It Matters Because You Matter

Hi my name is Dave Weiss and I love what I do. I love painting my pictures, pastoring my church and preaching God’s Word. I love writing and encouraging creatives, talking about art and creative ministry, and I really love doing this blog, even if I get behind sometimes.

Every once in a while though something happens that gets me rattled, or maybe something I created falls flat or someone says something that makes it all feel pretty insignificant. Have you ever been there? You might look at all you do and wonder if it matters.

It does. I’m of the belief that everything we do, and even the things we choose not to do matters. Think about it. Every single thing you do, or at least the vast majority of things that you do are interconnected with the rest of the world. Like the pebble in the pond that sets the waves in motion, your actions provoke reactions. Positive or negative, what you do matters. The should have a tremendous impact on our choices.

Something as simple as the way you treat someone could effect the future of the world. Show someone kindness, and they may just show someone else kindness, who in turn shows someone else kindness, causing an exponential kindness explosion. Of course the same thing can happen through negativity. Every action, every choice, matters.

The online world understands that. The things we put out there have the potential to “go viral.” How does that work? One person creates something that resonates with me so I share it, several friends see it and share it with all their friends, several of whom share it and on and on. Brothers and sisters, what if we took goodness, God and the Gospel and created ways to make them go viral? I think this is precisely why we were given creatives gifts. If this is the case, and I believe it is with all my heart, then the impact we can have is huge, what we do matters.

Put another way, your life matters. We know this to be true.
Ephesians 2:10 (a favorite of this blog) says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Simply stated we are hand made by God and in this world to do the good things God put us here to do. We are here on purpose, for a purpose, to bring about good in this world and point the world to the only One who is truly good. In other words, your life and the way you live it and the choices you make, matters.

Further, Romans 8:19 says “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” In other words, the world is waiting for those of us who love God to do the things that bring people to salvation and the world to re-creation. This is our purpose in life.

Whatever you do… it matters. The only question left for us to consider is how will we matter? Will we be a force for good or evil.

It matters!

Tell a Better Story… She’s Somebody’s Daughter

Years ago I experienced a thought that moved me and helped me. I was a fairly new believer and I was struggling for understanding on the subject of pornography. Like many other young men, I had seen a fair amount of it in my formative years and knew it was something that should not be a part of my life, but more than that, I knew it shouldn’t be a part of anyone’s life but how to communicate that to others. One day in prayer, it hit me, “she’s somebody’s daughter.” That woman you’re ogling, what if she was your sister or, God forbid, your daughter? Because she is somebody’s daughter. That whole “do unto others” thing, God meant that. Seeing someone as a beloved human rather than an object to be ogled should change your point of view.

I shared that several times with people in person and online and you can tell it made people think differently.

The other day I was on my way to a ministry opportunity. On my route is a stretch of road with several pornographic establishments. Right before them was a billboard that caught my eye. It had a photograph of a woman looking intelligent and healthy and happy with the phrase “She’s somebody’s daughter” next to it. I loved it. Someone else had the same thought and took it and ran with it in a way I couldn’t have. Last night on my way from a another series of meetings, I saw another one posted larger than life right before a notorious “gentleman’s” club. (By the way, that is one of those phrases that should be required to be changed, gentlemen don’t go to “gentleman’s” clubs.) As far as I know, She’s Somebody’s Daughter seems to be a Pennsylvania thing at this point. My prayer is that it would go nationwide. This is a group that is telling a better story by changing the story, changing perspectives and hopefully changing some minds. Pornography and the sex industry are destructive to everyone involved. The first amendment says we can’t just shut it down. This is an evil that has to be attacked on the demand side. She’s Somebody’s Daughter is a great first step.

Their vision says, “Building a community model that values women and collectively says no more sexual exploitation, it is our desire to be a voice for all women while raising awareness about the issues related to pornography, sex trafficking and sexual abuse.” You can find out more at shessomebodysdaughter.org

IllustrationFriday.com Urban

I did this photo collage after seeing that the challenge was urban. It was inspired by a trip to Washington D.C. I was driving and I got lost in the maze that is my nation’s capitol. Just a few blocks from the opulence of all the huge marble buildings there are neighborhoods who are in need of the most basic essentials. Just blocks from the halls of power are people in desperate need of empowerment. The manicured lawns and architectural edifices almost succeed in making one forget that your’e smack in the middle of an urban area with real urban problems. I thought they needed a reminder, so I made one. I had to question how this could be. The very people with the resources to make a real difference seem too occupied with reelection to help.

