As many people that follow my Blog and my Deviantart know, I have not posted in a very long time. Much of the reasoning behind that has to do with some serious frustration with depression and dealing with family issues and unemployment issues and so many other issues i just wont get into.
Lets just face it. Life has been sticking its foot up my ass over and over for a while now and it basically put me down for the count on an emotional, physical, and even a artistic level. I felt like I was watching the quality of my work drop out the bottom of the floor for a while now. Not to mention the pace at which i work slowing down to the equivalent of a snails crawl.
Outside doing sketch cards i just had not had the ability to be consistent on anything for a while now.
Well the official announcement is that a great deal of things have started to turn around for me finally!!
I am so freaking happy about this. A lot of things have a long way to go to be fixed but I honestly am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel and feel a new level of creative energy growing.One of the things that helped spawn this is my recent move to LA.
I started working at Universal Studios Hollywood as a caricature artist! I am having way to much fun! This is probably the best thing to happen to me in like 5 years. I am sad to be away from the family but it was a necessary move if I were to ever start picking myself up off the ground.
I had been freelancing and looking for work for a long while in MO and just was not having any luck. I was at the point of wanting to just settle on working fast food and being a part time substitute teacher. Not to mention, dare I say it, I was very close to letting go of my art career and never drawing again.
I had reached a point of depression and frustration that I no longer wanted to be an animator or a comic artist or a artist of any sort at all. I simply was done drawing. The idea made me sad, but the idea also gave me some relief. Stop being an artist and just do anything to get by seemed way more logical than the constant struggle of trying to sell a couple of drawings for $50 every once in a while. Art just stopped making since as a career choice and I honestly felt like my abilities were no longer desirable enough to get me anywhere.
My last effort to turn this around was a complete overhaul of my living situation. I closed my studio in downtown KC and applied for a caricature job and got it. So here I am starting over. I have an awesome roommate and I am actually feeling pretty damn happy. Plus I get to see some cool ass shit out at Universal on a regular basis.
So check out some of the pics. They are too cool! Thanks to all those that have been sticking by my blog over the years and following me even when I had not updated for a very long time.
I really enjoyed this sermon. One thing I have been thinking about lately is how do you tell the difference between when you are being attacked by Satan and being loved by God.
I friend told me the way you can tell the difference is by how you feel. God does not give a spirit of fear or worry, nor does he encourage bad habits or bring stress.
Satan works on us bringing us worry fear nervousness, and many other negative emotions and we pray and pray and hope things will get better. Many times when Bad things happen in our life the first thing people do is say GOD why have you dont this to me. But we forget. God has not done any of these things but it is satan and sin that is working against us.
The entire world is perverted by sin and when horrible people do horrible things to innocent people people automatically think something bad no one ever stops and wonders if they are under attack.
Look at how much Christ suffered as a Man. He knew he would die. God did not kill His Son. People and Satan worked crucify Christ. Yes God knew He could reach down and save him but at the same time God also knew he could save us all and that for Christ there was no death but only life. But unfortunately that life came at the price of suffering.
There is a interesting scene where Christ is talking to his deciples in the bible and He rebuke Peter after Peter tels him that he should not die. I think the importance of this seen is shown well in that it is brought to our attention more then once in the bible.
"Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection Mark 8:31-33
31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke this word openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But when He had turned around and looked at His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
"Jesus Predicts His Death Matthew 16:21-28
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
I think that this speaks volumes in that here we see people that are considered men of God and disciples of Christ being influenced by Satan. It is like Satan manipulates us like his little toys.
Have you ever questioned your thought? You ever have a thought or strong emotion that seemed out of character to you and questioned whether it is really coming from your.
I have tried this experiment before. Around the time when I first got saved. I was having some really dark and frustrating thought and for some reason I was lead to rebuke Satan right in the middle of feeling really Down and oppressed. I spoke outloud, in the Name od jesus satan I rebuke you."
It was a very strange expereince. I had immediate relief!I had been feeling depressed for days and suddenly my head felt completely clear. To this day I am not even sure what lead me to do this but I did and I felt instantly better and my mind felt light.
I am curious if anyone else has ever felt this. Trust mem though Satan is relentless!! There are times when I feel like I am under constant attack. Like my thoughts are so heavy I cant even speak. it is overwhelming. That however was the day I learned to question the things going into my head.
