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.

Cartoon of a man in a fetal position. He says to another, "I'm okay. This is just how I get creative."

In high school, I had a graphic design teacher that loved to spout adages. One of his favorites was, “limitation is the basis for all creativity.”

I’d love to know whether he made that up or if he got that quote from someone. I googled the phrase and nothing came up. There were a few lines that began with “limitation is the basis of…” but then it went into something altogether different.

At the time, I thought he was talking about the limits of design technology. Back then, a personal computer was a novelty. Anything you created had to be for the limits of the printing presses or silkscreen printing. High tech was anything that could be done in a dark room with film or Photostat paper.

Thirty years later, the phrase still rings true to me. When you are limited with your resources, you learn to use your creativity. If all you have is a paper bag, you can learn to make the most use of it.

Sometimes, I get stuck on what tools I have at my disposal. I think I can’t be creative unless I have the latest hardware or software upgrades. I must remind myself that if I face a limit, it’s a golden opportunity to use my creativity.

Have you ever faced a limitation that ended up giving you a creative boost? Feel free to post it in the comments.

Copyright 2011: Kevin Spear Spot illustration of a man with a gun. He is staring at a fish with a hole through it.

When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to take a class on gun safety. This was a golden opportunity for me because it got me out of study hall. You know study hall, don’t you? It is that misnamed class that is held in a room, where no studying goes on except the kind where students study their classmates.
I jumped at the chance to learn how to handle a gun. I thought I would be able to learn how to handle a firearm and impress my father. Then I could get some serious man points.
In class, we went through all the important things about handling a gun. Some of the things we learned where:

• How to dress in fluorescent orange so some crazy hunter doesn’t mistake you for Bambi.
• Never put a white handkerchief in your back pocket because white-tail deer do that all the time and you don’t want a crazy hunter to shoot you.
• Be a safe hunter, not one of those crazy ones that shoot at handkerchiefs and camouflaged guys.

We learned all sorts of common sense rules, such as don’t point a gun at someone unless you really mean it, make sure the gun isn’t loaded around kids and be sure to get your hunter’s license early and often! (Yes, it was sponsored by our state’s department of natural resources!)
There was one thing we NEVER learned in that class. They never let us shoot a gun. Looking back on the class, I can understand why they were leery letting inexperienced teens bring guns to school. Gee, nothing could ever go wrong with that, right?
I felt cheated that I got this suitable-for-framing certificate that said I was a safe gun owner, when I never owned a gun, or even shot one. I had to get my dad to show me how to shoot a gun. It was only after I personally experienced using a firearm, did I learn how powerful they were and what they were capable of doing. After that, I finally KNEW why gun safety was important.
I keep that lesson in mind when I teach or write for kids. For example, this month, I’m talking with my kids about grace. I need to consider how it applies to them. The examples I give must show that it is important to give it and receive it in a way they have experienced and find relevant.
If I give examples that they can relate to, maybe they can see what a valuable tool it is. When I teach, I try to remember when I was ten years-old and had to show grace to someone else. Maybe I didn’t do such a good job at that time. That’s okay. They need to know it isn’t easy and we’re not perfect.
Something like grace is powerful. I want to be sure they know how to use it safely.

When I thought of this idea, I thought how technology has changed the church. If you walk into most churches today, you’ll at least see a projector on the wall. They have replaced hymn books with Powerpoint and lyrics projected on a wall. I see it as a good thing. The way we process information and interact with speakers is changing. Powerpoint, and similar programs, have made it possible for us visual people to see a sermon as well as hear it. My pastor can weave a story like no other, but visuals still can do what words can’t. You can tell me about Red Square in Moscow, but I won’t have a clue what it looks like until you show me a picture of St. Basil’s Cathedral.

There’s a whole industry devoted to this stuff:

• http://www.usingpowerpointinchurch.com/
• http://cmtechguide.wordpress.com/

That was the most obvious way technology has changed things. Then I wondered how social media has changed things. Does your church have a Facebook fan page? How about a Twitter account? And what’s all this stuff about Google+ ? It’s one of the many ways that have changed the way we communicate, whether person to person or church to the congregation. Instead of a postcard or mailer, do you text your latest event? I thought of how I get information from my church now. Sometimes, I’ll get a note in the mail along with an announcement on Facebook. I find that the more ways I’m approached with a subject, the better I’ll remember it. How many ways do you reach out to people? There are so many articles just about those topics:

• http://collinharbour.com/2010/03/social-media-strategy-for-churches/
• http://samluce.com/2011/07/why-everyone-should-use-google/
• http://www.childrensministryonline.com/fresh-ideas/how-much-is-social-media-integrated-in-your-ministry/

Social media led me to Angry Birds. It seems like such a silly game. Who would have thought a game where you use a slingshot to fire birds at pigs would be a sensation? Oh, the many facets that would make a sermon topic sing! Well, maybe not. You could perhaps do one Sunday on anger, then another Sunday on inertia. After that, perhaps you could do a topic on treating pigs the way you want to be treated, or birds before swine. Hey! Maybe you COULD make a whole sermon series out of Angry Birds!

I drew this for the Church of God newsletter. You can find a copy of the newsletter here: http://www.chog.org/chognews/CHOGnews-aug11.htm

I posted the question on my Facebook page. Feel free to chime in. You can find the link here:

http://www.facebook.com/questions/10150360744733273/

I look forward to hearing your insights!