But you know how when you point one finger you have four pointing back at you. The fact of the matter is, urban or rural, need is everywhere as are those with the resources to do something. If you can see a problem, there is probably something you can do about it. Every significant change starts with one person doing something. And remember, not all need is visible. Be attentive pray and do something.

Making a difference starts with caring enough to  do something.

Joyism

Okay I’ll be the first one to admit, I didn’t have a lot of time to think this out, I woke up with it and acted on it. I just had a dream. I don’t claim it to be prophetic and I pray it wasn’t. In my dream I was at a mall when a message came over the loud speakers to evacuate the mall. I began to move for the exits when they announced that a germ had been released into the mall, I was running, then walking, then I wanted to run but couldn’t, I started to panic, then everything went black and I woke up. Not a great dream, but it birthed a great dream.

As I woke up, I started to pray. I started to ask God to protect us and keep that kind of stuff from happening, to overcome these kinds of threats in our world and these thoughts started to flow. I started to think what is terrorism. Sometimes they are large acts that hurt a lot of people, but sometimes they are relatively small acts (in scope) that make a lot of people afraid. I started to think of the beltway shooters from a couple of years ago. If you know one of their victims, your loss was great and I don’t mean to minimize it at all, but they shot a very small percentage of the people who drove those roads. The larger effect was they made everyone afraid to drive in the area. A relatively small act created massive chaos. That’s what terrorism does, it spread terror. It makes us afraid.

The next thoughts were how do we combat that? At first I thought of great acts of heroism, and I’d like to hope if there was ever a time when I needed to be heroic, that God would give me the grace to step up and do it. On my own I’m not that brave. Then I had a different thought. Heroism is hard and we all (or at least most of us)have doubts whether we would have the courage to be heroic, but if small acts of terror make a lot of people afraid, what would small acts dedicated to bringing joy do. Would joy spread like terror spreads? I think it would. The thought of the word Joyism came to mind. I din’t know if that’s copyrighted, and I hope it’s nothing dirty if it is, but what if we did that. What if we devoted ourselves to doing one thing each day that? I know people have often talked about random acts of kindness, I know this is nothing new, I don’t claim any originality in this, and any glory to come of it goes straight to God. The challenge is simple, do something that will bring someone joy and maybe, just maybe, joy will spread and the more people to do it the more joyful we will be. After all the Scriptures say perfect love drives out fear and as a small speck of light turns back the darkness, so small acts of love can turn back our fears.

We all talk about changing the world and we usually get intimidated because that seems too big. A lot of times this makes us do nothing, so pray for and look for an opportunity to do something small to make someone’s day better and then keep doing it. And whatever you do, do it with great love to the glory of God. Spread the Word about Joyism. Small things done with great love WILL make a huge difference. Share your comments and stories here.

Something I Am Really Hoping to Get Involved In: Eat-Art.org

Okay so I was listening to the Catalyst Podcast yesterday and I saw they had an interview with someone from Eat-Art.org. I was so hoping it wasn’t a cooking site. It isn’t. It’s this amazing charity that sells art to end hunger. Buy a print and meals are donated to those who need them. This is what their site has to say:

“Eat Art became my heartbeat and passion about a year ago, on Thanksgiving Day 2010. I was in Texas with extended family watching the Dallas Cowboys play football, if you can call it that! I had eaten WAY TOO MUCH about an hour earlier, and the turkey was about to cause my eyes to close. As I was watching football I was also surfing Facebook & Flickr and had several people asking me if they could purchase some of the photos I had posted over the past few days. As I sat on the couch with a FULL stomach I began to wonder how could I sell a few images and use the money to feed people with EMPTY stomachs. Mix that momentary thought with my entrepreneurial tendencies, and the 10-month journey and evolution of Eat Art began.

During the summer of 2011, EA was all I could think about, and with the generous investments from three close friends this grass roots cause to artfully end hunger was born. I began to have many dozens of conversations, the initial contributors and photos were compiled, apparel was designed and ordered and the web site was officially launched on September 1st of 2011.

I was so nervous – it was like I had given birth to this baby I had been carrying for 10 months and I was not sure if anyone would think it was beautiful. But in the first 15 days there was enough art and apparel purchased to send 15,000 meals to hungry children. I was absolutely blown away by YOU! I now believe, and there is no way you can convince me otherwise, we could truly become a major force in fighting hunger.