"Ephesians 6:12
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[a] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. "
I have come to the conclusion that Satan will do everything he possibly can to hurt us or turn us against God. I mean seriously imagine the most evil peron you can think of or that you may even know and then think of how Satan is influencing that persons life and leading them astray and how he does it to every single one of us if he can.
Look at what is on T.V and how every t.v show and often even cartoons try to steer people away from knowing an loving God. When you can see that in our society. Then you can know for sure that sometimes we need to question exactly what is going through our own heads. I remeber when a friend showed me this a while back. one person in particular in this test refered to the game as a mind altering demonic weapon.
Not that I am trying to be a prude or anything cause I grew up loving horror films. But games are on another level to me cause they place the individual in a situation that can tie them emotionally to what is happening on the screen. God tells us to be careful not to be decieved. Satan attacks the mind in many ways. Not just through media but even through personal experience.
"Little children eat your bread" ~Lauren Hill "Mystery of Iniquity"
Voice of Mickey Mouse attends gala to raise money for KC Disney project: Disney and art lovers thronged to a gala Friday night held to raise money to restore the Kansas City building where Walt Disney first met the rodent that would inspire Mickey Mouse. The man who is the current voice of Mickey Mouse attended the event.
Romans 6:15-23
King James Version (KJV)
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
I have been spending more time in the word of God lately and I saw this scripture that jumped out at me and I felt like looking over it thinking about it and really trying to internalize what it meant to me.
What! Should we sin cause we are not under law but under grace. well the first things that come to mind are the questions, what law is the Apostle Paul talking about and what is grace. As a baby christian I have been confused many years about the bible and understanding it but I think I am finally beginning to see.
When Christ died on the cross he dead so that we could be forgiving for our sin. Sin is basically breaking the law. its like if you Robbed a bank and then had to be punished for it in a court of law. For God the wages of sin is death. God puts to death all those that Sin.
To understand the severity of that death you have to see that by death God means when you are dead you are dead. there is no after life or now souls roaming the earth. you are put out like a flame of a candle is blown out.
To God sin and disobedience are not acceptable in his kingdom so by sinning we make ourselves an acceptable and separate from God. When Christ died he payed the fine we would other wise have to pay with our lives.
Anyway so what is the law. Well we all know it. we been hearing it our whole life. If you are still confused i will lay it out for you here,
Exodus 20 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing
that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in
the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord
thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord
thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy
stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17 Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,
nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Ten commandments is a moral Law that God commanded we live by. Just because Christ gave his life and paid for our sins doesn't mean that we are free and clear to sin and do what ever we want cause we are saved and the fine is paid.
There are several definitions of the word Grace, many referring to something being beautiful or a kindness but the ones that stood out to me were:
This passage talks about the laws of God being laid down and Us not following them because we are saved by Christs sacrifice. I think though the other thing being emphasized here is that there is more then one law. the second law comes from the serpent in the garden. When Satan approached Eve and said to her "you will not surely die."
Satan encourages us to do what ever we want to do as if there are no repercussions to the choice to just do what ever when ever where ever and to who ever we choose. When Paul talks about yielding yourself to the servant you obey he is saying that the things we do in our actions reflect who it is we actually serve. Satan told us to sin and God told us not to sin. either way we are faced with a choice that will reap a reward whether good or bad.
The idea of the truth setting us free, you know that old statement you hear thrown around comes from the bible. when you listen to the lies and manipulations of others it leads you in a downward spiral where the sin begets more sin. like a virus being spread from person to person to person. And trust me sin is addictive. it give temporary satisfaction in every manner of the word.
Christ says that he came to bring life and not death. We show our love and devotion by following the law. and when we sin we show our devotion to Satan and that is how it goes. so if a person gets saved and they continue to sin are they really saved?
How do we stay saved once we are saved? We follow the law and we read Gods word so that we can know exactly what the law is. Its not burdensome and it is not hard. It might however require a whole new set of friends from telling people "NO" all the time. Educate yourself and know Gods word. pray for truth clarity and understanding. God is good and he will give it. otherwise sin will darken your heart and you will be given over to it so that you will drown and die in it.
He can you treat other people well and be a good person if your sin over takes you. Think I think of the fact of how we hurt each other for our own selfish desires to be filled like having sex with a women even though you know you have AIDS. Or killing someone to still the rims off there car. I ask you this. What good has sin done for you lately? Was it a temporary benefit? The commandments are about respect and love of ourselves, other and of God. How can you demand respect when you don't give it?
Respect comes easy when you follow Gods law and the reward is ever lasting life. Ans trust me Satan HATES that!
