Ziklag W5.15 - Wisdom is not Passive

SOS, History has One Clear Lesson

SOS Discipline - Daily Proverb and Red Letter Reader

The purpose of a father is the prospering of his son. cf Pr. 29:17

Wisdom is not passive. cf Mt. 7.24

The unseen interlocks the seen, the extraordinary encircles the ordinary, the supernatural entwines the normal. Who shall show otherwise? cf Sun Tzu 5.12

From Today’s Stack

History has one clear lesson: You can choose offense. You can choose defense. Or, you can choose both. But if you don’t do anything, you and your people will not be around very long.

More than Meets the Eye

The house is hopping this week as we prepare for a local fair and flee market called “Pec Things,” named for the locality of Pecatoncia, Illinois. We’ve procured a stall for the first time, and our family economy is fast at work in developing our wares. From restored furniture to original art to boxes and bags and more, we’re putting an end to our pack-ratting while at the same time turning a new leaf as local Rockford artists.

My daugters are getting incredibly prolific. After this weekend, all of the new work will be available on their online store, Studio 31 Twenty-Four, starting next week.

The following piece was commissioned as a potential piece to hang by the entrance to the BJJ Mats at the Threshing Floor.

“God, Creator, Spirit,” is the literal reading, and can be applied biblically in multiple ways, but begins as the prayer, “God, create our spirit.” Notice the cross at the center of the word “creation/create,” and the cross enlivening the people as at Pentecost in the word “Spirit.”

Price: $400 Medium: Acrylic on printed Canvas (the background is a print, the florals and calligraphy are by hand.)

A Tree by Streams 1A is my first offering of my printed works. This piece is my self-portrait, my witness and my prayer. There will be more in the series, but this will forever remain the original Jonathan McAdam Fisk #1.

The piece will with a signed note of authenticity. I will use the proceeds to print one more for my own home, and then further print more beauty for sale. I’m not looking to make money, but to make more art.

Price: $800 Medium: Digital Print, One-of-A-Kind

Christ, Beloved is a 1ft x1ft icon, printed on metal. It is utterly stunning. It will adorn any venue, any location, any home with holy awe and reverence. I will never print more than 10. It will come with a certifcate fo authenticity.

Price: $400 Medium: Digital Print on Metal, limited run.

From the Archive

from Broken

There once was an Emperor who wanted the finest clothes money could buy. In his luxury, he hired two weavers who promised him the most exquisite clothes of all: a robe that could only be seen by people cool enough to see it. It would expose all liars, posers, and idiots, and show him who the true royalty were. You can imagine the Emperor’s distress when they first presented him with the outfit, and he could not see it himself. He could lose his kingdom over this! So he pretended it was the most amazing article of clothing he’d ever seen. He looked around and found that all his ministers agreed with him. He nodded and smiled, his fear mounting with every step.

Next thing he knew, he was dressed to impress the world and embarking on a grand parade through his capital city. All the people were captivated. It must be a truly extraordinary design! But the silence was deafening. Why did they not cheer? Then a single, solitary voice rang loud and clear throughout the citadel. A child was laughing and calling to his mother, “Why does the Emperor have no clothes!?”

The classic tale by Hans Christian Anderson is not supposed to be about Christianity. But it is.

It is the tale of a Christianity that has forgotten her first love because her first love was stolen by thieves and liars. It is the tale of countless faithful Christians who feel in their gut something is terribly wrong, but who are frozen into silence by the fact that everyone else (just like them) is pretending not to notice. It is a tale of blindness, arrogance, and paranoia, of teachers who don’t teach and believers left with nothing to believe. It is a tale of willful ignorance, of failure to face the cold truth about the situation, and of the refusal to repent.

And, it is the tale of a child’s faith, the simple, wonderful, naïve gift of calling a thing what it is.