Today's My Friday

This never gets old.

Drawin' Stuff

As an art major in college I was told by basically every professor I had to always be drawing every day. This was not easy for me. I never drew until my sophomore year of college when I had to take a drawing class. So most of the sketchbooks I turned in had a full page of writing with a cube sketched in the corner as an afterthought. I always got the same feedback, MORE DRAWING!

So I've been on a mission to draw more, because let me tell you it is true that if you don't use it you lose it.  Fear not though, because although it may start off rocky the more you draw the better you get. Let me offer up an example. Yesterday I shared about Ed Dobson. I was immediately amazed by his wavy, out of control, but oh so perfect beard. So I decided I would try to draw his face. This was the first attempt.

It's so bad that I find it hysterical. It's what I imagine a troll would look like. Also, it says open me pulease because in my notebook it's taped over the finished sketch and I was a little concerned that someone might flip through it and think I was really this terrible at drawing. So even if the first time you try to draw it's this bad keep going and it will get better. 

You might end up with something resembling a person instead of a mythological creature. SUCCESS! By no means am I saying this is easy. This is what I come up with after taking no less than three college level drawing courses. It's hard, frustrating, and ego-destroying, but there's something to be said for persevering through failure (multiple failures).

Ed's Story

Ed Dobson and the production team at Flannel are creating a series of short films chronicling Ed's fight with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Ed has been a pastor and an author, yet he is surprisingly candid about his feelings as he faces death. I constantly feel that when religion collides with real life issues we have a tendency to wrap them up in neat little packages so it "makes sense" to us. Ed doesn't do that. His honesty in these films is compelling. He has a peace and gentle wisdom about his life and life in general.

He says the most wonderful thing at the end of Consider the Birds, where he recalls watching his son go off to war in the midst of his sickness. 

 "When you're worried about the future it's hard to find God. When you're living in the moment he's right there with you." -Ed Dobson

There is a great Q&A with Scott McClellan on the Collide Magazine Blog. You can view the first film, It Ain't Over, at edsstory.com. The first five films are available now.

Everyday is a New Disaster

Please tell me you know this person. The one who rants for 20 minutes about spilling a diet coke in their car. The one who gets irate over an inconvenience. The one who has to announce every little problem and annoyance. It seriously makes me wonder how they handle things like illness, unemployment, and death.
Trust me I know that spilling something in your car can be upsetting. The first week I had my new car I spilled red fun dip in the passenger seat. Now why I was carrying around a half eaten fun dip in my kate spade I can't tell you. This is why I shouldn't have nice things. However, to my knowledge I never complained to anyone about it. I cleaned it up.

If it wasn't this it would be something else. - Elizabethtown