LWH19 More than the job
05/11/11 08:43
From the Long Walk Home blog: 
3 years in an admin job feels like failure…I believe the big fat lie that there is no dignity in this work, that there is no reality in this kind of work.
You and God, God and You?
27/10/11 14:42
I recently did a series of teaching/preaching slots for an 11-14year-olds weekend away with my Church. Here are the slides that summarised a lot of what I was doing. Seasoned Youthworkers will spot that it is a fairly simple Gospel outline. I include them here because they might be of use to someone out there. Get in touch if you want to use them. Click to enlarge.
1: You and god. The lower case g is deliberate. I was asking a few questions about what our genuine thoughts are - separate from parent views etc. How do we picture the idea of a divine being?
2. God and you! I then turned the tables and posed the thought that if God is in fact real, our ideas are less important than His. What does He make of us? That is the real crucial question - a bit like John Blanchard posing ‘Does God believe in Atheists?’.
3. We then did a massive group session involving reflecting on what makes us who we are, what our current gifts and blessings are, plus how we view the future. What do we hope for?
4. I then rehearsed the amazing Gospel big storyline: firstly that God has given us everything but we have shut him out. We are a bit like insurgent rebels.
But also we are victims in some measure. We live with the ‘virus’ effects of sin and often suffer in a dark and broken world.
What does God really think of us? He knew that we wouldn’t stand a chance at the judgement and sent Jesus to gently rescue us from hostage hostilities while also dealing with our rebellious track record.
The cross of Christ is the decisive master stroke, the special move, the ultimate in rescue activity.
5. We can now begin to reconsider our vision of a life in the future with God living in us and us in Him. Through Jesus there is the most wonderful opportunity for a life of fulness and hope.
1: You and god. The lower case g is deliberate. I was asking a few questions about what our genuine thoughts are - separate from parent views etc. How do we picture the idea of a divine being?
2. God and you! I then turned the tables and posed the thought that if God is in fact real, our ideas are less important than His. What does He make of us? That is the real crucial question - a bit like John Blanchard posing ‘Does God believe in Atheists?’.
3. We then did a massive group session involving reflecting on what makes us who we are, what our current gifts and blessings are, plus how we view the future. What do we hope for?
4. I then rehearsed the amazing Gospel big storyline: firstly that God has given us everything but we have shut him out. We are a bit like insurgent rebels.
But also we are victims in some measure. We live with the ‘virus’ effects of sin and often suffer in a dark and broken world.
What does God really think of us? He knew that we wouldn’t stand a chance at the judgement and sent Jesus to gently rescue us from hostage hostilities while also dealing with our rebellious track record.
The cross of Christ is the decisive master stroke, the special move, the ultimate in rescue activity.
5. We can now begin to reconsider our vision of a life in the future with God living in us and us in Him. Through Jesus there is the most wonderful opportunity for a life of fulness and hope.
The Body of Christ
11/09/11 18:15
Romans 12: For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
I recently preached on this at church. Be generous in your criticism...
For the sake of food.
30/05/11 08:51
Romans 14v20: Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
Commissioned by Scripture Union for the Wordlive site.
Inner Conflict in Romans 7
26/02/11 10:27
"Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind..."
Read Romans 7v7-25 here.
Commissioned by Scripture Union for the Wordlive site. Thanks Eddie.
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Dead Abraham's Faith in the Living God
02/01/11 14:37
Romans 4v18-25 has to be one of my favourite Bible passages. 
From a recent series of commissions by Scripture Union for the Wordlive site.
From a recent series of commissions by Scripture Union for the Wordlive site.
Bad News: necessary to understand the Good?
02/01/11 14:32
EN81 Grazing/Mining
07/07/10 20:06
Psalm 36:8,9, Romans 11:33 and 1Peter 2:2.
There is a ton of stuff you can digest online - much of it is pretty interesting. You can explore what experts in a variety of fields are thinking and doing minute by minute. The trouble for this Christian was that he ended up listening more to what editors,writers and other artists were saying and less to what his Saviour has said.
In the end, enough is enough. You have to acknowledge that while grazing the surface has some value, the treasures that God has freely given us should be mined regularly - there are abundant riches that will surprise, astonish and ultimately nurture/nourish.
Thanks for the textual assistance: JT, DF, RL, TW.
The Big Wedding Day: Revelation the 19th
01/12/09 17:32
My friends Kev and Kath are getting married in about three weeks. It is a massive chapter change for them and wonderfully they have included us in the celebrations. After stumbling upon a new personal style of adorning text, Kath asked me to do some more and this was the result.
