Hey, Puppy

I have decided to start posting some of my sketches on here for all the world to see.
The first is this cute little guy - his name is Linus, and lives with some of my friends. I think he has a learning disability.


pen on sketch pad

Never Not Funny

I'm At My Best When I'm At My Worst

Currently Hearing: Mama, I'm Swollen by Cursive
Currently Wanting: A New Digital Camera

So, here is a brief catch-up of life events:

1. In love with Frightened Rabbit
2. Drawing
3. Using iTunes Gift Cards
4. Slipping into obsession with graphic novels
5. Wanting to take advantage of the Pasadena Public Library more often
6. Job hunting
7. Getting my hair cut

Things aren't too bad around here, even though it has been raining like mad.

working, but not employed

Finding a job is quite possibly more work than the responsibilities one has when they are actually employed.

That's all I have to say right now.

As my Orthodox brothers and sisters say: "Lord, have mercy."

The Book of God

Currently Reading: Lectures for my Students by Charles Spurgeon

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, thorugh whom also he created the world (Heb 1.1-2).

in your presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps 16:11).

The vast treasure and beauty that is the Word of God is seemingly unfathomable. When we step away from the Bible and fail to let ourselves be saturated in it, we can't help but become malnourished and feel spiritually anemic. There is a "warmth" that comes from being acquainted with the Scriptures and reading the book of God that is unlike any other. It re-presents to us the promises of God's grace that are so easy for us to forget.

Since the idea of grace is so counterintuitive to our very nature, we must constantly be reminded of what God says about us rather than what we say about ourselves. Being alone with my Bible after a dry spell does much for my conscience. Through the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit reveals to me my sin and applies the healing medicine of the gospel to my heart. Simply put, when I am not immersed in the Bible, it is immensely more difficult for me to preach the gospel to myself, which I need to hear daily.

“I have thought I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God, just hovering over the great gulf, till a few moments hence, I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing—the way to heaven, how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven. He has written it down in a book. O give me that Book at any price, give me the Book of God”
- (from the preface of Sermons on Several Occasions by John Wesley, originally published in 1771).

2010

It's the New Year!
Also, it's the birthday of J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye, one of the greatest books ever written.
Check out this letter.

Currently Hearing: The Eventually Home by Right Away, Great Captain!
Currently Reading: The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I did it.

My first quarter is basically over. Well, all the hard parts, at least.

After meeting with my pastor today, I really want to speak a little bit about some passages from Hebrews and 1 John, but I am way too tired right now. So, I will use this post as a note to remind myself about it later when my nose is less runny and I have gotten a chance to sleep in.

Instead, I will give you this quote from a book I read that has probably changed the way I will read Revelation forever:

“…every faithful Christian must be prepared to die. The call to conquer allows no middle ground where Christians may hope to avoid death by compromising with the beast. In the situation John envisages, martyrdom belongs, as it were, to the essential nature of faithful witness. Not every faithful witness will actually be put to death, but all faithful witness requires the endurance and the faithfulness (13:10) that will accept martyrdom if it comes.” – Richard Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation, 93-94.

That's tasty. Tasty and convicting.