We are all Ron Artest

We are all Ron Artest…I mean Metta World Peace.

It’s no secret that I’m a basketball fan (NBA and DLeague). It’s also no secret, now that the lockout is over and games are underway, that Ron Artest has officially changed his name to Metta World Peace.  It was funny hearing the commentators on the first game struggle to get his new name down and to call him that instead of Ron Artest. Of course, he trended on twitter that day and of course, I searched for his name. He was the brunt of many a joke, some very cruel. It’s easy to get on the bandwagon and make fun, far too easy. I even tweeted that the whole thing is weird. But then I wanted to know more about this dramatic change to see what’s in this name.

Let’s let Ronnie, I mean Metta, tell you himself:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/30/ron-artest-metta-world-peace-pti_n_887577.html

Of course “Metta” is a buddist term (though he is not buddist) that means friendship, love, kindness, and togetherness– traits he wishes to be known for, and world peace (though a sort of pipe dream) speaks for itself. So is this name change going to reflect a change in Ron’s (ahem Metta’s) behavior and on/off court antics? Is it going to tame the man who has rightfully acquired a reputation of being a brawler and thug? Well, since the change he has not punched any fans. That’s gotta count for something. And it sure beats Ochocino!

In all seriousness, though it IS weird, I applaud his desire to have a real turnaround, and think it is sincere. It sounds like he’s really trying to do some good now. He knows it’s not going to bring about world peace or anything. I hope he finds true peace in heart.

Let’s cut him a break. And give him the benefit of any doubt. And though I can’t speak for everyone, I’d like to think that we are all Ron Artest.

We’re just people trying to become better versions of ourselves.

Agree or not?

The Untold Story of Christmas

This year I made a video that tells a little known angle of the Christmas story that also incorporates some well known Bible stories that play a role as well. The video can be seen at http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/26526/The-Red-Dragon-Of-Christmas with a Spanish version here. Let’s explore this subject and ask some questions:

Who? In an obscure passage, Revelation 12, we see the Nativity scene as it really was in the spiritual realm. There is no mention of angels, shepherds, wise men, or even Joseph. The missing piece of our nativity scenes is a huge, vile red dragon. In case John’s apocalyptic description of the enemy is not clear, he tells us in verse 9 that the Dragon is in fact Satan, that ancient serpent. What? Here we get a behind the scenes look at what was really happening at Christ’s birth, throughout his life, and even before. Down through history, Satan has constantly pursued the destruction of Jesus. There is a thread found throughout the entire Bible– hostility between the seed of the woman and the dragon. Revelation 12 is simply the starting point. From there, you can trace the Dragon’s efforts to undo God’s promise from Genesis right on up until Bethlehem.

Why? A major source of inspiration for this video was found in Chapter 11 of More Than Conquerors, by William Hendriksen. The author links classic stories of the Bible with Satan’s attempts to destroy the promised Messiah, the Savior, the one who would reverse the curse. He was targeted way before He was even born, for if one destroys the line from which He will come, then in so doing one has destroyed Him.

When and How? The initial conflict begins, like most concepts, in the beginning. Genesis 3:15 is the first Messianic prophecy. It brings to the forefront the hostility between the “woman’s seed” and the Dragon or serpent. We then see the conflict played out in scripture through many different people and events. However, John sees the whole picture in his vision; the revelation comes to him unveiled. Lift the veil and you will see that the Dragon is behind all of these attacks like a puppet-master pulling strings. From Seth to the Flood (Genesis 3-9) Adam and Eve’s son, Abel, pleased the Lord with his sacrifice, but in a jealous anger, his brother, Cain, slays him. Another son is born who will bear the promise– Seth. The dragon whispers to Seth’s descendants to marry the daughters of Cain, trying to annihilate future generations. Wickedness prevails, but there is one who fears the Lord– Noah (Genesis 6), who builds an ark and whose family is spared from God’s judgment in the flood so the promise will continue.

