Crazy Dog Lady

Our landlady lives right beneath us and thinks of all dogs as her children. So I was not in the least surprised to open the door and see this sick stray tucked away in the corner of the garage.

Mere Christianity Illustrations: Let's Pretend

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I made this one for you! Thank you for teaching us to pretend in the right ways! Can you recognize the characters?

"There are two kinds of pretending. There is a bad kind, where the pretence is there instead of the real thing; as when a man pretends he is going to help you instead of really helping you. But there is also a good kind, where the pretence leads up to the real thing. When you are not feeling particularly friendly but know you ought to be, the best thing you can do, very often, is to put on a friendly manner and behave as if you were a nicer person than you actually are. And in a few minutes, as we have all noticed, you will be really feeling friendlier than you were. Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already. That is why children’s games are so important. They are always pretending to be grownups—playing soldiers, playing shop. But all the time, they are hardening their muscles and sharpening their wits so that the pretence of being grown-up helps them to grow up in earnest."

C.S. Lewis,"Let's Pretend"

Rooftop View and the Parable of the lost coin

Horizontal and Vertical

I didn't make the artwork to illustrate this quote but as it turns out the quote illustrated ended up perfectly illustrating what I was trying to say. 

"The very essence of the new covenant is that Christ passes over the sins of his bride. His bride is free from shame not because she is perfect, but because she has no fear that her lover will condemn her or shame her because of her sin.

This is why the doctrine of justification by grace through faith is at the very heart of what makes marriage work the way God designed it. Justification creates peace with God vertically, in spite of our sin. And when experienced horizontally, it creates shame-free space between an imperfect man and an imperfect woman."

- John Piper

Peruvian Produce Mandala

This painting was inspired by my first month of married life when my cooking skills were forcibly rekindled and the house was overrun with summer flies. Pictured is produce most commonly found in the markets of Peru. Can you spot the fly I killed and drew into the still life?

Mere Christianity Illustrations "Charity"

"The rule for all of us is perfectly simple. Do not waste time bothering whether you 'love' your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.'

[...]

"Some writers use the word charity to describe not only Christian love between human beings, but also God's love for man and man's love for God. About the second of these two, people are often worried. They are told they ought to love God. They cannot find any such feeling in themselves. What are they to do? Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings. Ask yourself, 'If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?' When you have found the answer, go and do it."

C.S. Lewis, "Charity"

Mere Christianity Illustrations "Forgiveness"

"[...W]e might try to understand exactly what loving your neighbor as yourself means. I have to love him as I love myself. Well, how exactly do I love myself?'

"Now that I come to think of it, I have not exactly got a feeling of fondness or affection for myself, and I do not even always enjoy my own society. So apparently 'Love your neighbor' does not mean 'feel fond of him' or 'find him attractive'. I ought to have seen that before, because, of course, you cannot feel fond of a person by trying. Do I think well of myself, think myself a nice chap? Well, I am afraid I sometimes do (and those are, no doubt, my worst moments) but that is not why I love myself. In fact it is the other way round: my self-love makes me think myself nice, but thinking myself nice is not why I love myself. So loving my enemies does not apparently mean thinking them nice either."

C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity, Forgiveness)

Mere Christianity Illustrations "The Great Sin"

Wilmer and I have been reading "Mere Christianity" recently as I have both an English and Spanish copy of the book. I have been attempting to illustrate a few chapters as a personal challenge. This illustration was inspired by some sunflowers and rubble I saw in Chincha, Peru.

"Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else—I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.'
[...]
'"We must not think Pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands as due to His own dignity—as if God Himself was proud. He is not in the least worried about His dignity. The point is, He wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble—delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life."

C.S. Lewis, "The Great Sin"

Train Games

I take the train to get many places now that I live much more south of the city. Here I am waiting for the train on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Few people were in the station to witness it.