Categories
church cartoons

Electronic Giving is NOT E-Waste!

Cartoon of a guy lugging an old PC. Another guy says, "Electronic Giving doesn't mean you donate your old PC!"
© 2019 Kevin Spear. Published in the October 2019 Church of God Newsletter

I noticed this has been an issue anywhere I worked with more than twenty years of history. There’s an old PC in the corner. There are old hard drives, zip disks and even floppy disks. Does anyone remember the old 5 1/4″ floppy disks? They still make great coasters. But they’re not very good for storage these days.

Today, you can get a 64mb flash drive for the same price an old floppy once cost and it could contain the equivalent of 42,667 floppies! Yes, I did the math. You can get a 64 mb flash drive for about $2.00 USD today (October 20, 2019). That is what I remember floppy drives going for in the late eighties and nineties. They carried about 1.5 kb. Alas, that old hardware, software and storage devices aren’t useful anymore. So please don’t donate them to a church or charity. They don’t need your ancient e-junk!

Electronic giving has been a thing at the churches I’ve attended for over five years now. You can have funds withdrawn to your account and not have to worry about bringing cash or paper check for the offering plate. When I’ve heard the phrase “electronic giving” from the pulpit, I’ve often wondered what if would look like if someone took it literally and placed a flash drive in the plate as proof they actually gave something!

I drew this for the October, 2019 CHOGNews.

Categories
Christmas holiday

Office Holiday Spirit

Christmas cartoon of a grumpy businessman

Cartoon of a man in a santa suit and a grumpy businessman. The businessman says, “The office is in the holiday spirit. At least it is as soon as I leave it.”

I saw a production of A Christmas Carol last night. It had me thinking of what a modern-day Scrooge would look like. I know there are plenty around modern offices. I admit I haven’t decorated my cubicle or began shouting, “Ho, ho, ho!” yet.

There’s something about the crass commercialism part of Christmas that makes us feel uncomfortable. We take a religious holiday and make it a make-or-break buying bonanza. Even if our office depends upon this commercialism, it makes us feel uncomfortable, doesn’t it. O the avarice!

Categories
Off the Chip

Off the Chip: We Can Get You Help

Comic strip of a guy at the office. His boss is concerned because he has the audacity to smile in the hallways.

Have you ever felt people were concerned about you because you were friendly? It’s amazing what a little smile can do. It can either brighten someone’s day, or make the other person feel there is something wrong with you. Either way, it’s a win-win!

Go and give someone a smile today.

Categories
Off the Chip

Off the Chip: Hi, Jack!

Comic strip of two office workers. One is disturbed that the other was friendly and said, “Hi!” I drew this comic strip in 2000.

The other day, I was jogging and passed a professor I knew rather well. I said, “Hi!” He looked mortified. Perhaps it was because I was in jogging clothes. Maybe it was because I was hurtling by him at the blinding speed of six miles per hour.

I come from a small, midwestern, Indiana town where everybody knew your name and what you were up to. I thought everyone gave a nice, “hi” to everyone until I went to the big city. I soon learned to to make eye contact and give the appearance you didn’t realize the passerby on the sidewalk existed.

It’s strange, but I’ve felt more alone in big cities than I ever did in my hometown. So excuse me if I see you and assault you with a “Hi!” That’s just the way I was raised.

I drew this comic strip for a ministry that reached out to programmers in Silicon Valley. Let me know if I can help you out with a cartoon or illustration!

Categories
webcomic

Off the Chip: the First Episode

Chip gives Rodney a cheery greeting. Rodney sees it as a veiled threat.

This was the first in a series of comic strips I drew for a NAEN Ministries about ten years ago. The ministry has since left the Internet, so it was time to bring them back.

Chip is a nice guy working in a technology company. Rodney is the bitter, older curmudgeon who sees Chip’s cheery disposition and a threat to all humanity. Yet, they seem to get along.

I’ll see about posting the strip each Monday.