My guest blogger today is Vina Howell.  Vina is our graphic and web designer at SouthPoint and she is so gifted it’s actually scary.  Her are some of her thoughts.

“Good Art Sends a Different Message to Everyone. Good Design Sends the Same Message to Everyone.” – John O’Nolan

At this moment in my life, I think I’m ready to be an artist. What’s the difference between a designer and an artist? Artist express themselves through their unique taste, designers express the brand/ the company/ the people with their unique taste. Good art is talent; good design is skill. Design solves a problem; art evokes an emotion. Design has a practical purpose; art has a provoking purpose. Art is subjective; design is objective. Design has a client to please; art pleases those who connect with it.

Artist are dreamers, they break the rules, and create things that were truly just a figment of the imagination. An artist that parades as a designers soon becomes restless because they realize they are not living up to their God-given gifts and talents. They have been parading as a designer all this time, relying on their skill, doing things that are practical and living out the dream someone else had for their lives.

When an artist encounters the ultimate artist, the one who creates from nothing- The Creator God, things change. They began to see what others cannot or refuse to see. They look through a different lens that allows them to draw their life in a way that changes the lives of others. They are able to take the things that God has uniquely placed inside of them and pour them out on the canvas of someone else’s life.

Good art sends a different message to everyone. It crosses cultural and language barriers. It communicates in a way that written and verbal messages cannot. Artists create art that is subjective and everyone may not get why artist do what they do or why a piece of art is the way it is. But those who connect with it can be changed forever.  I think we all can choose to be artist. After all, “a life well lived is the most exquisite work of art.” –Erwin McManus

I once read that Vince Lombardi used to gather his football players before the game and tell them, “in a few hours you will be back in this same room and you will have one of two things: either ‘reasons’ or ‘results,’” and then he would ask, “So what’s it going to be?”

If you strive and work towards, and in partnership with reasons, you appear to everybody to be a very reasonable person.  And after all this is a much easier path than all the rest.  You work towards something, or try and achieve something and anytime anything arises that is very plausible, we use that to deter us.  Some might call it an excuse, but your problem or situation is reasonable after all.  You have a reason why you couldn’t achieve your desired goal, and everybody understands because you appear to be a very reasonable person by deterring your desired path due to valid reasons.

I see people all the time that are not happy with their life or the outcomes they are getting.  They complain, and they are always quick to tell me why they couldn’t do this or that.  They have a viable reason for everything! You will always have reasons to not achieve, especially if you are working for reasons.

Vince Lombardi knew that he had just taken over a losing team.  When he took over the Green Bay Packers, they were 1 and 11.  They had a reason for every point scored against them and every loss.  They had been playing for reasons instead of results.  The purpose of stepping on a football field is to win, not find reasons for losing.  In no time at all Vince turned those Packers from a losing team, into the Superbowl champions.  Did they train hard?   I’m sure they did, but history shows us that hard training is not enough.  Vince had to change their mindsets from reasons to results.

Let me challenge you.  How do you end your day?  Do you find yourself telling others and your family the reasons you didn’t accomplished things, or are you enjoying the results of your labor?  If you answer that with, “you just don’t understand.”  Or any other reason….well you get the idea.

You are a new creation in Christ.  You have been given the mind of Christ.  Even though you might look reasonable to all your peers, what results are you seeing?  It’s time to put aside all the reasons, and begin working towards some results.

I don’t read anything in the Minor Prophets very often.  In fact the only time I really go there is while reading the One Year Bible….But this morning I felt compelled to read Habakkuk, and I’m glad I did.

Maybe it’s just me but times seem to be a bit overwhelming.  Everything is not going like it was supposed to.  I had my entire life planned out when I was five, but when the fireman thing fell through I went with preaching and it’s been pretty good so far.  Of course that’s not to say that it hasn’t had its ups and downs.  Yes there are struggles.  Yes there are more hurts than I ever knew where possible and there have been moments of terror mixed with agony.  Yep, Pastoring is by far the most trying and heavy thing I have ever done in my entire life.  But don’t misunderstand me, I’m not complaining; I’m just filling you in on some background to help you enjoy a great God moment.

