The next challenge is a video game character. I chose Alucard, Dracula’s son from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Alucard is out to stop Dracula at all costs. I love this character. I hope you like my redesign.
Y’all have fun,
Richard
1, 2, 3, 4, how do you like my dinosaur?
Y’all have fun,
Richard
Historical document 67297: They were chosen for their noble hearts. They were originally the keepers and protectors of the hills and the mountains and the high places. They tended to rock and stream, tree and creature. Before there were Humans these were the caretakers of creations secret places. All of that was before the demon invasion. These golems could more than handle trolls and ogres, but demonic powers they could not face on their own. The golems had partnered with Dwarves in the past, but now times were different. Only a very few kept to their purpose, and stayed true to their heart.
Y’all have fun,
Richard
Historical document 67296: Over time the golems became resentful in their silent vigil of a city that didn’t seem to care about them. They were not creatures with hearts of stone. In fact they were created as burning caring hearts and then encased in stone for their protection. However, neglect, and loneliness can cause even a loving heart to become cold, and hard. Over the centuries that is just what happened, and their hearts became as cold as their metal armor. As their hearts became hard, their appearance changed and the purpose distorted. It wasn’t very many decades before the city’s guards became as much a danger as the demons outside the city’s walls.
Y’all have fun,
Richard
Just a little Hippo Love for your Valentine’s Day.
Thank you for you stopping by to see what’s new.
Y’all have fun,
Richard
.5 hb lead pencil, and Pentel Brush Pen
Describe the nature of the church and its primary mission and task.
The primary mission and task of the church is to go out and make disciples of all nations, and was given to the disciples by Jesus and documented in Matthew 28:18. While it easy to say the “how” question is the heart of what this question asks. John Wesley did not start out to reform the Anglican church. Instead, John Wesley sought to be closer to God. The closer John Wesley came to God the more he realized, “the Bible knows nothing of solitary religion.” John Wesley’s journey into the presence of God lead Wesley into the presence of other believers also seeking to be closer to God. It seems to me from very early on in Wesley’s ministry the work of the church is about growing closer to God with others who are seeking to grow closer to God. So long as we have this mutual goal in mind the Holy Spirit works through the body of believers and tremendous things are accomplished. The hungry are fed, the thirsty are given something to drink, and the poor in Spirit are edified. The Book of Discipline states, “[t]he church is called to be that place where the first signs of the reign of God are identified and acknowledged in the world.”1 I fully believe this is true. I am; however, not sure this mission is best lead from the top down. The revivalism Wesley was a part of in the 1700’s did not follow a top down model. Rather, it was the average person, the coal worker, the house wife, the mill worker, the house servant, and the banker all coming together to learn more about God. In some ways the church is lead best through the power of the Holy Spirit working among individuals to bring them closer together for the benefit of the Kingdom of God.
The trouble with the church is churches are made of people who want to be like Christ, but are not Christ. Some are so on fire for God they burn people, or scare them off like the bull horn guy you probably saw on your way to work this morning. Others run the distant extreme and only come to church so they have time to balance their check book. So when the world sees the church the world quite often does not see Christ. All of this is to say the nature of the church is not always the nature of Christ. Today, more often than not, the nature of the church is human nature. However, the discipline argues the church is the place where the first signs of the kingdom of God are acknowledged. There are tons of good people in churches all over the country. So the question is how does the leadership of the church activate the good people of the church for ministry without burning them out. How does church leadership inspire the pew potatoes while calming our church bull horn guys/gals?
I think the answer lies in community. There are not enough clergy to have a pastor for every individual in the church, and besides, the churches could not pay that many full time clergy. The answer lies in getting the super on fire for God people working with the middle of the road people while the middle of the road people work with the pew potatoes. What will the work be? The work is learning about the Word of God and putting their faith into action. Learning to be more like Christ does not come from just studying God’s Word. Learning to be more like Christ is about having both a heart and a head for the kingdom of God. Knowing what is in Scripture is a terrific thing, but having heart for those who are broken in the world that they may be made whole through a close relationship with Jesus Christ is extremely important. I am not simply talking about leading people to Christ and walking away once the person is saved. I am sorry, but the Christian walk does not work that way.
The point comes back to community, and living life together. The Christian walk is not a sprint to a single goal. There are lots of mile stones in our faith walk, but the journey is not over until we are standing before the throne of God. I am reminded of those words from Hebrew 12:1 “… let us run with endurance the race that is before us, looking to Jesus[.]” The nature of the church is unfortunately human nature, but the church’s mission and purpose are such that we are called to open ourselves to the working of the Holy Spirit and out of our faith and where we are in our work do the work of the Kingdom and let the Kingdom’s work have it’s full effect on the Body of Christ. Casting Crowns once wrote a song called, “If We Are the Body.” In the song they asked a good many hard questions about the work of the Body of Christ. Those questions cut to the quick those who are spending more time in their humanness than they are in the Spirit. Those who are actually in the Spirit, and not just talking to themselves, are hard at work sharing the love of Christ with others so the whole world will know just how much God loves us.
1HOUSE, Book of Discipline of the Umc 2008, 44 ¶101.
