Goliath

A bit of a change this week, to show something I drew last night.

I always seem to use David and Goliath as a reference for how to tell Bible stories- it's funny because the story seems to promise a huge, intense drawn-out fight between the two characters and rather hilariously the contest just ends after one stone is slung. But Goliath is a key example of someone who needs to be portrayed powerfully, as an insurmountable problem to be feared, someone you would never want to face...ever. 

This helps give the account meaning- relate Goliath as truly imposing on a gut level, and you can assimilate that to your personal experiences on a heart level so much better than merely being told. This is the point and brilliance of well told stories. I mean, I find these lines in 'Batman Begins' so inspiring: 

'And why do we fall?'

'So we can learn to get back up again'

Combined with the story being told of one man's determination to do something crazy and fight overwhelming odds, this is powerful stuff. 

Anyhow, this Goliath picture is a kind of fun picture- this would be the scene in a film where we first encounter him steamrolling through the enemy, building the sense of dread for when he challenges the Israelites later on....

On another note, my webshop is now open, and will have downloads of various images in the near future. If you need a greetings card (in particular for a son/daughter/grandchild/nephew/niece etc you know), I'm sure I can help you. 

The Advancing Kingdom

This one's trying to illustrate on-the-spot the idea that Jesus healing people was signalling the future- that one day death and illness would be gone, and this reality is breaking through into normal life- kind of like the clouds are parting and you can see what's actually real for a while before your view gets swamped again.

If I were going to develop this more, I think this needs the darkness to seem more churning and alive somehow, more angular and aggressive,  and the light more like a tear in the darkness. Maybe. But you get the starting point.

How would you show this?

I'm thinking of choosing the best Scribbles and developing them into finished pieces- it's a good way of remembering things quickly and could be useful.....

London Men's Convention 2011- Faithfulness at Home

This was from Mark Driscoll's talk - I was jotting too much down to do a lot of scribbling, but the key in this was to not stand idly by as a father in family matters. Each father needs to be the pastor of their family, 'Pastor Daddy', to spiritually be the model and protector- to lead the home instead of being passive. 

It was really challenging stuff. 

London Men's Convention 2011- Faithfulness at Work Part 2

Another scribble from Marcus Nodder's talk. Obviously, when he said 'Obey your boss even if he's a muppet', you can't help but jot something down.

Sometimes though, a muppet would be preferable to your actual boss.

London Men's Convention 2011- Faithfulness at Work

A little while ago I had a thought to draw again during sermons at church and talks I was listening to. This i s something I used to do when I was a child in church which helped me concentrate and get pictures in my head, so in theory I could look back on them and remember what was said. I've always found I listened better when I occupied the part of my brain which would go wandering during lessons or talks- which kept me listening more. And just the act of writing stuff down helps you remember it.

So that's what I decided to do again- draw stuff which would sum up ideas and what was being said:  there's too much valuable information which filters out of my brain if I don't record it to look back on. And I want to try and show those ideas visually.

C H Spurgeon said 'A sermon without illustrations is like a room without windows.' Of course speakers use stories to engage us, but this applies to art too. You can hear 'God is powerful and in control' but if you can try and picture it, show it in film, you can better make someone know in their gut, not just in their head, that this is true.

So, that's what this is for. I should point out these are scribbles made during the talk- so the ideas probably won't be fully formed or look particularly good. These are the initial thoughts to inspire others, inspire others to present these ideas visually, to take and run with. To get a polished, finished musical/visual piece requires developing the idea, pushing it, refining it, and a lot of work. These are just the starting points- you can see finished work at my website.

Anyway- here's the first scrawl, from the extremely good London Men's Convention yesterday- 4000 guys at the Royal Albert Hall being spiritually recharged, and inspired. This was during the 'Faithfulness at Work' talk by Marcus Nodder (pastor of a church based on a barge which is such a good idea)- and the way to best witness at work.

I'll try and post at least once a week- let me know your thoughts, pointers, ideas, anything you'd find useful to see, and we'll see where this idea goes.