So, here I am feeling the….well…..let’s just call it weight……So here I am feeling the weight of what I do, and I feel drawn to read Habakkuk.

And God blows my mind.

Maybe He’s saying it to you too.

Habakkuk was going through the hardest time ever.  EVER!  [you can read it yourself] At the end of the book, in Chapter 3:18 Habakkuk pens this:

“Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.  I will be joyful in God my savior.  The sovereign Lord is my strength, He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and enables me to go on to the heights.”

You can just hear and feel the choice he is making.  In spite of the terror, in spite of the famine, in spite of the doomsayers and all the negativity he chooses joy!  That joy is so far from him he even has to make this declaration.  I choose joy!

All too often we think joy is something that is handed to us, but it’s not.  Nothing is handed to us, everything is a choice.  Which mindset are you going to walk in today?  If you say you don’t have a choice in the matter then you just chose a victim mindset.  But you have the opportunity to join Habakkuk, and me, and today we choose joy.  Joy in spite of the junk.  Joy in spite of the pain.  Joy in site of our lack.  Joy in spite of everything the world throws our way.  I choose joy.

Go ahead and make a verbal declaration – that means out loud – ‘I will be joyful in God my savior today.  He gives me strength.’

Sometimes I write an entry with a specific group of people in mind.  Sometimes I write an entry with nobody in mind, but this one I write with me in mind.  I’ve been reading a book entitled “Leading on Empty” by Wayne Cordeiro and it has been spectacular!  What an amazing book for leaders.  If you lead anything, you need to read this book.

Today I came across this thought and I want to share it here:

Four Life Courses To Choose From:

1.  A Life of Reaction

We plod forward on course until something happens to us and we change course.  We assume it’s “God’s Will” because it is really the only door open.  We live reacting to everything, creating nothing.  A life that is lived by default.

2.  A Life of Conformity

Going along with the crowd.  We often allow the way we look to trump what we believe.  This is the path taken by those who feel best when they are needed, and who thrive on being liked.  Leo Buscaglia once said, “The easiest thing to be in the world is you.  The most difficult thing to be is what the other people want you to be.”

3.  A Life of Independence

Purposefully steering your life away from the current majority.  Unfortunately you then align yourself with people just like you forming a clan of virtual clones.  Whatever sets you a part is trendy as long as it distinguishes you as different than the current majority.  It is a self-delusional way to live.

4. A Life of Intentionality

This is the life that you choose.  It is the best you now.  Things that come at you and force themselves into your life, you choose which ones you allow in based on your pre-determined intentionality.  You know where you are going and you are fully aware of what you are becoming.  You are daily stepping towards the new and best you.  It’s choosing a life that brings honor to God and your family.  It is not a victim mentality of what you were given or the cards you were dealt, but instead it is you picking up the deck of cards and staking the deck in your favor.

There are so many things I want to do.  I have a mental list of things I want to accomplish and that I want to achieve before I die.  Now I know that I should be writing them down because that’s the smart thing to do, but I haven’t, and I’m probably not going to either.  I tell you this because I was sent down a unique path today when I was reading First Chronicles this morning.  It was the story of when King David wanted to build a house for God.  And God told him that he did not want David to build the house because he had done too much fighting and too much killing.  Therefore he wanted David’s son Solomon to build the temple.  God said that Solomon would be a man of peace.

I got to thinking that God is the one who directed and guided David to fight.  David is the one, by God’s sovereign hand, who brought peace to a country that had only known war.  Through David and his exploits, he subdued all of the Lord’s enemies and ushered in a season of peace.  Then when David wanted to do something not so bloody, but nice and peaceful God says no you can’t, but your son can.  That seems a bit unfair don’t ya think?  I think that, but then again I’m very short sighted.  I’m egotistically predisposed to actually think that everything revolves around me.

