The Hobbit

by | Oct 23, 2012 | Film

So excited for this film to finally release in a few months. Love the behind-the-scenes stuff coming from Peter Jackson and the rest of the crew.

How Will We Wait

by | Aug 30, 2012 | Words

How do we get to the morning, to the sunshine, to the joy?

There is only one way.

By waiting for it. We can’t hurry the dawn, no matter how many anxiously we pace the floor or how impatiently we watch the clock. And so the question is not do we wait or not wait, because waiting is all we can do. The question is, How will we wait? Will we wait well… or will we wait poorly?

[Ken Gire, The North Face of God]

Pursuing Christ Creating Art

by | Aug 30, 2012 | Books

A few weeks back I read Gary Molander’s book, Pursuing Christ Creating Art, for the first time.

Stop right there. Go buy the book. Read it. Then come back.

Seriously.

That’s how deeply this book impacted me. Freed me. Challenged me.

“Do the people we have authority over feel covered, protected, and loved by us?
Or are we achieving our own dreams, all the while using them to get there?”

I first read this as meaning that other people have a responsibility to look out for me. And they do. But then God smacked me round the head and told me, I have a responsibility to others also. We all have influence in one way or another. Am I using my influence to release people into their God-given dreams, or just using it to get my own way?

“Artists pour their hearts into the art they create, so when they’re told to
go in a different direction, what they hear is: ‘Your heart is wrong.'”

Reading this freed me. You’re heart is not wrong. You’re heart is true to what God has called you to make. But that doesn’t mean your art will always be the best piece for the service, website, brochure, whatever.

“I think that question would not be ‘Am I gonna be OK?’ I think it would be a different question altogether.
Is the world gonna be okay?”

This made me think about something my pastor said recently. He was talking about how we often say, “If God’s got a calling for you, you won’t miss out.” His comment on this was that it’s probably true – you might not miss out, but others will. Your art is not just about you. It’s about what it does for the world. The world needs your art.

“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.”

May my platform never outgrow my character.

UPDATE: I had a bit of a server error, and lost a few posts/ comments. This was originally posted at the end of June.

The World Needs Your Art

by | Jun 18, 2012 | Books

“I think that’s how it’s designed to work. God saves, redeems, and resurrects. Artists respond to that work with art. And a world of onlookers looks on. Because at the heart of it all…

Art is missional.

The point of art is to make visible the invisible God, for the world to see.

Christians don’t need to create art for God – He doesn’t need it.

Christians need to create art in response to God – Because the world needs it.”

[Gary Molander, Pursuing Christ Creating Art]

A Doxology in the Darkness

by | Jun 10, 2012 | Faith

“The best style of prayer is that which cannot be called anything else but a cry.”

[Charles Spurgeon]

It’s the end of an overnight getaway, and I’m half way through the journey home when this little church on the banks of Loch Awe captures my attention. I pull over at the side of the road and start to explore. Walking around I feel the weight of history: the saints who have worshipped and prayed in the place continually for over a hundred years.

And then I see it.

Kneel Down

The sight that brings me to my knees.

A kneeling board, used for prayer, worn away.
Years of prayer.
Of crying out.
Of longing for God to move.

Answered. Unanswered. Big. Small. Significant. Insignificant.
Every prayer heard by the Father.
Every prayer a doxology in the darkness.

“To be grateful for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of the marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in the darkness.”

[Brennan Manning]

Inspiration Run Down

by | Jun 8, 2012 | Everything Else

Things I’m digging…

  • If you haven’t seen the Press Pause Play film yet, you need to.
  • Gorgeous retro-themed tee-shirts from Pilot and Captain to encourage the wanderlust in us all.
  • Love this video from my friend Rick, used during Youth Vision Sunday at Carnmoney Church.
  • Neil Gaiman’s address to the University of the Arts Class of 2012 is a phenomenally encouraging and challenging speech. “I’m not sure I can call it a career. I had a list of everything I wanted to do. I just did the next thing on the list.”
  • The fantastic Sunday| Magazine