From the Flood to Jacob (Genesis 10-50) The promise-bearer is now Abraham, but he is old, and Sarah is barren. How can they bring the promised one into the world? The promise is given to their miracle-child, Isaac. But later he and Rebekah have the same problem. She cannot bear any children (Genesis 25). Again, a barren woman gives birth miraculously, and Jacob is born. The attacks do not stop there. Jacob deceives his father and receives the blessing that belonged to Esau. He flees from his own brother in fear. Years later he comes home terrified. He is afraid that Esau will kill him. He tries to butter him up with gifts before he arrives. There’s no need. Esau does not kill him. Instead, they embrace. (Genesis 32-33) The promise moves forward.

From Jacob to the Jews in the desert. (Exodus) The dragon now stands before the woman in the form of Jacob’s descendants, the Jews. After being led out of Egypt after 430 years of slavery (Exodus 12:40) they come to Mount Sinai. God has already given them His law, and they have agreed to it with one voice. But while Moses is up on the mountain, a restless and impatient people get Aaron to make them an idol– a golden calf. If Sinai is the marriage ceremony between God and Israel, then during the honeymoon, there is blatant cheating taking place! God most definitely had the right to be angry. God’s anger burns as they dance around this object. He wants to consume them, but Moses intercedes and the promise is salvaged again. (Exodus 32)

From the Jews in the desert to David, the king. Out of the tribe of Judah God chooses one family to be heirs of the promise made back in the garden of Eden. That family is David’s (2 Sa. 7:12ff; Ps. 89:29, 35, 36; Je. 23:5; Acts 2:30). He is now targeted by the Dragon. Saul, the current king, knows that David will be or even is greater than he. In fits of anger and jealousy Saul hurls spears at David, which he successfully dodges. He eventually has to flee and roam the wilderness, as Saul continues to pursue him with the full force of the army, with the exception of those who defected to be among David’s rag-tag group of mighty men. David escapes Saul’s attempts on his life and in time comes to sit on the throne as Israel’s king.

From David to Queen Athaliah. Athaliah, the daughter of wicked Ahab and Jezebel, now reigns. She has power, but wants more. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In order to attain absolute power she is intent on killing all of David’s family. If all the royal seed is destroyed, then she will maintain control. Draw back the curtain again and see that the Dragon knows full well that if all the royal seed is destroyed, then Christ cannot be born as the legal heir of David’s throne, as stated in God’s promise. However, we read in 2 Kings 11:1, 2ff “Jehosheba…took Joash…and stole him away from the royal princes who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah; so he was not killed.” We later see the boy Joash being crowned as the people cheer, “Long live the king!”

From Athaliah to Esther (Book of Esther) Fast-forward to the 5th century. God’s providence continues in the story of Esther. Though God’s name is never mentioned in this short little book, you see His hand throughout the entire story. As the Dragon plots through Haman to commit genocide and obliterate the whole Jewish race, God is also moving in the background. An amazing chain of events takes place, and through Esther and Mordecai the promise is saved from this evil plot.

From Esther to Bethlehem There are indeed more stories, but we finally end up at Bethlehem for our final act. The child of the promise is finally about to be born. As Paul writes in Galatians 4:4, this takes place in the “fullness of time.” But there are many hurdles to overcome. First of all, Joseph needs convincing that this pregnancy is from God. He is betrothed to Mary, but has not yet been intimate with her. Now that she is expecting, he, being a righteous man decides to divorce her quietly. In the small town of Nazareth, though, rumors were probably already populating minds and mouths. He could have had her stoned! But she and the child will need his full support. So an angel appears to him in a dream to explain the full scale of the situation.

Matthew 1:23 records that the angel told Joseph that “all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’).” Then we read in verses 24-25 that “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” Disaster one is averted, but the Dragon is relentless.