It is an extended meditation on the Christian worldview narrative - from the Creation, to the Fall, to Jesus' Cross-work and finally the consummation.
May God richly bless this couple as they step out in awe of the truly BIG day. All the rest will fall into place.
The Rope of Hope
29/07/09 22:13
Fantastic!
I have been asked to revisit a few older EpilogueTV cartoons and reformat them for Sorted magazine. I took one of my first ever pieces (found originally here) and redrew it, making a few changes to the text, composition and pacing. The newer version is much much better and hopefully reflects some personal improvements over the five years I have been pushing these little babies out.
EN66 Sin Slavery
01/04/09 13:55
A huge thing in Christian thought is the idea of being set free from slavery by Jesus’ Cross-work.
Steve Farrar wrote a really great book called ‘Finishing Strong’ a few years ago. It is about being a solid Christian man (I am making no claims here...). I actually remembered this quote through something that Peter Lewis had published online.
EN51 Death is Nothing for Gamers.
01/01/08 13:54
Whatever view you take on games consoles (and I happen to be occasionally pretty much obsessed with them... sorry) they imitate real things but aren't real. There you go, I said it.
EN49 What Art Would Jesus Do?
01/11/07 13:54
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
We went to the Tate Modern over the half term break and visited Doris Salcedo's sculpture. I was quite worried about grafting a christian message on to something that is meant to be vague, but surely the cross of Christ is all about this kind of thing? The Ephesians text in chapter 2 talks about how the gospel brings down ancient barriers between political and social differences as cultures are finally reconciled to God through Christ's death.
I played about with a more painterly feel, but couldn't get the cross to look like blood. I also bust a gut that week doing two big commissions and decided to cut my losses and go for simple shading.
There is an allusion here to the chap who does sculptures using blood transfusions, and I also wanted to have some fun with the extremely jargonistic 'WWJD' bracelets which lots of teenager christians wear. Personally I think you should be known by how you live and not this weird trinket-culture, but there you go...
Waking up to reality
15/04/07 19:31
This is an illustration I did ages ago for CCB for a series called ‘The World We All Want’.
EN42 Shredded
22/02/07 13:53
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Identity theft is becoming a really big deal recently. I bought a shredder at the behest of my wife and found myself in a queue at sainsbury's reading the packaging (as you do).
It struck me that there are all sorts of links between the role of this little machine and the christian worldview - for example - the Bible talks a lot about how we try to hide our identity before God and how we are basically bankrupt because of our instinctive anti-God attitudes.
Once again we have the simple stick men with some shading and really simple physical expressions. I think I am moving towards this style more because it just seems to work somehow. This is really probably a throwback to my affection for Chris Ware and his quimby mouse stuff.
My mate the Erudite Frog also commented on this being an (unintentional) sideways swipe at online consumerist christians. I have no idea who he means by such a comment.
EN26 Bird Flu
01/11/05 13:51
The Bible epilogue text can be found here and here and again here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Avian Flu had become a hot topic in the news and I wanted to do a simple connection with what the Bible refers to as 'sin'.
'What's the worst that could happen' is from the Doctor Pepper adverts that had been showing. Usually some person would say it and then the worst thing would literally happen - TV coverage of their trousers falling down or something worse. Very funny. Tony Waghorn was very helpful in assisting me on refining this one.
The 'Long Lost Lorne Roaders' refers to Kathy and Alexa who went out on a limb a few years ago to show me what a pig I can be. Good friends aren't just about flattery, and any progress as a christian needs caring people who can help point out your flaws in a compassionate manner.
On a sort-of related point, I once did the dance from 'Seven Brides' in the shared student kitchen we had in Leicester and our landlady (called Mrs Tossar) had to come and get the handle glued back on the cooker after I'd accidently kicked it off during my choreographed frenzy...
EN18 The New Ten Commands
01/03/05 13:50
The Bible epilogue text can be found here (you may have to scroll down a bit to find the exact part...).
Jon Snow presented this really interesting show called 'The New 10 Commandments' on channel 4. Apart from a total misunderstanding of what the 10 commandments actually are, it provided an interesting perspective into what people value in todays ideological climate. The strip explains itself - relativism is notoriously interchangeable - commandments voted in by the public aren't commandments - they are options.
Interestingly the number one command was based on a story of christian forgiveness, but this link wasn't reinforced.
