Jericho Jacques

Ladies, look at your man.
Now look at me.
Now look at your man.
Now back to me.  Sadly, he is not me.  But, if he were a half-breed pirate, took a shower in rose petals, sunshine and saltwater, dabbed a little burnt gunpowder behind his ears, he would still smell like envy of me.

They call me Jericho, because when i call, the ladies' walls come down.

What do i love most about being a pirate?  Well, the freedom, cannons and suave fashions are all very nice, but i'd have to say, i do it for the booty.

Far enough

The Rabbits have decided that this Rabbit Trail has gone far enough.  This is a cartoon, not a comic book.  From now on, all these King of the Cockroaches story panels will go over in my old blog where i was writing a novel, then a graphic novel and now, who knows?  That'll free this page up for cartoons, rabbit or otherwise.  Sorry for the confusion.  i'm not a planner, i'm more of an improviser.

An unwelcome visitor

"Bandages, it's a new monotooth, er, young one? Recent convert? Whatever, maybe it's not very good at it yet. Maybe there's a learning curve to being an recruiter for hell. Maybe it's gonna crawl right past and keep going. Maybe it won't smell us or see the tracks we left, or heat signature or sense the humidity off the cold sweat in my shorts, whatever it is those creepy walking corpses do. That's it, just keep going...keep crawling away...i've been good all week. Didn't even steal from those merchants. God owes me. Keep crawling you f--" 
The Monotooth's head snapped in their direction.
"Aw shit. God knows about the watch."

Prudence unfurled

"You remember the sandstorm?" 
Kurga nodded. "I thought Prudence had lost her mind when she said we were going to ride it out."
"You were probably right. During the worst of it, i thought i heard laughter over the hissing sand under the hull. i turned and there was our Prudence, veils and robes, demeanor of stone all forgotten, black curls fluttering in the uncaught wind, her eyes wet with what i can only assume would have been unbridled joy in anyone with a heart. She may have lost her mind but i think she found herself in that storm on her boat. That's the Prudy i will miss. The one i could have fallen in love with."
"It sounds like you did."
Chuvoga sipped his coffee. "Then it's truly a shame she's dead."

The short, unhappy life of Anathema Macomber.

Nathy took a deep breath and a tentative step.  Probing the darkness before her with her sword.  Tactically dumb, she knew.  Anyone wishing her harm in the darkness could just grab the weapon before her eyes adjusted enough to see them.  It was smarter to keep the weapon back and at the ready and force the enemy to attack the body first trusting your armor to repel the initial blow.

Smarter, sure, Nathy thought, smarter would have stayed the #!!< outside.

Sailors of the sand

"What do you think, K'sretti*?

"i think it's dead."

"And i think you are an ass.  What killed it and how long ago?"

Ch'voga shrugged, "Only Yah knows.  Something which did not find its company agreeable.  But not very long at all, i would think.  The sand hasn't even begun to cover it."

"So it could still be close.  I wonder what it thinks of our presence then?"

"Only Yah knows.  But if it can take down a monotooth, the three of us will not provide much entertainment."

Kurga shivered, "I have no pity for monotooths, but i have no desire to know what slays them for sport either.  Have you seen enough?"

"i have."

"Prudence would suggest we sail far and fast then."

"And i would agree with her."

(*Partner; comrade-in-arms, literally: My one who guards the tail)

And a bonus image today.  A friend of mine urged me to try and color this.  i used a photoshop like program called GIMP.  i'm not too good at it as the image shows.  But hey, you can share my failings as readily as my successes.

Santa's going preemptive

Fifty shades of What the...???

Gives new meaning to "strip tease."  Not a good meaning but...

A Frank Exchange of Ideas

Emmit discusses his driving with his mechanic, Frankie.  Grease Geckos have some odd opinions about risk management and mech handling.

So i got yet another reptile in a tunic prompt and was all ready to refresh and try again when i thought, no, i can make this happen.  Also, i liked Emmit and wanted to use him again.