In Matthew 2 we see the wise men or the magi. (They technically didn’t arrive until much later, so they don’t belong on our nativity scenes either!) They show up on king Herod’s door step asking, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” This troubles Herod greatly, and the text says all of Jerusalem with him. This jealous and paranoid king decides that he cannot allow another king to be born and challenge his power. He has heard the rumors and puts a plan in action. Herod asks the religious leaders where this Messiah was to be born. They recite Micah 5, and name the place: Bethlehem. He then tells the wise men, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” He did not want to worship him. He wanted to kill him!

God intervenes yet again. After the wise men find the Christ-child, an angel warns them to leave by a different route and not to go back to Herod. When Herod realizes the wise men failed to provide him with his information, he takes matters into his own hands. He will search for the child. Then, it gets worse. When he doesn’t find him, he slays all of the infant males in Bethlehem. However, an another angel warns Joseph about Herod’s plan and tells him to flee to Egypt. And the gifts from the wise men may have been just what this poor family needed to fund the trip! King Herod failed, but more importantly the Dragon failed yet again. The Dragon could not triumph since the beginning and will certainly not triumph in the future.

Bonus Material: Another great resource for illustrating this passage comes from the late Dr. Robert Lowery, a brilliant scholar of Revelation. “Christmas on Patmos: a Woman, a Child, and a Dragon”- http://rlowery.com/2006/12/04/christmas-on-patmos-a-woman-a-child-and-a-dragon/. It is worth reading in its entirety (especially the section on the term “Behold!”.) In this wonderful little article Dr. Lowery muses:

John’s rendition offers conflict not carols, war not worship. It is a PG-13, if not R-rated, rendering of the story. Some scenes are too intense for young audiences, indeed for audiences of all ages. There is no sentimental Christmas story here: no cozy fireplace, only a fire-breath ing dragon; no cookie-eating Santa dressed in red, only a red dragon ready to devour the baby Jesus; no cuddly animals lowing, only a cunning dragon sweeping his tail across the heavens. Can you imagine a dragon becoming a regular in a Christmas story performed by little children? Who would want the role? Can you picture a well-known company printing Christmas cards with a red dragon lurking behind the manger scene? Of course not! Someone else already lays claim to the color red this time of year, we would be told. Let’s not confuse the public.

This is a reality in scripture and in our life too. Many church-going people are either skeptical of this truth or oblivious to it. We, as Christians, need to be aware of it, but also be confident that the ultimate victory is won already. Christ is the conqueror. He has vanquished the enemy. The Dragon is defeated. The rest of Revelation 12 reminds us that since he was unsuccessful in destroying the Messiah, he has turned his fury against the rest of the woman’s seed…that’s us! But rest assured that God’s purposes and His promises can never ever be frustrated. If a long history lesson can teach us anything, it is that God is infinitely more powerful than any seven headed, seven crowned, and ten horned dragon. Glory to God Most High. We too are on the winning side. Paul sums it up beautifully in Romans 8:37-39:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Camping leaves the Prediction Camp

I saw this article today- http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/harold-camping-quitting-prediction-business-145931855.html and my reaction was “Thank God.” It’s about time Mr. Camping  gave this up. I’ve written a couple of posts about FamilyRadio’s  former head (you can search my blog for “harold camping”).

In a 5 min. message on their website he admits that they need some more humility before the Lord and says that they have to be very careful not to dictate to God what He should do or when He should do it. He is God and He is in control. He said God will reveal truth to us in His time. He says “We are simply learning, and sometimes it’s painful to learn.” He mentioned that there was a level of embarrassment for Family Radio through their ordeal. He also admits in his message, “Oh Lord, I don’t know anything. Lord, You teach me.  And that’s the attitude that has to be a part of each one of us.” He also apologized for saying that people who did not believe that the rapture would occur on May 21 were not saved. “I should not have said that, and I apologize for that.”

Well, that’s a far different tune than previously stating over and over again that the rapture would occur on certain dates (possibly even 20, said one follower)  ”beyond the shadow of a doubt.”

Is he really done predicting? I hope so. I still feel for those who gave up everything on this falsity. 80 million dollars could have gone to much better uses!

