Kevin H. Spear

Have a Merry Christmas Joy Ride!

Post author By Kevin Spear
Post date December 24, 2014

cartoon of mischievous elves in Santa's sleigh

Cartoon of santa running after his sleigh. Elves are in the sleigh and they look like they are having the time of the life. The caption says, “Thanks to a joy ride, Christmas was nearly canceled!”

I loved this cartoon when I first wrote it because it reminded me of a childhood fantasy. I used to wonder what it would be like to take a ride in Santa’s sleigh. Wouldn’t it be great to take a ride across the countryside on Christmas Eve? All the Christmas lights and moonlight would reflect on the new snow, Smoking chimneys fill the air with the smell of hickory, oak and pine. Never mind that there is probably no seat belts in the sleigh and the airbags have never been tested!

By the way, don’t try this at home, kids. You can’t get a hold of Santa’s sleigh and the only joy ride should be with certified, licensed elves.

May you have a blessed, Merry Christmas!

Tags Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Christmas Eve, elves, Santa Claus, Sled, Sleigh Ride

children's ministry cartoons School Cartoons teaching

Why who is in a classrooms matters

Post author By Kevin Spear
Post date November 11, 2014

Featured image: Cartoon of a baby, two adults and a scarecrow

Cartoon of two adults and baby with a scarecrow. A man says about the scarecrow, “He doesn’t interact with the kids much. But he’s always available and on time.”

I can usually tell when someone doesn’t feel comfortable in a classroom. They don’t look much different from the scarecrow in my cartoon. They’re stiff, standing tall among all the kids. They do dress better than a scarecrow, however. They also have a more worried look than the scarecrow in this picture.

Tags availability, babies, cartoon, children's ministry, daycare, daycare worker, distraction, gag cartoon, parenting, preschool, priorities, punctuality, Scarecrow, single panel cartoon, teacher, teaching

writing

Beware of the toxic time triangle!

Post author By Kevin Spear
Post date November 1, 2014

I am attending the Indiana Faith and Writing Conference this weekend in Anderson, Indiana. Yesterday, Doc Hensley of Taylor University spoke about the toxic time triangle. When you are pursuing a writing career, you have to balance all the necessary, good things like friends, family and health on one side, routine paying jobs on the other, and major career work like novels and writing for the stage on the third.

It is quite a challenge to take care of one end without causing the other two ends to suffer.

I’ve found this to be true. It’s amazing how no matter who we are, we have the same amount of time each day. Yet, some people are able to do so much more with it than others.

One suggestion of Doc Hensley’s was to eliminate time sappers by taking an audit of your time. He said you’d be amazed how much time you waste on a daily basis.

I’m looking forward to trying this and some of his other time management suggestions in the coming weeks. In the meantime, it’s off to the rest of the writers conference!

Tags time management, writers conference, writing

cartoon holiday

Halloween and Politics

Post author By Kevin Spear
Post date October 31, 2014

Cartoon of a man and vampire. A man says, “Wow, Michael! Congress really changed you!”

According to a quick Internet search, Lord Acton was the one who originally said, “Power Corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

No matter who you are, the temptation is there to become a little vampire whenever you gain a little power. The more you get, the more the fangs start protruding and you begin fearing the light. Hey! no one is righteous, not even one.

On this Halloween night, be careful out there! Because the politicians will get you if you don’t watch out!