Emmit T'pau phones home

Apparently you can't get good reception anywhere in this galaxy.

Back to silly meaningless pictures.

...Are Answered Prayers (a continuation of my Sabbath Post)

 “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. Yet a little time and the world will see me no longer, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. The one who has my commandments and keeps them—that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.” John 14

How is your walk with the Lord?  Do you feel his presence?  Do you feel his pleasure?  Do you hear his voice?  Is his joy in you and your joy being made complete?

No?  Join the crowd.  But before we just shake our cynical heads and plod on, shouldn’t we ask, why?  Jesus said these things were ours.  “Child, you are always with me, and everything I have belongs to you.”  And what does the Father have?  Everything.  What do we as his ungrateful children usually want from him?  Things.  Things we think we’ll make us happy.  Money, fame, power, order, comfort, peace, control, beauty, freedom, health, love.  Things.  Things we want to spend on our pleasures, to celebrate with our friends.  But what is it the Father wants to give us?

“And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and between your offspring after you, throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant to be as God for you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you are living as an alien, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting property. And I will be to them as God.” Gen 17

“And I will consecrate the tent of assembly and the altar, and Aaron and his sons I will consecrate to serve as priests for me. And I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites, and I will be their God. And they will know that I am Yahweh, their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt in order to dwell in their midst. I am Yahweh their God.” Ex 29

“And I will give to them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh, and they will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with the whole of their heart.” Jer 24

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

“and they will not make themselves unclean again with all of their transgressions, and they will be for me a people, and I will be for them as God,” declares the Lord Yahweh.” Ezek 14

“Thus says Yahweh of hosts: ‘Look! I am going to save my people from the land of the east, and from the land of the west, and I will bring them and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They will be my people and I will be their God in faithfulness and in righteousness.’” Zech 8

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How many times I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Luke 13 

God wants to give us… GOD!  Himself!  Think of orphan stories like Annie, My Fair Lady, Oliver Twist, Cinderella, the main characters are not the heroes.  They are victims, they are damsels in distress, they are the forgotten, the forsaken, the abandoned, the hopeless.  The heroes are Daddy Warbucks, Higgins, Mr. Brownlow and Mrs. Maylie, the Prince.  They could have given the victims of our stories a handout, even a large one, a gift to help them along and little Annie and Eliza and Ollie and Cindy would have been no better off, or at least not better off for long.  It was only in giving their Selves that changed the story for the orphans!  Could each of the orphans used money and things?  Of course.  Would it have changed their lives, maybe, but probably not for the better.  It was only by taking them out of their shame and victimhood and bringing them into a new family, a new home, giving them a new honor a new Name, the hero’s name, which changed everything! 

Brothers and sisters, we don’t need God’s things.  Not even the gifts of the Spirit we think we need when we’re all spiritually and stuff.  We need the Father!  This is the spirit of adoption Romans 8 speaks of.  This is why being given a new heart, a new name, being placed in a new family, a new home is such good news! 

So what does this have to do with the dead church I told you about the other day?  Glad you asked.  Do you know why the Bible’s favorite animal metaphor for God’s people is sheep?  Neither do I but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s because they’re afraid.  Weak, fearful and dumb.  Cows are dumb too but they are powerful.  You have to respect their strength.  You can yoke them for work.  Oxen are symbols of servanthood.  Sheep, not so much.  You don’t yoke a sheep.  There’s another difference between cows and sheep.  Cows you herd, you drive them before you.  You grab the lead cow and make him go the way you want and the rest follow him. 

Sheep follow.  They learn the voice of the shepherd and they trust him.  It comes back to their fearfulness.  The shepherd reassures them.  When he is near, they feel comfortable.  They follow; they keep him in sight.  If he gets up and moves, they get up and move with him. 

Jesus fulfilled the law, right?  We are free, right?  Fully justified by faith in him and his finished work, right?  So did you ever wonder why he then turns around and says things like, “go and sin no more,”?  Why he gives new commands?  Do we now have a new law? 

“Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” 1John 2 

Jesus has work to do.  “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”  Jesus has better pastures for us.  Jesus has better streams for us.  Jesus has other sheep he wants to gather.  Lost sheep he wants to find.  Jesus knows there are wolves about.  Jesus knows winter comes and we need to shelter in new places.  We fear the unknown.  We like the comfort we have, even when it’s uncomfortable.  Known is more comfortable than unknown.  We even think we’re smart enough to know better than he does.  We don’t see him.  We hide behind locked doors.  We busy ourselves in work we know.  Things we think we do well.  The old ways of pursuing life. 

But Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  He finds us there.  He feeds us there and then he asks, “Do you love me?”  If the answer is yes, then he says things like, “feed my sheep.”  “Go and sin no more.”  “True religion is too look after widows and orphans and keep yourself from all impurity.”  We, like Philip plead with him to show us the Father and he dissolves our church.  Why?

Because He’s answering our prayer!

To Philip, he said, ““Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” John 14 

Do you want more of the Father?  More of the Son?  More of the Spirit?  Is this your desire?  Good!  Then follow him!  He is not here in the darkened tomb of your old life, your old way of doing things, this empty pasture, this bitter stream.  He has moved to better pastures, he is finding his sheep, he is feeding his sheep.  Do likewise and you will see him there!  Go and sin no more is not a command, it’s and invitation to join him on mission, to Come and See the place where he dwells!  Be where he is!  Do what you see him doing!  You will “discover” he is there. 

My church called itself a church of the church-damaged.  It was full of hurting people coming to get healed.  Jesus met us there and we enjoyed his fellowship, he healed us there and we rejoiced, he told us, “now, go and tell.  Go do the things you see me doing.  Take up your mat and walk!” And we wept because we didn’t want to leave the safety of the fold, the comfort of the crib, the dark, warm fellowship as we knew it.  We may have been judged, just as Israel was sometimes judged and found to be wandering far from the God who loved them.  A wife far from her husband.  A child far from their Father.  If we turn the home God gave us into a brothel or a leper colony, we shouldn’t be surprised if he burns it down.  But this is not the fury of wrath.  Jesus took all that for us!  This is the jealous rage of a righteous husband who wants his wife back and will not allow her to be abused or abuse any longer.  If all the patients in the ward are well but refuse to leave the hospital, he has to take drastic steps.  He scattered us, yes, so we would follow him again!  Our season in that place ended, winter was over and he invited us out to see the Spring!  To once again, hear his laughter and see his face!  I have better gifts than these, come and see!

“Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 15

Some of God's greatest gifts...

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age.” Matt 28

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him—this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you bear much fruit, and prove to be my disciples.

“Just as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have spoken these things to you in order that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be made complete. This is my commandment: that you love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I have heard from my Father I have revealed to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. These things I command you: that you love one another.” John 15

A simple servant friend of the Living God who now sees her savior face to face, used to like to ask people, “How’s your walk with the Lord?”  A gentle way she had of moving to brass tacks, an expression from the upholstery trade I think, which infers, “what’s holding you together?”  “Are you holding together or are you coming apart at the seams?”

I watched a church die once.  It had been sick a long time and on life support.  It was a sincere church, like Phillip and Thomas, we honestly wanted to see the Father, to be with Jesus.  We prayed for it earnestly, we longed for a greater knowledge of Him.  We longed for a greater experience of the gospel.  We knew we were sick and longed to be healed and prayed for it fervently and fought our impending doom with bitter tears.  And lost.  In the end, level heads and sincere hearts pulled the plug and monitors recorded the last desperate beats and then the long, thin, unbroken wail of flatline.  The lights were turned out and no one mourned because everyone was in the casket.

A church however is a collective organism.  A body made up of parts attached to a whole.  When the body died the parts were scattered in disarray.  They spun out into the void like asteroids of an exploded planet, searching the dark for their savior and begging a single question:

“Why?”

The answer which comes, always comes in a whisper, so soft it can often be missed for a long spell over your own wails, over the tumult of life, over the Vegas Strip of vice and distraction gauntlet the world, the devil and desire make a christian run.  The answer is always a variation of the same, simple message:

“Because I love you.”

The world asks, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  Christians should ask, “Why do bad people call good things bad?”  Job asked, “Indeed, should we receive the good from God, but not receive the evil?”  The answer is of course, yes and I will tell you why:

Because it’s good.

“Therefore if you, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”  How can a good God and loving Father; how can the Father that Jesus showed us and spoke of constantly give us anything but good?  No really!  Go and find a quiet place, if you can, and stew on that!  That’s the main point here, if you get nothing else you read, consider and take to heart that!  Is God good?  Is God holy?  If you’re his then your conscience will not let you answer either of those in anything but the affirmative in which case, How Can A Good God Give You Anything But Good?

“But my life sucks!”  I get it.  I hear you.  I cry that all the time too.  So let me finish the story of the dead church.  There is a stigma that attaches itself to a dead church, like any roadkill, it has a stink.  That stink is shame.  Catholics cross themselves and Protestants whistle as they hurry past our grave.  Other churches where the asteroids land, look at you like, “wow, what did you guys do wrong?”  It is the stink of judgment.  God went all Revelations on us and removed our lampstand.  Spit us out of his mouth.  We are a hissing and a desolation.  We must be forsaken.  Even I believed it.  As a recovering legalist, it is easy for me to believe.  We were a leper colony not getting better, not getting it right, God had enough.  But is that true?  Were we forsaken?

Was Job forsaken?  This is where it gets good. 

For the sake of Zion I will not be silent,


    and for the sake of Jerusalem I will not maintain a quiet attitude,


until her righteousness goes out like the bright light,


    and her salvation burns like a torch.


And the nations shall see your righteousness,


    and all the kings your glory,


and you will be called a new name


    that the mouth of Yahweh will designate.


And you shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh,


    and a headband of royalty in the hand of your God.


It shall no longer be said of you, “Forsaken,”


    and it shall no longer be said of your land, “Desolation!”


but you will be called “My Delight Is In Her,”


    and your land, “Married,”


for Yahweh delights in you,


    and your land shall be married.


For as a young man marries a virgin,


    so shall your sons marry you,


and as is the joy of the bridegroom over the bride,


    so shall your God rejoice over you.  (Is 62)

But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,


    and the Lord has forgotten me!”


Can a woman forget her suckling,


    refrain from having compassion on the child of her womb?


Indeed, these may forget,


    but I, I will not forget you!


Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;


    your walls are continually before me.


Your children hasten;


    your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart from you.


Lift your eyes up all around and see;


    all of them gather; they come to you.


As surely as I live,


    declares Yahweh,


surely you shall put on all of them like an ornament,


    and you shall bind them on like a bride.  (Is 49)

God cannot forsake His own!  If he could, he would have axed Adam and Eve in the Garden.  He wouldn’t have had Noah build a boat.  He wouldn’t have brought Jacob out of Egypt.  And He Himself, would not have hung on cross and be the only living person in the history of humanity to ever cry these words and have them be true, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani!”  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  The Father forsook his own Son so he would never have to forsake you who trust in that son!  The father took the first curse, death, what could be more evil, more bad than death, and gave it to the only good person who ever lived?  When his son knelt in a garden and asked for good gifts from the Father, the Father gave him death.  The Father judged him.  The Father spit him out.  He became a hissing.  The Father removed his love and his light.

And.  It.  Was.  Good!

It was the answer to his prayer!  And that dead church which had prayed to see Jesus, to truly have the life abundant that God promises through Jesus, they got their prayer too!  How?

I’ll tell ya later…

When a problem comes along...

Whip it,
into shape
medium build
small frame
cat-like head
armor: jade
accessory
is a whip
so whip it
whip it good!

No Capes!

Edna: It will be bold! Dramatic! 
Bob: Yeah! 
Edna: Heroic! 
Bob: Yeah. Something classic, like, like Dynaguy. Oh, he had a great look! Oh, the cape and the boots... 
Edna: [throws a wadded ball of paper at Bob's head] No capes! 
Bob: Isn't that my decision? 
Edna: Do you remember Thunderhead? Tall, storm powers? Nice man, good with kids. 
Bob: Listen, E... 
Edna: November 15th of '58! All was well, another day saved, when... his cape snagged on a missile fin! 
Bob: Thunderhead was not the brightest bulb... 
Edna: Stratogale! April 23rd, '57! Cape caught in a jet turbine! 
Bob: E, you can't generalize about these things... 
Edna: Metaman, express elevator! Dynaguy, snagged on takeoff! Splashdown, sucked into a vortex!  Commando Frog, slowly stepped on by tank!
[shouts] 

Edna: No capes! 

Go and show yourself to the priests.

Tell me the truth...

...does the book make me look like a nerd?

Cupid

So the prompt was:

• short, thin
• light robes
• bird-like head
• bow and arrow

So obviously a vulture agent of love.  i mean, what would you have thought of?

Corben

Prompt was: tall, medium build; light robes; bird-like head; accessory: book.

Hellbender

i wish i could draw like Chris Sanders.  Well, this lil' fella started out looking like he was gonna pounce, and then i drew the tunic.  Now i think the tunic must be made out of wool, cuz he looks itchy.

the Bride

So here's the thought process.  The prompt is tall and thin; dress, risque; human female (that makes the dress a little better :); accessory: shield.  Woman with a shield automatically conjures valkyrie in my noodle.  Shield maiden of Rohan stuff.  So a tall one.  That jives.  Scandiwegians are tall.  But...

i start having this whole To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street thing go on.  That can't be my story, that's but a start...  who says i can only draw one character?  So who else is tall and thin?  Carries a shield?  Aha!  Where's it written that only Titanic Teutons can play valkyrie?  What if every culture had choosers for the heroes of the dead?  Then as i was drawing these ladies... far too exaggerated, yes, i know... i started thinking of verses from Song of Solomon, dark but lovely, neck like a tower.  All this is bride of Christ metaphors and the Church is the bride, full armor of God...and voila... you get this.  Whatever this is.