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of our savior, and of Christ Jesus our hope. To Timothy, my true child in the faith: grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless geneaologies which promote speculations rather than stewardship from God that is by faith.” 1Timothy 1:1-4
Hello. I’m Richard. For the purpose of this blog I am DoodleDaddy. I figure it’s been a while since my first post so a little reintroduction isn’t a bad thing. I am a husband and father of one who likes to draw to blow off steam. I am also a licensed local pastor in the United Methodist Church trying to work my way through the ordination process.
To you the reader, thank you for taking the time to read this blog. My sincere hope is you will find encouragement, be challenged or convicted, and maybe find some humor in my doodles. I have been working through 1John for these devotions, but now I’ve completed 1John so I’m moving on to 1Timothy.
One of the reasons I think so many people dislike lawyers is the very nature of a lawyer’s job is to find loopholes in humanity’s laws to protect their clients, and most lawyers are good at it. For the rest of us whose eyes glaze over at all of the complicated language it can feel like lawyers are taking advantage of us. It’s not that we do not like the idea of loopholes. We just don’t like being on the wrong end of the business. People do the same thing with the Bible. People love to study the Bible when they have a need. Either want to prove someone wrong, or they want to feel better about themselves because they know more than the folks in their Bible study. Or maybe people want to get out of something themselves – perhaps the prohibitions against becoming drunk? Evidently the people Timothy was serving in Ephesus were trying to get out of something, otherwise they would not have been hedging their bets. The people of Ephesus studied Scripture, but did so with an eye toward ancient myths and genealogies. Paul wanted Timothy to remind people they cannot be saved by myths. God doesn’t so much care who your great grand daddy was. Salvation does not come from how well our parents lived their lives with Christ. God wants our hearts. God wants us to have a strong relationship with God.
From time to time we are all tempted to shift our focus away from God. From time to time the stress of bills, the want for nice things, struggles in a marriage or at work, all tempt us to shift our gaze away from God. The devil is tricky that way. However, the Bible, and the love of God are the keys to the Kingdom. God loves us. God wants to be close to us, and for us to be close to God. To help us figure out what that relationship is supposed to look like God gave us a love story – the Bible. So perhaps the next time you open up your Bible stop to consider this. What is God trying to say to you? Not what can I find in Scripture to get me out of trouble, but what does God want me to read at this time?
In His Peace,
Richard
Third Day “I Need A Miracle”
I’m a big Third Day fan so when I heard this I just had to share it. This song may or may not have anything to do with the devotion. I’ll leave that up to the reader.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
Fight the Good Fight of Faith
11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before[b] Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 1Timothy 6:6-16
This is the passage I am going to preach on this week. It’s Monday morning so I’ve just started pulling at the passage to pull out all of the nuggets of wisdom, and the pearls that challenge. What strikes me right away is verse seven; “for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.” I always thought some anonymous pastor, or a comedian made up the expression, “I’ve never seen a hearse with a luggage rack.” Now I know it’s right there in Scripture. It’s funny how that happens. The more we study the Bible the more nuggets and pearls of wisdom we find have made their way into our cultural way of thinking.
Speaking of pearls here’s what I think is the hang up about money. God does not need money. Why would the creator of the universe be concerned with collecting little sheets of paper? I mean – God is God! Why would God care? What God wants is found in our hearts. God wants to speak into our hearts, and to hear what our hearts have to say in reply. The trouble is when we get too caught up in this world we quit looking to God as our friend. We quit looking to God for our help. We quit looking to God at all. And here’s the kicker. With every breath we take we breathe the name of God. God is that very force that keeps us alive, both physically and mentally. So when we cut ourselves off from God by chasing earthly things we are cutting ourselves off from that which gives us life.
Think of it this way. Imagine winning a trip to the moon on NASA’s next expedition. Imagine suiting up in a space suit and then stepping out on the surface of the moon. Then on this alien environment where it is 210 degrees in the sun, and -279.4 degrees in the shade with absolutely no oxygen, imagine taking off your helmet and taking a deep breath. I imagine that’s a pretty gruesome way to go. Although, perhaps it is not half so gruesome as what we do to ourselves every day when we chase after money and the things of this world instead of pursuing that which gives us life. I’m not talking about heaven. I am talking about right here, and right now. There really is more to this life than living and dyeing. God has so much more God wants us to have, and live into. Why is it we so often become distracted? Let us pursue God that we may live the life we were intended to live – abundantly, and let us live that life together.
In His Peace,
Richard
This is a logo I’ve done for a final project in Foundations of Christian Discipleship at Asbury Theological Seminary. It’s one of my final classes, and this is a group project. However, as a pastor of two small churches I might just use this logo and the following quote I ran across in last week’s readings to get these congregations thinking.
“…what we need most is a church membership that is determined to be the church in the fullest sense of the word, and resolved to be the church whether its leaders lead or not. And what we need is a leadership that has resolved to place its energies at the service of that determination and resolve. Our goal should not be that a few make decisions on behalf of all, even if the decisions are good ones, but rather that all might become more acquainted with the gospel, with Scripture, with tradition, with one another. Becoming “church from below” is our calling in this world transition.”
Article by E. Dixon Junkin in “Church Between Gospel and Culture” by George R. Hunsberger and Craig Van Gelder” p312
What do you think?
In His Peace,
Richard
DoodleDaddy 