When I drew this cartoon I was thinking about the pressure to perform that some kids face. I am not from a sports-minded family and I probably passed that same lack of interest on to my kids. It’s not that I wasn’t interested in competition. It’s just that there weren’t very many traveling art competitions and ultra competitive writing conferences at my elementary school. (sure, there were spelling bees. I never made it past “pneumonia.”)
This morning, I got to illustrate a talk my wife was presenting to an elementary chapel on pride and humility. She did a great job talking about King Nebuchadnezzar and his fall due to pride.
I was humbled when my pastor asked me to give a testimony about the waiting I have experienced for the last two years. I proposed giving a cartoon testimony. It is a tribute to Diary of a Wimpy Kid, only my version is Diary of a Waiting Guy.
I recorded myself drawing, then wrote a script for the video. You can see it in the first five minutes of the sermon video.
If you know anything about me, you know faith is a bit part of who I am. It is the reason we left everything we knew in Indiana and moved to Arizona. It is also the reason we moved to the Dayton, Ohio area. It is the reason I hold perseverance as an important value. You cannot start anything new without taking a risk and displaying perseverance.
Pastor Steve Southards did a great job explaining the why’s of a waiting period through the story of Joseph in Genesis. My wife and I are privileged to be serving at Salem Church of God. The last two years have challenged me, but I am glad I made the leap. Taking a risk is much better than doing the same thing and wondering what could have happened if we took a risk.
Last October, the Halloween obsession was people dressing up like clowns and charging people. There were stories about people turning the tables and attacking the clowns. All that month, I kept hearing Send in the Clowns swirl around in my mind. There was a time when clowns were considered fun and humorous. Now, they are seen as a threat and a maligned subgroup.
One thing is for sure, when you go for a job interview, don’t dress as a clown or act like one, unless that is one of the job requirements. Even then, I would leave the clown shoes at home.
I read a Positive Writers blog post on posting 40 reasons why I write. I haven’t written a blog post for a while, so this got me thinking about my motivation. I decided this is a great way to restart my writing.
So here are the first 40 reasons why I write: