Our Yellow Ochres

Starting a new canvas can be intimidating for artists. For some reason, staring into that 11X14 inch rectangle can evoke more out of you than a completed piece. “Fear,” “worry,” “joy,” “overwhelmed” are all words to describe how the artist might feel.

Insert a color. Fears go away.

Color is always interpreted by the context it sits. A green looks differently next to blue than it does red. With the color white, there is no color anchor point. When one bungee jumps, we at least know the cord is tied to the ankles. No so with a white canvas.

One color (there are several) artists often use to help kickstart their work is by applying yellow ochre all over the canvas.

The takeaways are endless to this metaphor. But I’ll offer a few:

1. What are some “yellow ochres” in your own life to kickstart certain practices you’d like to develop?

2. What “yellow ochres” do you offer others to their better serving the world?

The Gift of a thing learned

As a young person, I didn’t fully recognize the significance of the choices I was making at the time, whether they were decisions made, skills learned, or habits formed. Often, we don’t immediately feel the impact of how we spend our youth.

I never imagined that my food jobs would later equip me with the skills to make pizza for our weekly family nights (one of my favorite things to do). And who could have predicted that those golf lessons would eventually lead to special moments shared with friends at the driving range? How could I have known that watching my dad wake up each morning would make it easier for me to start that habit?

The reality is, we never know how all the inner workings of our past could be used to bless and serve others today. What are some of your gifts, talents, or skills that could be used to serve others?

I Asked the Lord

Sometimes, someone else says something so much better than I could ever say. I think others agree John Newton’s famous hymn, “I Asked the Lord that I Might Grow” accomplishes this.

I love the journey of this hymn. It starts with his desire for growth as a Christian. It ends with God’s response. But along the way, it appears God is silent.

“1 I asked the Lord that I might grow
in faith and love and every grace;
might more of His salvation know,
and seek more earnestly His face.

2 ‘Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
and He, I trust, has answered prayer,
but it has been in such a way
as almost drove me to despair.

3 I hoped that in some favored hour
at once He’s answer my request,
and by His love’s constraining pow’r
subdue my sins and give me rest.

4 Instead of this He made me feel
the hidden evils of my heart,
and let the angry pow’rs of hell
assault my soul in every part.

5 Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
intent to aggravate me woe,
crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
humbled my heart, and laid me low.

6 “Lord, why is this?” I trembling cried,
”Wilt Thou pursue Thy worm to death?”
”‘Tis in this way,” the Lord replied,
”I answer prayer for grace and faith.

7 “These inward trials I employ
from self and pride to set thee free,
and break thy schemes of earthly joy
that thou may’st find Thy all in Me.””

— John Newton, 1725 -1807

I love this hymn so much that I created my own music for it. Sometimes, the best thing we can do for someone else’s words and for our own heart is to reimagine it in our own way. I’ve found that nothing helps me internalize a thought quite like crafting my own art to showcase it. I do this by asking myself a few questions:

1. What does these words bring to my imagination?

2. What is the feel of these words?

3. What artistic genre do I have in my toolbox that would best capture the essence of these words?

For Newton’s hymn, is was this eerie kind of guitar part.

What about you? How would you remake these words with an art form?

***And a special thanks to my good friend, Randy Turner of Gooder Studios, for shooting such a nice video in Alaska.

Words reimagined from "I Asked the Lord That I Might Grow" by John Newton. Music by Matt Taylor.

Christ in Culture: A New Proposal

How should Christians interface with culture? One could argue this question has perplexed God’s people ever since Adam and Eve. I’ve enjoyed wrestling with this topic ever since I read Andy Crouch’s Culture Making.

So, I was excited when I recently came across Teddy Ray’s proposed model for Christ in culture. Ray provides an adapted (or updated?) version of Tim Keller’s model shown here:

From Center Church by Tim Keller.

What I appreciate the most about Ray’s prescribed model is his emphasis on Jesus’ love as the guiding principle. Ray explains:

Let’s use Jesus’ great commandment as our first guideline. Jesus says, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Everything we do should be aligned to loving God and loving God’s creation.

I took it upon myself to chart Ray’s Christ in Culture model in visual form:

Christ in Culture: A New Proposal by Teddy Ray

Head over to Ray’s blog for a further explaining of each quadrant.

Make Haste, O God

Below is a poem by Charles Spurgeon as he concludes his commentary on Psalm 70:

Make haste, O God, my soul to bless!

My help and my deliv’rer thou;

Make haste, for I’m in deep distress,

My case is urgent; help me now.

Make haste, O God! make haste to save!

For time is short, and death is nigh;

Make haste ere yet I’m in my grave,

And with the lost for ever lie.

Make haste, for I am poor and low;

And Satan mocks my prayers and tears;

O God, in mercy be not slow,

But snatch me from my horrid fears.

Make haste, O God, and hear my cries;

Then with the souls who seek thy face,

And those who thy salvation prize,

I’ll magnify thy matchless grace.

 C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 56-87, vol. 3 (London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 204.

A Global Sneeze

Psalm 67 begins and ends with blessing.

It starts with a request for blessing.
It ends with a promise of blessing.

May God be gracious to us and bless us;
look on us with favor. Selah (67:1)

God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear Him. (67:7)

The surprise in this Psalm is how God’s people are blessed. In these seven verses, some form of the word “nations” or “peoples” are mentioned. To truly understand God’s blessing to us, we must understand the total scope of salvation to the ends of the earth.

If we miss that, we misunderstand his blessings to us.

A Psalm for Animists

Psalm 65 is a psalm for all the animists in the house.

From Thirsty to Satisfied

Read Psalm 63 if you wake up thirsty...knowing full well that everything to come in the day will not satisfy that thirst.