Did you know there are approximately 3 billion people that live on less than $2 each day and 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 each day. (UNICEF) Every single day children are dying just because they don’t have enough food to eat.”—Eat-Art.org founder Todd Clark

What is the current vision of Eat Art?
To become a trusted organization through total transparency and therefore a major force in Artfully Ending Hunger. Sending 1,000,000 meals a YEAR to hungry children.

This image below links to a video showing one of Eat-Art’s artists at work on a piece you can actually buy on the site. It’s by Jeremy Cowart and it’s called Christ. Watch his technique, it’s amazing.
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I’m getting some things ready to submit to Eat-art.org If you’re looking for a way to help others with your work, check them out!

The Three Best Ways to Ensure Failure

The three best ways to ensure failure are to feel sorry for yourself, focus on what you don’t have and give up.

Join us for a quick look at the story of Gideon where we’ll see these things in action and how God combats them. It’s three minutes that will change your day and maybe even your life.

R.I.P Steve Jobs

The maker of my favorite computers and one ofte people responsible for the fact that we have computers and iPads and IPods and iPhones and so much else. Anyone who feels that one person cannot make a difference should look at what Steve Jobs started in his garage and then keep going. Press on and remember this quote:

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. ~S. Jobs

I believe you can do it. Press on

The Passion of the Christ(ian)

Wow, what a day! First of all, I want to thank whoever posted the link to my conference cartoons on your site. Please tell me who you are and about your site so I can share it. When I awoke this morning at 5:00 I was amazed to see that we had passed 150 hits for the day and at this moment we have surpassed the record number of hits for the day. What’s funny is I almost didn’t post those cartoons. It was sort of like posting my diary for the world to see. The conversation it has caused thus far has convinced me it was the right move and I thank all those who have joined the conversation. The conversation has led me to a topic I have been thinking of for some time. That topic is passion.

The denomination I am a part of is called a “traditional peace church” and to be really honest, the peace position always drove me a little crazy. It’s still a struggle of mine. My passion is evangelism and in this world it just kind of seemed that there were too many people who had to be reached to deal with an “unattainable goal” like world peace. I used to say things like “lay down your peace sign and take up your cross” and “World peace? We don’t have peace in our families and in our pews and you want to talk world peace?. The pacifists really drove me crazy. Why were they so emphatic about peace? There are more important things to be done.

Lately though I’ve been seeing something that has helped. It’s called passion. I’m coming to believe that passion is something God puts in us—something that fires us up and motivates us—something that causes us to need to act. Maybe God has made me passionate about evangelism and them passionate about peace and someone else passionate about something else and on and on and on. What if instead of being frustrated by one another, instead of wondering why they can’t be passionate about what we are passionate about, we cheered each other on? What if we realized we’re all on the same team with the same ultimate goal? What would happen if we all gave our best to our God given passions and loved each other? What would happen if diversely passionate people worked together for the good of the Kingdom of God? Seems to me we might just have a better functioning body of Christ. After all a body is not made up of one part but of many.

Don’t follow your passions, follow Christ, then let Him use your passions to further His Kingdom.

The First Follower

An interesting point on leadership and following from Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby.com Check out the video here.

There is a great lesson here in starting a movement. I praise God for the people in this little movement called AMOKArts.

Time to Launch and I Could Really Use Your Help

Ready to Launch

I just wanted to take a moment to make a few things known related to me and this ministry and after having a wonderful call with my coach yesterday and then having the IllustrationFriday.com challenge today being the word Launch, I decided this might well be a sign and what better day than today. As of July 20 the job that has supported my family and this ministry for the last 12 years is going to be cut from full time to half time. I have felt for a while that this might be a God thing to push me out of my comfort zone and into really pursuing the speaking/live painting portion of this ministry. I have done it on and off for years but feel it is time to really launch. That being said, I am looking for opportunities to speak and paint in churches and other venues. If you’ve watched my videos or followed this blog you know the kind of work I do and what is on my heart. I want to help people to find and use their God given gifts to build the Kingdom of God. If you would like more information on bringing me in for your event or know someone who might, please contact me Dave Weiss at amokarts@aol.com. Thank you!
My full website can be found at http://www.amokarts.com