythms they would find different sounds altogether.

I see God's character, His artistry, written all over something like this. It challenges me as an artist and also as a human raising the bar in how I interact with this world God gave us. What do you see? What do you feel? What do you think?