God began to help me realize that just because I have things in my heart and in my spirit that I want to do does not necessarily mean that I will get to do them with my life.  What if God actually sees outside my lifetime and into the lifetime of my children?  What if he is not just a now God, but a mulit-generational God?  My kids, the next generation, how can I invest in them?

I think of my Grandpa Joe who used to live here in Mississippi and plant churches in the 1950’s.  I wonder what dreams he had for the Kingdom of God and what he wanted to accomplish for the Kingdom of God.  He has passed, but here I am planting churches once again in Mississippi.  Wow!  Maybe God knows something.  And then I think back to King David and what he did.  What was his attitude?  When God told him no, then David shifted gears and did everything he could to prepare the means for his son Solomon to build the temple.  He began a huge effort to amass gargantuan amounts of materials so that his offspring could do what he could only dream.

So ponder with me if you will…what should we be doing to prepare for our children to do great things?  What can we lay our hands on now, that will set them up for a generational victory?  Are we making steps to advance the kingdom of God generationaly, or are we too busy complaining about what we can’t do, what we don’t have, and what we aren’t allowed to do?  As for me, I’ve decided that my kids do matter, and I want my ceiling to be their floor. Where my dreams stop, I want theirs to begin.  Let my furthest point in life be their first step.

Ever heard of Chuck Yeager?  No it is not the guy who invented Jagermeister.  Chuck Yeager is the first guy to ever break the sound barrier.  Now that does not mean he was the first guy to fly a plane that was capable of breaking the sound barrier because the government had several planes before him that were capable of breaking the barrier, but no pilot ever achieved it.

Other pilots climbed in these planes and attempted to break the sound barrier, but just prior to breaking the barrier the plane would shake ferociously, so the pilot would back off and slow down, and then crash.  That happened several times with different pilots.  Their fear caused them to back off and subsequently, fail.  Chuck Yeager went up, and when he reached the point of shaking, he accelerated all the more.  He later said that if he was gonna go out, then he was gonna go out in a blaze of glory.  So he accelerated and BOOM!  He broke through to a whole other world.

What barrier are you facing right now that fear is telling you to back off of?  You’re shaking and thinking that it won’t work, consumed and worried about failing.  If you back off now in fear, failure is inevitable.  When the problems of the world grow loud, and everything around you seems to be unstable and shaking, that is precisely the exact time to accelerate even more!  Push through.  Don’t stop.  The barrier in front of you was meant to be broken.

Fear can be so paralyzing that many times when we are in the middle of it, all we can think to do is back off.  There is nothing wrong with fear, but what we do with that fear and how we respond in the middle of that fear makes all the difference in the world.  The only people that the world remember are the ones that have faced fear, and pushed through to the other side.

So right now what’s your fear?  What are you scared of?  What area of your life do you feel the shaking?  Take a minute to identify that area and then write down three specific steps to accelerate into the middle of it to break through that barrier.

I like to be known.  It just feels good to be recognized when I’m in a store, or out and about.  It feels especially good when I come home and my family still recognizes me.  Now wanting to be recognized and known might sound a bit narcissistic to you, and maybe it is, but I’m being honest.  In fact, I think there is this innate desire in all of us to be known.  I don’t know who sang the song, but in the theme song to the old show, Cheers, ‘sometimes you wanna go, here everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came…’  The guy is brilliant, and prophetic.  Because here I sit and I wanna go somewhere where everybody knows my name, and not be forgotten.

I think the worse thing would to be forgotten.  Unfortunately, that is the corner that the enemy often tries to paint us into.  He pushes us and shoves us until our back is against a wall and we feel we have nowhere to turn, and then to add insult to injury he strives to make us think we have been forgotten.  But we’re not forgotten.  We are not alone.  In 1 Peter 1: 2, the Message translation says, “Not one missing, not one forgotten.  God the Father has his eye on each of you.”

