Getting Ready

In any creative presentation, there’s a wonderful time leading up to any event, it’s the time of preparation—the time where you create the things you’ll need to do your presentation. It’s the writing, the rehearsing, creating the resources and on and on and on. I love this time, I’m in it right now for a couple of events I have upcoming. It’s the time where one plays “what if?” and “wouldn’t that be cool?” It’s the time where concept becomes reality.

Now I have to admit, it’s not always a comfortable time and how you face it is crucial.

These are a few things that have helped me over the years:

1. Start with the big picture in mind, then put the big picture away for a while. We all need a vision, we have to have some idea where we are headed. It becomes problematic though if we are constantly looking at how much there is left to be done. Once you know the big picture, it becomes about being faithful and getting the next thing done. Preparation is almost always better when we take out time, do it right and chip away, which leads to the next one.

2. The last minute is NOT your friend. I hear so many creatives say they work best under pressure. I’m not convinced that is true and I think it’s what we say when we have really refined our procrastination skills. When you wait ’til the last minute, you don’t have the time to refine, fix,edit, etc.

3. Practice, practice, practice. Yes there is something to be said for Holy Spirit spontaneity, but for the most part, the more you prepare, the better you are.

4. Get wise counsel, input. Let a few trusted friends see what you’re working on and invite them to give their opinions. When we work on our own projects we can sometimes get too close to it and we become blind to it’s flaws. Our main goal in most of these things is to communicate a message to others. For this reason, how others see your work matters.

5. (and this probably should have been number 1) Give it to God. Bathe your project in prayer. From the first step of asking God to show you what to do, through asking God how to prepare, to asking God to use the final result to His glory. And finally when it’s over, praise Him.

Also involved in all of this is being certain to give God your best at every step of the process.

One of the things I love most about this time are the quiet times with God when I can just feel Him planting and growing and expanding ideas and the times when we just spend time together. For the creative, prayer is like a master class with the ultimate creator. Don’t neglect it because you’re trying to get something done. Doing things for God is not the thing, because He really doesn’t need you. It’s doing things WITH God that is really cool.

Remember why you do what you do, then GET READY.

I’m getting ready for two things right now, This Saturday from 2-6:00 p.m. (Lord wiling) I will be at the Mulberry Art Studios, 21 N. Mulberry St., Lancaster, PA for the Snowflake Gala I’ll be showing the two paintings seen in the videos below (which will be available for sale), doing a performance painting, and I will have a table there with my book, some DVDs and information on AMOKArts.

Then on March 10 at 7:00 p.m. I’ll be doing the first A Night A.M.O.K. at New Creation Church, 3646 Pottsville Pike, Reading, PA 19605. If you’re in the area, I’d love to see you at either of these events.

The Art Show that Didn’t Happen (for me)

For weeks now, I have been excited for the art show I was to participate in on Saturday. All the work had to be created on site and it was going to be a lot of fun.

I was coming off a rough week, nothing major just a pile of little frustrations and aggravations that made me kind of stressed out. The art show was to be my Island of calm. Six hours of creating anything I wanted. My goal was to create to the glory of God and allow Him to use me and my work as He saw fit. No agenda beyond making stuff and serving Him. Several things happened over the course of the week that told me I needed to relax a little and find my joy again and I figured that the art show was where it was going to happen.

Well the show was about an hour and a half away from my house, so I loaded about half my studio into my car and headed there, anticipating a very relaxing day. I got about ten miles away from the site of the show when it happened. I began to hear a squeaking, squealing sound under my hood followed by thumping and jerking. I was following a nice guy who volunteered to lead me when I found myself slightly lost. When I pulled my car over he noticed I was no longer following and turned around. He pointed me to a parking lot just ahead and asked if I could get the car to a parking lot in the clearing ahead, so i limped it there and that is where it gave out completely. When I saw what the parking lot was I couldn’t believe it. I pastor Dave Weiss had my car die on the parking lot of a strip club. (no it wasn’t open and no I wouldn’t have gone in if it was.)

My first thought was Lord if you want me to relax you have a funny way of showing it. I was more than a little upset and my funk continued. My wife came and picked her husband up at the strip club, something neither or us ever thought we would say, and we went home. No art show for me.

But here’s the thing. I got home and got by myself and prayed (a large part of which felt more like venting to God, its okay He understands). I got out a lot of my stress and frustration and felt his peace start to come over me. A different message came to me than the one I planned for Sunday which I will post to tangle a little later in the week about a man named David who ended up where he didn’t belong, It seems somewhat appropriate don’t you think. I had been reading Psalm 51 earlier in the week and thought it was just for me but I began to see how it applied to a lot of what had happened in the week.

I sat down at my computer and started to write when my cell phone rang. It was someone I have been praying for for a long time asking me if I wanted to go for a walk. We had a great time and some really good discussion and I would have missed it had I been at the show. Once again God knew what He was doing. I missed the show, but God had something better.

This is one of the pieces I was going to paint at the show. Many of you may have seen it before but if not, check it out. I think it has a good message for us all.