What will happen on October 21?

Well, if the kids are feeling better, we may go to sand castle days on the island. But my real question was what will happen tomorrow in the whole “end of the world” category? What will happen??????

Here are some posts I wrote about the delusional Harold Camping.

Here’s an interesting article from the daughter of two devout followers of Camping.

Not as much press this time around, huh?  Good.  I’m not surprised.

What REALLY happened on May 21?

Oh, no. This guy again! I wrote previously on this blog about Harold Camping and Family Radio- The end is near? and Family Radio (Before and After), where I showed screen shots of their website changes from the countdown to no countdown the next day. Out of boredom maybe and a little curiosity I surfed on over to their website to see if they changed it yet again.  It sure did. Here it is:

Notice towards the top, there’s a “What happened on May 21?” link. I went there. I knew that they were still claiming that Oct. 21st would be the end, since it wasn’t May, but this interested me to see how they’d spin this. So I’ve copied their text here along with my remarks that I wrote as I read. Needless to say I was pretty upset that they continue spouting this stuff. My comments which I wrote last night while reading this page (which got me all fired up) are in bold and italics:

 What really happened this past May 21st ? What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what He wanted to happen.

Really??? When did you decide this? Was it after you said that God wanted something ELSE to happen on that day? OK, so you’re defending God, because He didn’t do what you thought He would do. I don’t think you’re covering God here, I think you’re covering your own flawed interpretation of God. I’d appreciate if you’d stop trying so hard.

That was to warn the whole world that on May 21 God’s salvation program would be finished on that day. For the next five months, except for the elect (the true believers),

Wait just a minute. Who are YOU calling the elect? I wonder if you would consider me a part of that group. I’m a pastor in an organized church. So you probably don’t count me as being IN. I’m fine with that. I don’t count what you put out as TRUTH. I’m saddened that many people, who you call elect have been led astray by your predictions.

the whole world is under God’s final judgment.

Some of your “elect” followers came under their own judgment after May 21, when you took their life savings. One overseas man hung himself because you were wrong and he believed you. A mother tried to kill her own children and herself, and thankfully was found and stopped and jailed. That blood is on your hands. That’s not God’s judgment. That’s your insanity.

To accomplish this goal God withheld from the true believers the way in which two phrases were to be understood. Had He not done so, the world would never have been shaken in fear as it was.

Was the world really shaken in fear on May 21???? I don’t think so. Christianity became the brunt of many jokes because of what you are espousing. People think Christians like myself are crazy because they just link us in with wackos like you. All the media attention that you got didn’t scare anyone who is living apart from Christ. It made them less receptive to ever coming to Christ. It was 15 minutes of fame, or better yet…infamy. Only certain people got scared and I hope after your (at least) second FAILED prediction they will stop believing your lies. Everyone else has forgotten about you, that is until your next date (Oct. 21).

One phrase is “the completion of God’s salvation program.” The other is “God’s final judgment.” The completion of God’s salvation plan is concentrated in the word “rapture.” The phrase “God’s final judgment” is concentrated in the word “earthquake.”

These two words, “earthquake” and “rapture,” have been extremely important in our teaching of Judgment Day – May 21. A critical understanding of these two words is the only change required to know why the unsaved are now living in a world that has not been horribly destroyed, and the elect have not been caught up to be with God.

Let’s start playing with words again. Who’s tracks are we covering exactly???

We always look at the word “earthquake” to mean the earth, or ground, is quaking or shaking violently. However, in the Bible the word “earth” can include people as well as ground.

In Genesis 2:7 we read:

“And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground…” Thus the word “earthquake” can also be understood to teach that mankind shakes.

    Therefore we have learned from our experience of last May 21 what actually happened. All of mankind was shaken with fear.

Again, already wrote about this. No, mankind was NOT shaken with fear. Shaken with laughter, maybe. Fear, not so much. Boy, there were some good jokes too. Did you hear any of them while cooped up in your house that you didn’t sell before your “judgment day”?

