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Hope in Surprising Places Article

Last month, I got to interview a pastor about a new ministry his church launched. I enjoyed writing it because it challenged some preconceived notions about how a ministry should serve its community. Here is a link to the Hope in Surprising Places Article.

I love the chance to write an article where faith and hope are present. As I’ve written before, I used to mix up the two terms. But it’s evident in the article that this church is bringing hope to its community through the active use of faith.

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Adobe Illustrator cartoon children cartoons family gag cartoon single panel cartoon webcomic writing

Selling the Movie Rights

Has a loved one ever told such a good story that you suggested selling the movie rights? I’ve heard some wonderful stories about my family. That inspired me to draw and write this cartoon.

Selling the movie rights cartoon of a boy and grandfather

One of my fondest memories of my father-in-law was when we would drive all night to Florida. He would tell me stories about his childhood, his ancestors, and the lessons he learned through life’s struggles to keep us awake.

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CHOG News Newsletters writing

IYC 2022 Speaker: Chip Taylor

Last month, I had the pleasure of interviewing the featured speaker for the Church of God International Youth Convention (IYC 2022). Chip Taylor is a fabulous youth leader with a heart of gold. Here is a link to the article

Chip serves at a church where my wife was the children’s pastor for a time. Although they haven’t worked together at the same time, my wife is a leader with Intern Academy and they’ve worked together in that organization.

Former IYC Student, Longtime Leader to Return as Featured Speaker

One of his quotes shows his approach to youth ministry.

You have to be relational with today’s youth. You have to go to their turf. Positions don’t work anymore. You have to identify each kid as they are and acknowledge them. Relationships take precedence over roles.

Chip Taylor

Chip will be a great speaker for IYC 2022. If you have a teen that is considering going, I would highly recommend it.

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Creative Writing writing

A Perfect Storm of Perfect Storm Clichés

The other day, I heard it again. Someone on a news segments said such and such is a “perfect storm.” It was the first time that week I heard this and it wasn’t about the same topic. It is time we officially admit we have a problem with the perfect storm cliché.

unrecognizable person with umbrella on beach
Photo by Dziana Hasanbekava on Pexels.com

I went to Google and searched the phrase, “perfect storm.” The results didn’t surprise me. As of January 15, 2022 there are…

Mind you, I expect some of the general search to be about the real life event, the book by Sebastian Junger, and movie. If you search this phrase on Amazon, you get over 930 results. However, are we getting to the point that it is losing its meaning?

News reporters and interviewees are using this cliché to describe supply chain issues, the pandemic, inflation, worker shortages, data privacy, crimes, climate change, and yes, weather events. How many perfect storms can there be? Is everything perfectly stormy now?

Perfect Storm Cliches or Clichés?

It may look pretentious to add the accent mark in “cliché”. But it is one of those words English speakers have borrowed from French. Can anybody pronounce it correctly with the accent mark? Without it, most of us would go around saying “Klich.” Nobody wants that!

I like clichés. They have served me well over the years as an illustrator and cartoonist. I have always loved to take something we have come to expect and turn a phrase or situation into the unexpected. Phrases become clichés because they are so popular, everyone begins to use them.

I don’t recall us having a perfect storm cliché problem before the book and movie came out. However, thanks to Wikipedia, I found that “Perfect Storm” has been used at least since the eighteenth century. There must have been something about the 1991 storm that captured the imagination of Americans. Now we can’t help but describe any bad situation as a perfect storm. I don’t know if the phrase is becoming so overused, it has lost its impact and meaning.

However, what I do know is that so many people have been using the phrase in the last couple of years. Is it starting to lose its meaning? Maybe I shouldn’t care that much, but when I heard it again, the cliché began to sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Wait, I am using another cliché to complain about a cliché. I’m not being very helpful, am I?

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writing

What About You, Quiet Guy?

I have no problem admitting it. I’m one of the quiet guys. I wouldn’t call myself, the strong silent type, but I can definitely be the silent, observant one.

The other night, my wife and I were out with friends. We were having a good time cutting up and catching up on the lives of kids and grandkids. The waitress came over to get our orders. When it was my turn, she said, “And what about you, Quiet Guy?”

I thought that was quite amusing, yet it took me by surprise. It’s not that I didn’t think the moniker fit. Anyone who has known me can confirm that I’m rarely the boisterous one in a group. Well, that is until I get in front of a group and I can command attention! I love being the loud one when I teach or act. It’s partly because it takes anyone who knows me by surprise.

What surprised me was that she knew that trait about me after a very short time. Plus, I thought I was far from quiet. I was involved in my friends’ conversations and I was participating. However, to an outside observer, I was the quiet one in the group.

Quiet Kid

There was a time when that would have bothered me. I wanted to be the class clown. But I didn’t have the courage and I would have been mortified if it got back to my parents that I disrupted a class. It was much safer to live vicariously through the true class clown.

So instead of being known as the loud student, I was the kid who doodled on the back of assignments and stared out the window. I was the kid that tried to absorb the details of a story and think about what would happen if one detail was different.

Eventually, that led me to be the class cartoonist. I loved seeing my work in print. I noticed that while the class clown got sent to the office, teachers and professors considered the class cartoonist a journalist. What? You could make a living at this?

I have made a good living at it over the years. But for the last several years, I ventured more into writing and less into illustrations and cartoons.

The Quiet Guy

I have plenty to say, but that doesn’t mean I want to be the talker. I like to let my fingers do the talking. And frankly, it’s more fun to get my ideas out on a page and massage them a bit. It is too easy to say something that I may regret later. A flippant comment can wound. Plus, I can edit my written text to say what I want it to. There is value in thinking and considering what I want to say before it goes out to the world.

Maybe I am not always the most talkative guy in the room, but that doesn’t mean I have little to say. Today, I am thanking a waitress for reminding me of the value of the spoken and written word.