Karf's fable

One day a gathering was called of all the tricksters. Karf the Monkey and Brer Rabbit and Jacob the Coyote and Loki the Raven and many others, all the tricksters of the folk were sent an invitation for a feast by the Lord and Lady of the Folk. 
Of course they did not go. Some did not come because they thought it would be a great trick to play upon the Lord and Lady but most suspected a trick themselves. All the world's tricksters in one place at one time? That smelled like a trap. So the day came and all the tricksters were as busy as ever taunting, tantalizing, tormenting the hard working folk. 
Six times this happened. The Lord and Lady sent invitations to all the tricksters inviting them to a banquet in their honor. Six times they did not come, chuckling to themselves as they pictured all the woodfolk and plainfolk and junglefolk and desertfolk crouched around the door waiting to pounce on monkey and rabbit and fox and coyote and raven and the door never opening. In fact, so amusing was this thought that one day, monkey thought to himself, "it is really a shame for these fine folk to be going to all this trouble to make asses of themselves all these times and i never there to witness it." So he determined in his mind that the next time this happened he would sneak in among the folk in a disguise. He was very excited about this plan and immediately spent much time working on his costume. He gave it skin with no fur except on top, and he couldn't find enough material to give it long legs on front, so he gave it arms and hands like his and he walked only on two legs. It had no claws because he did not want to scare anyone and have them look too closely, no fangs or tail or antler or horn, nothing dangerous looking at all. Perfectly harmless. Then he waited.
And waited.
And waited but no invitation came. Now really, this was too much! Snub someone only six times and they give up on you? He had really thought the Lord and Lady were much more genial and mannered!
One day while he was stewing over this slight to his honor, he saw all the folk of his village going together somewhere and he called out from his tree, "Did someone die?" No, they said, no one has died. "Was there a fire?" he asked next. No, they said, there was no fire they knew of. "It is not harvest time, i know." No, they agreed, it was not yet time for harvest. "Then how is it, all the fine folk are leaving the village, fields and storehouses empty and unguarded?" About this they hemmed and hawed and wouldn't meet his eye and he could tell they were quite embarrassed but gave no answer. A few said they were just going for a walk, one said he was visiting a cousin far away, another just looked at the sun and said he really must be going and they all walked on together. This was too much for monkey, he wished them well and stayed on his branch until they were out of sight and then he ran to get his costume. A little while later he fell in behind them to see what this was all about.
After much walking, and being joined by many more folk from many more villages, they came to the homely house of the Lord and Lady of the Folk. "They have called a banquet for all the folk and have not invited me!" thought monkey. This thought did not anger him as you well know, it made him chuckle inside his furless suit. Because he had tricked them, he was there anyway! You cannot trick a trickster! Inside the house, which always looks bigger than the outside and yet the perfect size for whatever gathering, there were tables laid out with every kind of tasty treat imaginable. Yet the deeper into the center, the closer one got to the head table, the better the tasties became. Monkey was not greedy but he said to himself, "it is really my job to know what the finest eat because they are the ones most in need of humbling and therefore most in need of my skills." So he casually blended in with this group here and then that one there until he had worked his way to the center table. The Lord and Lady's table. Finding a seat available, he thought, "why not? I'm already here."
Two other things were different about this table, the first was that each place had a single gift, beautifully wrapped before it. This is probably what kept monkey from noticing the other strange thing about this table. For seated all around it were nothing but furless, two-legged creatures that looked a lot like his costume. Monkey however only had eyes for the present. "It is really my job to know what it is so i can craft a more perfect trick for the owner later," he told himself and then started peeling the wrapping.
Inside was a lego set.
Around the table, fox in his costume, raven in his costume, coyote in his costume, rabbit in his costume and all the tricksters of the world who had not been invited were opening their gifts as well and finding toys which would consume all their time too. So busy were they with their gifts that they did not notice when the Lord and Lady joined them. They did not notice all the relieved and amused smiles among the folk. They did not notice the party much at all. When it ended they thanked their hosts and took their gifts home and they forgot to take off their suits. And to this day, all the folk know the tricksters by their furless skin and harmless looking claws and fangs and avoid them carefully... when they have to, which is rare because the tricksters are all too busy playing with their toys

Wu he

Another warm up sketch.
This one a jawless cyborg, though there don't seem to be much meat left on him..her?  it.... i suddenly want to write something post-apocalyptic...

Proof of life

i'm still drawing breath even when i'm not drawing rabbits.  Having a bit of a soul...weighing these days.  Need to get back on mission.  This was a suggestion from another blogger i follow.  Who in turn, turned me on to another page called Pickle Kitty's Character Attribute Randomizer.  A good warm up sketchercise i thought.  i may keep going there to keep my digits and noodle loose.  My first time there i got:
Medium sized, built
Reptile head
Heavy robes
Staff accessory
So...This here is a tuttle shaman.  i picture him blessing houses, warding off evil spirits, delivering babies, cleaning gutters, you know, typical holy man stuff.

Questions Arise

The first question God asks in the Bible is not the first question asked.  That dubious honor is reserved for the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan.  “Did God indeed say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  Love, real love, godly love, requires submission, my good subservient to your good.  I lay down my life, my rights, my needs to meet yours.  I freely lay down my glory, my body, like a cloak over the filth, for your glory, so your steps may remain spotless.  Trust isn’t necessarily necessary for this…for God.  Our puny, transactional, weak minds and hearts however, need to know our beloved will be faithful with the gift we are giving.  God knows all this, which is why he set up the nursery of Eden.