Indeed the earth (or mankind) did quake in a way it had never before been shaken.

That’s a real stretch. Which is it? Earth or mankind? I didn’t see any shaking, physically or emotionally.

God had come spiritually to bring judgment upon the whole world.

Is this the second coming then? Is God not already here? So then is the second coming gonna be the third or what? This happened on May 21, right?

The second word, “rapture,” identifies with the idea of the completion of God’s salvation program. The catching up of all the elect meant that there was to be no more salvation activity to be done anywhere in the world by God. Each and every true believer had become eternally safe with God in Heaven. No more was there any aspect of God’s salvation program that remained to be done.

OK…we’re grasping at straws now.

But the same thing became true this past May 21, even though no one was raptured. No one who had not become saved by that date can ever become saved. God tells us in Revelation 22:10-12:

“And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: For the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.”

That’s just more crazy. I’m really taking offense at this website, that you’re spreading these lies. Why are you doing this? This Revelation 22 moment has NOT occurred yet. God’s salvation program is up and running and will be right up until the end…an end that you won’t be able to predict. Quit confusing people already.

Thus we have learned that except for a somewhat different understanding of the words “earthquake” and “rapture” or “catching up” no other past teachings of Judgment Day or the end of the world have been changed.

No, we’ve learned not to believe anything you say. We’ve learned that you think you’re good at back pedaling, even though you wouldn’t admit it. We’ve learned that despite you having a horribly wrong theology about a great number of things, you won’t give up and you keep trying to gain a following. Why does anyone follow you? That I just don’t understand.

The time line, the certainty of it, the proofs, and the signs are all precisely the same. No other past teachings have been changed or modified. Indeed, on May 21 Christ did come spiritually to put all of the unsaved throughout the world into judgment.

How many people would’ve put that together from solid exegesis and Bible interpretation? I can think of only one. Harold Camping… false prophet.

But that universal judgment will not be physically seen until the last day of the five month judgment period, on October 21, 2011.

Now we have to wait again for you to be proven wrong and a phony, giving us all a bad rap and deceiving a few people in the process for your own gain. Yeah, now you’re getting defensive. Well, that’s the way I see it. I hope that anyone who might be thinking about believing you reads this and thinks twice.

We have also learned that God is still teaching that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked and will not punish the wicked beyond what is called for in Deuteronomy 25. That is, there is a distinct limit to God’s wrath.

There’s a distinct limit to your hermeneutics. And I think we reached it a long time ago. You really should think about NOT speaking for God, especially when you’re so far away from sound doctrine.

Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on October 21, 2011, on the last day of the present five months period. On that day the true believers (the elect) will be raptured.

Since nothing happened in 1994 (remember that book?) and nothing happened on May 21^st, this is the new date. Wait, you say it’s not new at all, it’s all God’s plan. A plan you were so sure of on May 21^st, but now you’re MORE sure.

We must remember that only God knows who His elect are that He saved prior to May 21.

Wow. Just wow. So no one can be saved now?

You, too, without your knowledge may have become saved before that date.

Oh, you can be saved and not know it?

Anyone can continue to beseech God for mercy because salvation and the election program are entirely in God’s hands.

And anyone can give financially to Family Radio and Harold Camping???

I’ll tell you what’s in God’s hands…His plan and His timetable. It’s not what you’re “preaching”. When will you understand that you can’t predict it? Probably never. Too bad. You need to retire on the money you stole from people supporting you and quit teaching your untruths. You’ve been wrong every time and you’ll never be right.

There you have it. Do I feel bad about my tone here? Not necessarily. Reacting this way is really unlike me, but I’ve had it with this guy! And like I said, I feel bad that some people (granted very few) have taken Camping’s word hook line and sinker. People have searched “harold camping” and landed on my other posts and my hope is that if anyone lands here who might be a follower of Camping’s or thinking about it would reconsider and leave the nonsense behind.

How do you feel? What’s your initial response to this???

