Rich Davis is an illustrator of  children’s books. He lives in Siloam Springs AR.

“From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.”    Romans 1:20 (NLV)

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
He created a beautiful “living picture” for us to live in with nature telling us about Him…what He is like and how powerful He is.  And God said no man would be able to say to Him, “it’s not fair!  I didn’t know about You!”  God invented the power of visual communication and every human being that has ever lived or will live has been wired to be able to understand it’s message.
It is speaking to us about Him all the time.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.”
Psalm 19: 1-3 (NKJV)

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
Consider how often you have dreamed at night…and the unexplainable explosion of creativity that happens inside you as these “picture stories” unfold…without you even trying to make them happen.  Dreaming is a universal experience.  Everyone is interested in dreams because we want to know what they mean…how to translate their bizarre stories.

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
Not only do we dream at night while we sleep, but we also make pictures in our minds all day long through the incredibly powerful tool God has placed in us called the “imagination”.  He gave us a way to be creative and visualize ideas before they become tangible.  It allows us walk through stories that just come to us from deep inside.  Consider how “memories” activate the imagination and allow us to revisit something from our past with vivid color and intensity…like replaying a video clip or movie.  Countless POW’s speak of mental and emotional survival through the agonizing conditions of prison life by using the imagination to go through happy memories or daily things they enjoyed doing such as playing a round of golf.

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
Every person begins with a pencil or crayon drawing on paper.  There is great enjoyment in doing it and great satisfaction.  It’s just fun!  In those early years there is no judging of whose is more beautiful or better…everyone just loves doing it….and every child has ideas tumbling out onto their paper with unabated freedom.  Put a piece of paper and pencil in front of a 5 year and they are off to the races.  What has spoiled this beautiful enjoyment that everyone began with?  I hope you will consider this….and consider it in relation to the things I have written above.

God has called and put the desire in me to help others reignite the desire to speak visually again.  To see it’s place in our everyday lives….it’s power to communicate and etch His wonderful truth and love in our world.
I hope I can share some more how God is leading me in doing this.  I love it.
And perhaps, some of you reading this will feel His nudge that He has something for you to do as well…

Visual communication is paramount in God’s plan.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good…” Psalm 34:8 (NKJV)

“How has God spoken to you today personally through some kind of visual communication around you?”
(if you can’t think of anything, perhaps ask the Holy Spirit to speak something to you today…express your desire to Him.)

Rich is a talented artiest, and has a unique gift for helping kids find the creativity that God has given them. He is available for workshops at schools, libraries and other organizations, as well as freelance illustration. Check out what he does at www.richdavis.freewebspace.com. He has also created a game called Pick and Draw. (It’s fun, I’ve played it!). If your feeling creative check out his blog of creative drawing and imagination exercises. – Ben

I’ve recently had to study the art of Michelangelo Caravaggio, and to those of you that don’t know art this is NOT the same Michelangelo that painted the Sisteen Chapel or the one that is named after the Ninja Turtle.  This Michelangelo more known just as Caravaggio is the dark, tortured, tainted, and flawed follower of Christ with an amazing skill at painting.  He lived from about 1571-1610 and was known as a brilliant artist that painted dark and controversial paintings.  He was a bit of an indulgent, he gambled, and drank often and spent his time with what people now a days would call “low lives.”  Back in the day artists would mostly paint religious pieces commissioned by a church or some sort of  insanely rich ruler, Caravaggio painted for freedom, and for the church because he had been convicted of murdering a man and used his skills of painting to get him out of trouble (which if you study more about Caravaggio he has done this multiple time in his life.)  One of his last pieces he painted was of David and Goliath, the reason why I am speaking of this and why it stands out to me is because it is very dark (like most of his pieces) and very graphic.  If you take a look at the painting on the left you will see David holding the head of Goliath, but the interesting thing about Goliath is, Goliath is a self portrait of Caravaggio.  Caravaggio put himself in as the head of Goliath.  Some people say it’s because he was looking for Atonement from the church for his sins.  I see it more as symbolism, that we are all in some way like Goliath and we are all capable of serious evil.  Caravaggio did indeed do some evil stuff, but he was a man who feared God, just not man.  God LOVES to use flawed men, it’s something that he does often in the Bible.  The beautiful thing about God is that he is forgiving, but we are still responsible for our wrong doings.  The beautiful thing about being a christian is, that we get to try to be like Jesus, which is hard but something I love to try to do, with my strengths and with my flaws.  Do you think that this art is good or bad?  Do you feel as though we even as God fearing christians can do and sometimes will do things that are evil or are against God’s will?  What do you think Caravaggio could have been saying?  What does this mean to you?  I think I am capable of anything, especially when I am thinking of God first and striving to be more like Jesus.  Do you think Caravaggio was fully concerned during some of his darkest times, of being more like Jesus?  Just some things to thing about, and some exploration of old world art.  Look up some more Caravaggio it’s brilliant stuff, some of my favorites are:  The Doubting of Thomas, and The Calling of Matthew.

