A Thousand Words of a Ravenous Wolf

Hebrews 11 walks through example after example of men and women who did amazing things.  The phrase "By Faith" is used twenty times in one chapter. It really struck me how each of these people was following a single line, the thread of their story, but those threads converge in the same place.  The ultimate destination for their faith was the hope of the Messiah.  In turn, their individual stories work together point the way to Christ. While I was reading this, I couldn't help but nod slightly as I skimmed through all the familiar names and stories. Abel, Abraham, Rahab, check, check, check. Then I got to Jephthah and screeched to a halt. Who in the world is that? A quick refresher in Judges 11 cleared it up; Jephthah was a valiant warrior who went on to accomplish big things for God. Here's a really interesting note, though. In Judges 11:3 it says this, 'Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collect...

My head is full of images.  Some are epic in their scope and others are intimate. However, the universal truth as always been this; I feel ill-equipped to commit them to paper.  This last year, I came to the realization that my mind has become too cluttered with all these images and I needed to do something about it.  I wasn't sure if this was freeing these pictures from a crowded, confined cage or capturing them like an insect in amber.  Either way, it had to be done.  I began to sketch a small picture whenever a verse or passage from my scripture reading spoke to me.  Originally, I did not have any intention for it to be a regular activity.  As I have slowly sketched my way through one verse after another, it has had a profound effect on me. The time spend on each verse has forced me to slow down and soak in the passage.  I have always struggled with bible reading being a check-box activity, but this exercise has helped turn it into a more m...