Look for the next and final Harold Camping post on October 22nd of this year 

Andrew Osenga- “Swing Wide the Glimmering Gates”

Here’s another Andrew Osenga song- one of my favorites, actually from his solo stuff, but it’s all so good. Check out the original version on “Letters to the Editor”- http://andrewosenga.com/music/.

On this video I wanted to try a more challenging text obscure effect on the title. I’ll write another post soon on how to do that. For now, enjoy:

Andrew Osenga- I’m on your side

A while back my friend put some footage on an external drive for me to edit together. He said he didn’t have time to do it, so naturally like a can’t-say-no type of guy, I said that I’d do it. Well, it’s taken me a long time to produce this first song, but here it is. I liked obscuring the title. That was fun!

It’s Andrew Osenga- “I’m on your side.” I’ve been a fan of Andy O since the days of The Normals. My buddies and I would always catch them in concert when they were within a 250 mile radius from us, I’d say. Some of those friends of mine were the ones shooting this video.  Since those days, Andy has played with a host of others including:

Jars of Clay, Andrew Peterson, Jonny Diaz, Sarah Kelly, Katie Herzig, JJ Heller, Bebo Norman, Matthew Perryman Jones, Emily Deloach, Derek Webb, Jon Troast, Ben Shive, Jill Phillips, Laura Story, Adam Agin, Christopher Williams, Shaun Groves, Indelible Grace, Caedmon’s Call

I love his solo stuff. I’m hoping to book him some time for a concert. The guy’s got some skills. Here’s his new project in the works.  You can check out Andy on: http://andrewosenga.com/. For now, enjoy this song!

New Series Banner Design

This is the design I went with for our new series on the 7 deadly sins and 7 heavenly virtues. It’s kind of a tough series advertise outside without appearing judgmental in some way. That’s why I added the “all are welcome” text. We’re all sinners in need of grace and in a constant flux of minimizing and suppressing our sinful nature while choosing to live out our Christian virtues instead.

Hopefully this will be eye-catching and raise interest in people, especially new people. To achieve this design I used 3 different creative swap files “adam and eve”, “bling generation”, and “something heavenly” I think. I created one file for the sin graphic that we can adapt for the series slides, etc. and one for the virtues. I brought them both into the banner template, added shadow and the plus sign in between (which was actually a “&” in a font that made it a plus, and I liked it better). I did a simple gradient in the background but tweaked it so that my clean text at the bottom would be read easily. That’s about it.

What have you designed recently?

Quotes from a Great Book

I’d like to highlight quotes from Gary Molander’s great book “Pursuing Christ, Creating Art”.  Go to garymo.com to find out how to order your own copy.

Art finds its truest purpose when its creator attempts to make visible the invisible. Love is an invisible concept. So is patience. So is forgiveness. In its purest form, art enables people to see love, to see patience, and to see forgiveness. The Christian artist then, takes that primary purpose, and adds one word to it. God. p. 19

The best art is borne in the joy of heaven, or the pain of hell. God-fearing artists will experience both, and God will beautifully interact with them in both places. But to create from Hades – to try to become artistically motivated from a place of perfect balance between heaven and hell – will cause artists to create safer art that is less impacting on the viewer, and frankly more boring. p. 41

Real freedom is the ability to tell God’s story with your unique voice. p. 56

If God is not crucifying fear in the hearts of artists, then He’s probably busy crucifying our pride. That’s the other side of the same coin. p. 78

Perfect is a myth…Our lives are excellent. But they’re not perfect. p. 83

Excellence requires that we take all of the ability given to us, and intersect that with all of the resources at our disposal. And we create from that exact intersection – Ability and Resources. p. 83

Don’t ever let personal obscurity stop you from creating art. Please don’t worry about becoming famous, or about making a name for yourself, or about maneuvering the spotlight to shine a little brighter on your face. It’s one thing to get your art as broadly distributed as possible (a good thing), and that’ll take a great strategy. But it’s another thing to make personal popularity the end game. Just continue to do the work. p. 89