It helps me get through the day knowing that God’s eye is on me.  That used to scare me and make me think he was waiting to slam me with his judgment, but now I realize that he is actually got his eye on me because he knows me and loves me.  He wants and desires for me to be successful and fulfilled.  He actually knows my name and my address and then on top of all that he wants me to live a life that is over the top amazing!  Yup, that’s my God, and he knows my name.

In Galatians Paul tells us that we are “known by God.”  Have you ever thought about that or contemplated that?  We are told may times in many different ways that we need to know God, or start a relationship with God, or move closer to God, but don’t you find it ironic that we are told to do the very things that we cannot?  How can we “know” the creator of all?  How can we move “closer” to an invisible being?

I don’t know about you but it comforts me to think that God knows me, and he is continually trying to move closer and closer to me.

So today,

just stop.

Stop running.

Stop trying so hard to do everything and make everything happen, just slow down and recognize that God does know right where you are, and he even knows the issues that you are struggling with.  In fact, if you’d slow down for just a second, he might even wrap his arms around you and give you the answers to deepest questions.

My Grandparents were smart, actually brilliant.  I used to think they were just hard working northern farmers who grew oats and had a few cows, and through that menial task they loved Jesus.  Of course, I also thought they hadn’t a clue about how to enjoy life.  Anytime together with other believers they would hope, wish, and sing about heaven and meditate heartily on the rapture.  “What about the fact that Jesus came to give us life more abundantly in John 10:10?”  I would ask. They would always smile and go back to singing another song about heaven.  My grandparents were brilliant.

I say that because we miss it some times.  We aren’t really that interested in going to Heaven.  Be honest, we’re not.  We are more interested and more consumed with making our lives better on earth than anything else.  Heaven is an after thought.  Heaven is in the sweet by and by, so we simply dismiss it as too far away to impact our today.  In America we are very interested in Jesus fixing our today.  We want our life to contain less pain, less persecution, and less hardship.  “Now” is the focus of our prayers.

Honestly I am the first one on that bandwagon.  I firmly believe that Jesus did say that he came to give us life, and life more abundantly.  We are supposed to be blessed.  We are not supposed to be out begging for bread, and the list goes on and on.  We are a blessed people.  However, the truth of the matter is that God told us to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth.  He told us we would suffer here on earth, but not in heaven.  He said we would be tried here on earth, but live in a ‘Utopic’ state in heaven.  Here is not our true home; Heaven is our home.

So are our prayers more focused on fixing our now, or are we expectantly looking to our home?  The place that God made for us, and sent his son so that we could have an entrance into it.  When you think about it, God did everything to spend eternity with us in a Utopic place called Heaven.  We have to be careful not to be so caught up in this present earth that we actually sacrifice the goal and purpose of Heaven.  The financial times that we are currently in is a great opportunity to either curse God and complain about his lack of help in our hard times, or turn our faces towards Heaven and ask God to come.  Let our prayers begin to focus on the things that we cannot see, instead of only asking God to repair the fallen place that we’re in.

I’m homesick.

My grandparents were brilliant!  How about we  all hum the chorus to “when the roll is called up yonder.”

This Sunday I asked the volunteers who was on the hospitality team this week.  No one raised their hand.  Now that is mostly because we don’t specifically have a team entitled, “hospitality,” so my question confused them.  Then I helped them see and realize that we are all on the hospitality team every week.  We are all to have a spirit of hospitality all the time, but how much more should we have it in the house of God?

I think Christians, followers of Christ, should just overall be happier, nicer, and more congenial than anyone else.  We should be able to tell someone is a follower of Christ even at the grocery store just because they are kinder than everyone around him or her.  Why is it that some “followers of Christ” have adopted a better than thou attitude that reflects nothing of the heart of God, weird huh?

But I digress, let’s continue…

One of the fruits of the spirit is kindness, so at the very least we should be kind, but in the book of Timothy says that leaders should have a spirit of hospitality.  Now that is taking it to a hoe nutha leva!  Leaders lead, they set the bar.  Too often churches are not welcoming, they are not friendly, and they are not inviting.  People come broken down, hurting and lost, and then we beat them bloody with our religious trappings.

