"Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks."

It's my last Christmas break as a student and I'm not sure how I feel about that just yet.  But that's besides the fact.  It is however,  a perfect time to find new talents, hobbies and interests.  I'm finding that being home without a car is giving me a whole lot of time to get in touch with my artsy, expressive and creative side.

Today I played the  guitar for over 3 hours (my fingers are killing me haha) and just last week I worked on 2 paintings.  I've always been interested in music, but painting is a new hobby for me.  I've found that, in a sense, it's kind of like journaling. It allows me to just get out everything on my heart and turn it into color, shape, and movement.  Instead of worrying about the wording, it helps to just focus on feeling and emotion. So, I just wanted to share a bit of my heart with you.  Enjoy =]

'I'm a broken stone, so lay me in the house You're building"

"Italian Tree of Glory"... this one was just for fun =]

"To be Free"

This one was  team effort =]

"Truth"

Shake him up!

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot;  I wish that you were cold or hot.  So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." - Revelation 3:15-16

Holiday Trees...

Apparently the White House referred to Christmas Trees as “Holiday Trees” for the first time this year which prompted CBS presenter, Ben Stein, to present this piece which I would like to share with you. I think it applies just as much to many countries as it does to America . . . 


The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.


My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejewelled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a crib, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her: “How could God let something like this happen?” (regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said: “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?”

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbour as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing yet?

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,

Ben Stein

True Discipleship

This is a true story about a man who worked in a factory in Africa that I found a while ago.  It makes you think about what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ...

"Every day this man would take his Bible with him to work. He was persecuted daily for doing so. Finally, a day came when someone told him that if he brought his Bible to work with him again, he would be killed. He went home and prayed that night. The next day he went to work with his Bible, and was killed.

When people cleaned out the place where he lived, there was barely anything there. He had very few possessions. However, there was one thing they found - a paper taped to the back of his door. They later learned that he read this paper every morning before going to work...

"I am part of the fellowship of the unafraid.
The die has been cast, the decision has been made. 
I have stepped over the line.
I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away or be still.
My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.
I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded.
I now live by faith!

Lean on His presence, love with patience, live by prayer, and labor with power.
My face is set, my gate is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way is rough.
My companions are few, my guide is reliable, and my mission is clear.
I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, divided or delayed.
I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice or hesitate in the presence of adversity.
I won't give up, shut up, let up, or slow until I have stayed up, stirred up, paid up and spoken up for the cause of Christ.
I am a disciple of Christ!
I must go 'til He comes, give 'til I drop, preach 'til all know, and work 'til He stops me.
And when He comes for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me.
My banner is clear, I am a part of the fellowship of the unafraid!"

“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For does it profited a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul? 

+ Luke 9:23-25 +

JPII we love you!

“It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle.

It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, makng the world more human and more fraternal.”
+ Pope John Paul II +

Happy Feast Day of Blessed Pope John Paul II!!!

Eat some cake in honor of this man!

Beautiful Girl.

Truth be Told:

This is a beautiful girl.

Girl.

Human being.

My niece.

She is unique and unrepeatable.

Deserves dignity, love and respect.

Truth be told: 1/3 of her peers will be killed 

before leaving their mother's womb.

Pray to end abortion.

Make a small sacrifice... www.untilabortionends.com 

Coincidence? I think not.

I realized that the picture in my last post looked pretty familiar...maybe because I drew something pretty similar a few years ago.  Funny how that happened...

Around the set of hands are the lyrics to a Tenth Avenue North song, 

"Lift us up to Fall"

Freedom in Truth

"If you remain in my word you will truly be my disciples, 

and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." 

 John 8:31-32

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything" 

 Mark Twain

"The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are 

permitted to remain children all our lives." 

 Albert Einstein

"Nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth." 

Blaise Pascal

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,

 that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." 

 John Keats