I wish we’d all learn to find the sacredness, not in the result, but in the process. Let’s work our tails off at the process, making it our sacrament. But let’s learn, possibly for the first honest moment in our lives, to truly leave the results in the more-than-capable hands of Jesus. p. 98

Artists know that they’re crossed the line into idolatry when they attribute salvation to their art…It’s so easy to jump from God-worship to art-worship. p. 108

I think discontentment is a good thing. There is beauty in this sensation that something in our lives is not yet finished – that we need to write something, or read something, or pray something, or draw something, or paint something, or shoot something, or sing something. And rather than fight against it, I wish we’d learn to embrace it. p. 121

When artists and leaders begin to attach expectations to their dreams, they create nightmares. p. 123

These days, it’s easier than ever for any artist to create a platform for himself, for herself. But the size of the platform doesn’t always equal the size of the character. Platform only displays skill level, not heart condition. Beware of the artist whose skill level surpasses their character. p. 155

The mark of a real leader is never the absence of fear, but the willingness to hand their fears over to a God who is both good, and sovereign. One hundred times every day. p. 157

But my greatest hope in all of this is simple. I hope and pray that you go create some art. That you create it in response to God. That you create it so the world sees a God who is unseen. That you not worry about how widely it’s distributed. Just worry that it’s distributed somewhere. p. 158

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, folks. Seriously, buy the book! In case you missed my other post, here’s my conversation with GaryMo himself on this fine work:

“Untitled” Book Review

Blank pages be gone! Blaine Hogan’s new book “Untitled” is available for just $4.99 on Amazon, iTunes, and B&N. I read it and here’s what I concluded:

Blaine’s book, though easy to read, is a tough pill to swallow. One of the over-arching themes is that the creative process is so very hard, if it is to be done effectively. He most definitely got that point across! Yet at the same time, he comes alongside both the experienced and inexperienced creative person and gives some needed encouragement through personal stories and helpful examples. At times he is blunt and up front with the reader with a sort of tough love that is necessary for creative types to see reality. For me, one of the most compelling moments in the book was a tender comparison of art to that of a baby. Through all of the hard work, it’s way worth it! A truly wonderful and real moment in this great book.

Untitled is chalk full of excellent quotes by a number of sources. It’s accessible to all creatives across any line imaginable with references from prayer to Lady Gaga. It’s simple, but insightful. Philosophical, yet practical. Challenging, but motivating. Do like me, and read it with the highlighter tool do its job. This work is a must read and refer to regularly type book for any creative person who wants to excel in their craft.

Here’s a short video I found of Blaine himself talking about the book:

 

Bonus- Let me give you just some of my favorite quotes from the book:

“No one cares about your ideas or how great a pitch-person you are if you can’t execute your vision.”

“Vision is easy. Ideas are even easier. It’s execution that separates the amateurs from the pros.”

“You will not be stuck forever. The trick is to know there are no tricks. There is, in fact, no easy way. There is only the work.”

“This is the creative process – stop complaining! It’s messy! It’s rarely mappable! It is always dynamic and ever-changing!”

“The best ideas must move you before they can move someone else.”

“Art will always reflect the beauty and the brokenness inside you and a commitment to contemplation leads you to a place where you can release both in lovely and healthy ways.”

“Your art isn’t just the “what” of the end-result, but is also “how” you got there.”

“Our job is to communicate the human experience and is something a machine will never be able to do.”

“Content must come before the medium. Don’t set out to prove a point. Set out to tell a great story. That might seem like kid stuff to you, but they are so simple we often miss them.”

“It’s easy to sell something to someone, it’s far harder to tell good stories.”

“Your inner critic is very real and it wants nothing more than to kill your creative freedom.”

“Failures are absolutely essential.”

“Beauty is a tricky, slippery bugger. But she must be captured…”

There you have it, go buy the book and read it cover to cover! Again, it’s available for just $4.99 on Amazon, iTunes, and B&N.