Adam and Eve were children.  They needed to be taught love the same as you or i.  We start learning it at our mother’s breast, in our father’s arms as we finally drift off to sleep on that first, horrific day of life.  ‘Fear not, little one.  I will feed you.  I will clothe you.  I will keep you warm.  I will keep you safe.  You are not alone.  Trust me.’  Or we know the pain of its absence if these people fail.  God does not fail.  These are the things God says to Adam and Eve in his provision, in his garden, in his creation of them for each other.  I am your provider.  I am your safety.  I am your lover.  I am good and want what’s best for you.

It’s called a test but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is really a symbol.  Without it, without the opportunity to disobey, how would Adam and Eve know their own hearts?  It’s not trust if you have no choice.  It’s not love if there’s no other option.  We have no idea how long they lived in the garden before the serpent whispered in their ear.  It could have been centuries.  It could have been minutes.  Every moment they trusted God to be faithful and good they demonstrated by ignoring this tree.  God said it, I believe it, that settles it.  Submissive love, total openness, perfect communion.

All broken in a single question, “Did God indeed say…?”  Doubt.  Is God good?  Is he holding out on us?  Do we really need him?  Notice that Satan doesn’t care if you believe IN God.  He only cares if you BELIEVE God!  God does nothing but prove he loves us, he is just, he is good, he is providing.  He makes promise after promise to us, for our good.  His track record is flawless, none can point a pointy finger at God and declare his wrongdoing and yet it is precisely this which Satan wants us to believe.  Why?  Because he believes it.  Liars never trust anyone but themselves.  They always think they are being lied to.

Without trust, communion is broken.  Pride breeds doubt or doubt gives birth to pride, I know not which but the union of them creates desire.  God cannot be trusted.  It’s up to me.  Why shouldn’t I get every advantage I can?  Why shouldn’t I be like God?  We don’t know how long a time passes between Eve’s conversation with the serpent and when she finally stretched out her hand and acted.  It could have been minutes, it could have been centuries.  I’m inclined to believe the shorter because sin had already given her something to hide.  She had a secret.  Communion has no secrets.  It holds nothing good back.  It has no reason to hide.  It has nothing it fears from the other person, no judgment, no pain, no hurt.  Her secret however had to be hidden from God. 

Or did it?  I wonder what would have happened if she had taken the serpent’s question to God?  Lord, why?  Why must we not eat?  It is the innocent question of the two year old, which has just been told …pretty much anything.  Why?  God is not offended by humble questions seeking knowledge and wisdom from him, the source of all wisdom and knowledge.  This is perfectly good and reasonable.  In fact, it would show wisdom already!

She does not show wisdom.  She shows independence.  This babe in the woods has already decided for herself she knows good from evil.  It is good, she reasons, to be like God.  It is good for her to trust herself and her own reason.  She does not even seek guidance from Adam.  She has already isolated her self; she is well and truly alone.  It is not good for the man to be alone God said and so it proves to be true.  Communion dies in independence and individuality. 

She plucks.  She bites.  She hands it to Adam.  Was there a conversation?  Did he fear she would excel beyond him?  Was it self-preservation that led him to take it from her hand?  Did he not want to risk losing her?  He already doubted.  He already feared.  Trust was already gone.    His outstretched hand was merely a symbol of the sin within.

He took.  He ate.

Fear gripped.  Love died.  Communion died. 

He ran.  He hid.  All was lost.

But God…

Rejoice! You suck and so do i!

“Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, in order that it would torment me so that I would not exalt myself.8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would depart from me. 9 And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, because the power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore rather I will boast most gladly in my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may reside in me.” (2Cor:12)

It’s usually my policy to not speak of myself too much here.  This is for two reasons, one is that I’m really not that interesting.  Two is because I’d like to be.

I am a small man.  I don’t mean short, though in God’s humor, He chose to make me that too.  I am small in dignity.  I am not confident.  I have no claim to greatness.  I have no claim to honor.  I need constant reassurance, an emotional parasite from a line of emotional parasites.  I am self-absorbed.  I have little to be proud of and often combat this by taking far too much pride in the few gifts I have been given.