I began following R.E.M. during my first year of college.  At that time, their steady rise to fame had just begun and I’ve been a fan through the years. That’s why a recent headline caught my eye quoting Michael Stipe regarding a friend of his, respected musician and fellow Georgian, Vic Chesnutt. If you haven’t heard of Vic you aren’t alone, I hadn’t either until December 26, 2009, the day after his death on Christmas Day from an overdose of muscle relaxers. I saw the story headline, but I didn’t have time to read it. 

Several days later, while in the middle of one of my favorite past-times of searching for new and quality independent-label musicians, one website I frequent suggested several artists based on my musical taste and there he was again; Vic Chesnutt. This time I followed the lead, pulled up digital versions of all of his albums and sampled most of them. Within an hour, I owned two of his last albums (is it okay to still call them that even though they are mp3 downloads?), “North Star Deserter” and “At the Cut”, both recorded with the backing support of a hidden gem-of-a-band by the name of Silver Mt. Zion and Fugazi guitarist Guy Picciotto. Considering my ever-obsessive interest in music, I was surprised that I hadn’t at least heard of someone with over a dozen albums throughout a 20+ year career.

Since downloading these two albums, I have hardly stopped listening to them and I have learned that Vic Chesnutt was an amazing wordsmith. His lyrics, often flowing like poetry, were meticulously crafted to tell some deeply personal stories, mostly soaked in tragedy and sorrow. Such was his life. You should know that Vic, in the early 80’s at age 18, was injured in a car accident while driving drunk. He lost most of the movement in his legs, a lot of the mobility in his arms and his hands were greatly compromised. So while his body was confined to a wheel chair, Vic relearned to play the guitar with simple chords and only a few fingers, and with a very limited musical structure to work with and a uniquely gritty voice, Vic spent the following 26 years rising out of his chair in the ether of his storytelling and musical genius.

His sound is rooted in folk with streams of other influences such as jazz, soul, and country flowing through it. His voice, sometimes rugged and graveled in a heavy Dylan/Springsteen kind-of- way while other times floating weightless in a beautiful falsetto, is usually accompanied only by the minimalist sounds of his lonely guitar. In his music are, naturally, stories of loss, pain, sadness and vacancy; an imprisoned perspective that few can entirely relate to. Yet, if we’re honest, his music is at the same time deeply accessible on multiple levels. The place from which his art stems is hauntingly and intensely real.

However, pointing you to the work of Vic Chesnutt is not the point of this writing, although some will undoubtedly (and wisely) seek his work. No, there is more to his story that I find fascinating. You see, he was raised in a Christian home and yet, from the age of 13, Vic was an admitted atheist. He writes about this dichotomy some in his music. One would have hoped that from his tragic accident, he would have reformed from his formidable lifestyle and embraced a new appreciation for life. That was not the case for Vic. His personal choices in life would likely be defined as unfortunate by many, battling alcohol and drug abuse for most, if not all, his adult life. There are stories written about him describing his drunken belligerence in the public music scene during the earlier part of his career. He was rather anti-establishment and as a result of near medical bankruptcy at the end of his life, he was outspokenlycritical of America’s health care system. He writes of watching his mother die a painful death from cancer, begging mercy from Jesus and Vic had a long-time preoccupation with death, attempting suicide 3-4 times through the years before his successfully-fatal overdose last month.  

You may not have liked the person. You may disagree with his viewpoints. You might not like his music. However, Vic Chesnutt was, if nothing else, brutally honest about life as he saw it and he openly acknowledged the complexities he saw in life. In the midst of the conflict and controversy surrounding Vic’s work, here’s what I take away from listening to his music. He makes me think. He makes me think about my position on social justice issues. He makes me think about my own spirituality and theology. He makes me think about my own mortality. He makes me think about the pain in my life and the pain in the lives of others. He makes me think about compassion and also about anger. He makes me think about being broken and the hope of being fixed. He makes me solidify where I stand in regards to my personal beliefs. All this from a crippled and indulgent atheist. So here are my questions. What would you do as a Christian about Vic Chesnutt? Would you protest his music? Would you even listen to it? Would you hear the stories and appreciate the realism or would you dismiss him as a bad influence? Would you embrace him as a human being or would you turn back into your comfortable circle? What is our role as Christians in God’s Kingdom? Are you intimidated by atheists? We know that Jesus hung out with outcasts, but do we really buy that we should too? What if we are the outcasts? Who do you hang out with? Who are you influenced by, and who do you influence?  

One of the last songs Vic wrote was called, “Flirted With You All of My Life”. He called it his break-up song with death. In it he reminisces about his preoccupation with death saying that he’s flirted with her all his life before coming to the realization and celebrating, ”Oh Death / Oh Death / Oh Death / Really, I’m not ready / Oh Death / Oh Death / Oh Death / Clearly, I’m not ready.” This song was released 3 months prior to his death by apparent suicide. 

Vic Chesnutt makes me think. What makes you think?