I just gotta brag on our team at SouthPoint.  They are so friendly and do such a good job of showing the love of Christ that it blows my mind.  I actually had one guy come up to me and complain that we were too friendly.  He said, “It’s just ridiculous, everywhere I turn there is somebody else saying hi and trying to talk to me.  You have too many people on your greeting team.”  I laughed to him and at him because we don’t have that many!  We just have some peeps at the doors basically.  He was complaining that our regular attendees were actually trying to just talk to him.  YEAH BABY!  I’ll take those complaints all day long.

We want to be know for our love.

What are you known for?

If you were eavesdropping on your colleagues, and they were talking about you, what would they say?

This Sunday we kicked off our “Inked” series and it was a huge success.  We had a record attendance and had numerous people start a relationship with Jesus for the first time.  YEA GOD!  Our Inked series is using the medium of tattoos to tell this God story that is weaved into the fabric of our lives.  We talked about Cain, and now this coming Sunday we are going to look at Jacob ad how God marked him in a radical way.

However, with this series I recognized that many people had serious questions and thoughts about tattooing.  I didn’t really want to just talk about that on Sunday, so what is written below is some great thoughts on tattooing.  It’s not written by me, but a guest blogger, pastor, and friend, named Timmy Gibson, who pastors an ARC church in Olathe, Kansas.  Awesome man of God and I’m sure you will find the following very informative.  Enjoy!

I am amazed at what we Christians think “the Bible says…” about various subjects!

I recently had a kid tell me that, “the bible says that tattoos are a sin”. Of course this was something that his parents had told him.

So, what does the Bible say about tattoos?

Leviticus 19:23-28 23 “When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years and consider it forbidden.[f] Do not eat it. 24 In the fourth year the entire crop must be consecrated to the Lord as a celebration of praise. 25 Finally, in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the Lord your God. 26 “Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood. “Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft. 27 “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards. 28 “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.

In this passage God is speaking to his covenant people Israel. He is specifically telling them to stay far from the religious practices of the surrounding people groups. The prohibited religious practices in these verses include eating bloody meat, fortune telling, certain hair cuts related to the priests of false cults, cutting or marking the body for dead relatives, cultic prostitution and consulting psychics. All these practices would lead God’s beloved people away from Him and toward false gods that were not Gods at all. In the midst of this context we find the word translated “tattoo marks” in verse 28. It is important to note here that the context of this passage is not one of body décor but one of marking one’s self in connection with cultic religious worship. Check out what Bible commentaries tell us much about the eastern religious practices that God was warning His people to shun.
These prohibitions seem to relate to pagan religious customs which should be avoided, including pagan mourning rites (vv. 27-28) Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. (1983–c1985). The Bible knowledge commentary: An exposition of the scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
The practice of making deep gashes on the face and arms and legs, in time of bereavement, was universal among the heathen, and it was deemed a becoming mark of respect for the dead, as well as a sort of propitiatory offering to the deities who presided over death and the grave. The Jews learned this custom in Egypt, and though weaned from it, relapsed in a later and degenerate age into this old superstition (Is 15:2; Je 16:6; 41:5). “nor print any marks upon you” (v:28 )—by tattooing, imprinting figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It it probable that a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of some idol gave occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were wisely forbidden. Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments. On spine: Critical and explanatory commentary. (Le 19:28). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
“Make any cuttings in your flesh” (v:28): the reference here is to the practice of making deep gashes in the skin while mourning the death of a relative. This was done to provide life blood for the spirit of the dead person rather than to express sorrow. On account of the dead: as indicated above, this describes the purpose of all the actions in verse 27 as well as verse 28. Péter-Contesse, R., & Ellington. (1992). A handbook on Leviticus. UBS handbooks; Helps for translating (Page 296). New York: United Bible Societies.
The “tattoo” marks described in Leviticus 19:28 were clearly related to false religious practices. The word translated tattoo in our English Bibles is the Hebrew word “qa aqa”, this word appears only one time in the Bible, here in this passage Leviticus. The word “qa aqa” means literally “to cut” but taken with the surrounding words indicates a cutting that left a mark imprinted in the skin. This could have been a form of branding, scarring, cutting or a process where ink was inlaid into the skin; there is not enough data to fully define exactly what this word meant. However we translate the word “qa aqa” though, in this passage, it is certainly used in the context of cultic religious worship. The prohibition against “qa aqa”, (translated tattoo) was to keep the Israelites from being involved or affiliated with cultic worship practices. Plus, I get the sense that it is referring putting the tattoo on yourself… so just make sure you have someone do it for you. (ha, just a little joke there!)
Anyway, the tattoo of today is much different than it was for those who originally received the Pentateuch (the first 5 books of the bible). Today tattoos are a decorative means of self expression and personal decoration. In our current culture people modify their appearance for beauty in many ways such as clothing choice, makeup, plastic surgery, haircutting and coloring, weight loss, body-building, and ear piercing. Some of these practices have a history in ancient ritual and false religion, but in our cultural context they do not denote a connection with evil or false faith. In the same way tattoos today do not link the wearer to cultic worship practices and is not generally practiced for ancient religious purposes, tattoos today are for ornamentation.
Yet another reason to believe Christians are free to tattoo their bodies is that New Testament believers are not bound by the Old Testament laws to gain or regain right relationship with God. If we were to obey the laws of the Old Testament we would also be bound by rules that would restrict shellfish and pork eating, hairstyles, wearing of clothes made from two different fabrics, even eating cheese on hamburgers (yes, it is true). Some also feel that modifying the body somehow defiles God’s creation, but if this was true would it be right to pierce ears, correct a club foot, cut hair, clip nails, get a tan or use orthodontia? Each of the previously mentioned practices modifies the way we were originally created, some permanently. Getting a tattoo is a deeply personal choice that falls in the category of personal appearance and is vitally connected to the freedom of the believer. The Apostle Paul reminds us that the Old Testament Law was designed by God was to lead people toward Jesus. Now that Jesus has come and set us free, we are not under the law for our good standing with God. Our right standing before God comes from placing our trust in Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for our debts, not on following the Old Testament regulations.
Galatians 3:24–25 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.— NAS
As New Testament followers of Jesus we are not under restriction in the area of personal décor.
Tattoo of today can describe images that merely please the wearer, or have deeper meaning to the owner. Many Christians today are tattooing themselves not in tribute to a false idol or anti-Christian deity, but with love for the one true God and Creator. Many today utilize this permanent marking a way of giving glory to God. Some find that Christian tattoos attract questions about faith and provide opportunities to give God glory by allowing the story-telling of His Love to those who aren’t convinced yet.
Tattoo is a significant life-choice and should be only entered into with a great deal of forethought. Some questions to ask yourself if you are young and considering a tattoo are:

• Am I legally of an age to get a tattoo?
• If I live with my parents, would my parents support my decision?
• Would I be defying the authority God gave my parents over me at my current age?
• Would I still want this particular image when I get older?
• What if my future mate wouldn’t like having to see this image for a lifetime?
• Would this tattoo be in an area of my body that would be plainly visible? – Many people do unfairly judge people with tattoos as being “second-class.”
• Would this image bring God glory?
• Do I feel fully convinced that tattoos are allowable for Christians?

Tattoo is not for everyone, and is certainly not for a Christian who feels unconvinced that getting a tattoo is completely Biblical. In this and many areas of the Christian life there are many truly excellent believers who have varying degrees of agreement and disagreement about Christians with tattoos. In whatever you believe about this issue I hope that you will leave gracious space for others who might feel differently. May ALL things bring Glory to our great God, Jesus the Christ.
- Timmy