Why am I telling you this?  Again, two reasons: “16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.” (James 5) and because, like Paul, I am learning to boast in my weaknesses.

Only Christians can do this rationally.  I am easily overwhelmed.  A harsh word, a small opposition to my plans, a little thing that goes wrong and I come apart.  Why would I boast of this?  Because sometimes I overcome!  How?  Did I cease to become a small-minded, self-seeking, easily overwhelmed weakling?  Heck no!  Gimme a few minutes and i'll prove it.  Christ overcame me!  He not only overcame the resistance, He overcame me!  And He does this all the time!  So to boast of my weakness is to simultaneously boast of His greatness!

It has been my pattern, being a self-seeking, small-minded man, to see this as growth.  I’m getting better.  Bah!  Thank the Lord that He keeps knocking me back down!  Otherwise I would be insufferable!  My heart wants to take the victories of Christ in me, the times He overcomes me and my weaknesses, the Power of God in me, for myself!  I am so pathetic I would take credit for what God has done for me and through me!  I am so wretched I would accept the glory for things I had nothing to do with!  Any time I overcome myself, it is not me but Christ in me!  So I will boast in my weaknesses, my lack of education, my lack of resources, my lack of strength and stature, because the Power of God, the Victory of Christ and the Spirit of Love shine through these things!  God is making much of Himself not through our supposed aptitudes but through the very things we most hate about ourselves!

This is a lot of exclamation points.  But this stuff excites me.

Now, I will not boast in my sin.  And these weaknesses have been used as engines of sin in me.  When I try to make people like me.  When I try to take credit for God’s gifts.  When I seek the approval of men and God.  When I become self-righteous.  “34 With those who scorn, he is scornful,

    but to those who are humble, he gives favor.” (Prov 3)

In my weakness, I have allowed sin to power and corrupt even the good in my life.  I have loved only to seek love.  This is not love.  God, who is love, loves those who cannot love Him.  Who cannot benefit Him.  God does not seek us to fill some hole in Himself.  He seeks us to fill a hole in US!  This is love!  Not to be worshiped for how great I am but to give up my greatness, to use my greatness (I’ll get to that) for the good of the other!  That my friends, my brothers and sisters, is Love!  That’s why love isn’t proud, why it doesn’t keep a record of wrongs!  It’s not seeking anything but the good of the other, it’s not considering itself at all. 

I would tell you to love like that but that would be stupid!  You can’t!  You are too weak, I am too weak.  And that’s exactly where we need to be!  Now we’re ready.  Only a Christian is greatest when they come to the end of themselves. 

“And this is the victory which has conquered the world: our faith. 5 Now who is the one who conquers the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1John:5)

When we confess our weakness to God and each other, God is free to move!  Why would He bless us if we take credit for His work?  No one's is going to be saved by thinking we're awesome.  You are no one's savior!  We must confess our weaknesses, foremost and first among them being, We cannot save ourselves!  Only by Christ are we saved and redeemed!  We must boast of our failings and flaws before men (we might as well, they see them eventually anyway) so that men will see our good deeds and say, “That’s awesome!  He’s a total jerk so that must be the finger of God!”  The Father and Son are in us.  They have given us the Holy Spirit, the mighty right hand of God!  The greatest power in the universe is in us!  God says to us, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3)  “‘Child, you are always with me, and everything I have belongs to you.” (Luke 15)  Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.  We are simultaneously worse than we think we are and greater than we can possibly imagine!  God has given you your weakness as well as your gifts!  Stop using them to build tin tiaras, reverse the polarity on the engines of sin and focus on Christ!  Learn from Peter, don’t take your eyes off Him.  The crowns we wear are His gifts!  They are the works God’s Spirit does in us!  Throw them at the Lamb’s feet, rejoice that He has chosen you, do good as He makes you able and worship!  How could you not??