Let There Be Light (Genesis 1:1-3)

“I thought I was blind at first.  I mean, I couldn’t see a thing.  It was completely dark.”

He sat on the bar stool with a glass of cheap beer in his hand.  When he moved his arms to gesture, he kept spilling bits of the contents on Jerry, his best friend for the evening.

“Look, man, you haven’t ever seen dark like that,” he took a sip and stopped, looking thoughtful.  “Well, maybe in a cave somewhere…  But other than that…”

Jerry had been in a many caves in his lifetime.  Every time, someone in the group always suggested, “Hey, let’s all turn our flashlights off.”  Naturally, everyone did.  And the result was always the same:  total blackness.  Yeah, he knew what Don was talking about.

“I held my hand up.  Like this,” he gave a visual demonstration, hand inches from his nose.  “Couldn’t see it.”

Don was getting more excited as his story continued.  Every Thursday at Joe’s, he was there telling the same story:  how God had taken him all the way back to when it all started, you know, “Day One.”  Jerry was a newcomer, and so he was thoroughly enjoying the tale while all the others simply ignored the man.

Comment to “A Boy and a Dog”

I’ve recently been reading John Eldredge’s book “The Way of the Wild Heart.”  (Check it out at amazon.com, then go buy it at abebooks.com, alibris.com, or christianbookbag.com for half the price.)  I definitely recommend this book for any guy and especially for fathers or father figures.  Eldredge takes a look at six areas of a man’s life (the beloved son, the cowboy, the warrior, the lover, the king, and the sage) and shows biblically how to live out that area to the fullest.  It’s a much more balanced book than “Wild At Heart” in my opinion.

Anyhow, in his chapter describing man as lover, Eldredge describes two common mistakes men have made concerning their hearts:  (1) give in to whatever passions come and (2) discipline the heart ruthlessly.  Speaking of the second, he writes, “But discipline without healing doesn’t work real well over time, and it can do great damage to our hearts, which begin to feel like the enemy so we’ll do what we can to kill them in order to avert disaster” (Eldredge 2006, p. 210).

That’s the impetus for “A Boy and a Dog.”  It’s the story of a boy being forced to kill his undisciplined dog but it’s also the story of mankind killing his heart and his love for fear of what may come.  It hurts, it numbs us, but it’s safe.

I for one want a whole heart, even if it’s not necessarily the safest thing in the world.  Men, after all, are made in the image of God, and God is far from safe.  As C. S. Lewis put it in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” (p. 75-76):

“If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than me or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” asked Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver.  “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.  He’s the King, I tell you.”

A Boy and a Dog

Just a mutt. He’s just a no-good mutt.

At least, that’s what the boy kept telling himself, saying it over and over in his head as if the more he said it, the truer it would become, as if it meant something.

Part Border collie, part German shepherd. In happier days, the boy would have gladly thrown some wolf into the mix. Even on this day, the thought distracted him enough to bring a brief smile.

Just a stupid mutt.

“You’ve got to take care of that damn dog of yours,” Cunningham had said, waving the bloody remains of what might have, only hours ago, been a fat hen, the yellow feathers speckled with dirt and blood.

“Stupid dog,” the boy accented his words with a swift but ill-aimed kick. “Just a mutt” merely turned his ugly face to the boy and wagged his tail.

The boy stomped on, his feet making a soft thudding noise on the wet dead leaves. His feet were cold and his toes numb from the wetness that had soaked through, but he wasn’t aware of it. His mind was on the dog, the stupid dog, the “just a mutt” that trotted beside him.

My King Who Comes Again

Jesus is coming soon to take up his throne on the earth

A few years ago, I went to the OneThing Conference in Kansas City, run by the International House of Prayer team.  The worship was great.  The messages were amazing.  As my friend Ryan said, “Woah!  God’s here.”  It changed my life.

What stood out most to me was the idea that Jesus really is returning some day.  He’s coming soon, just like he promised.  It’s not a myth; it’s not a fictional story to give us Christians some encouragement until we die.  No, this is the real deal.  Jesus really is coming back.

The Gap

Standing in the gap before God's wrath

A while back, I heard the song “Standing in the Gap” by Merchant Band.  It sounded cool to me, but nothing really struck my heart until I saw a recording of their live worship set at OneThing.  It was then that my heat went, “Woah!  This is for real.”

As I was one night driving home from dropping kids off after youth group, I put the CD in and played that one song on repeat the whole way.  I could picture the US on one side, and God’s wrath as massive clouds of fire and whipping wind on the other side.  Separating the two was a thick wall with a gap in it.  Within that gap stood a handful of men and women, bowing down before this great God Yahweh, who is a jealous God.

Immediately, I wanted to draw the picture.

So I went home and tried, but everything looked way too pathetic in comparison.  I tried a few other times, but nothing looked correct.

I dropped the idea, but a few days later, as I sat in prayer, the image returned.  I tried to draw it again, but nothing seemed to work.

Then, only a few days ago, the rough idea of what would become “The Gap” came to my mind and ended up on paper.