Contemplative Comics day 33

These comics really help deal with the burdens of working on my history classes…

Contemplative Comics day 31

My comics are already so unprofessional because I draw them with markers instead of making them “high” art and painting them or “commercial” and doing them digitally.

But digital coloring bores the life out of me.

And painting would take much too long.

I don’t have time to make comics. But I do it anyway. So what I make has to be fast and complete. There’s no time for rough drafts and perfection. Get it down on paper, scan it, a quick edit to adjust colors, and check spelling. Post it.

It takes between an hour to an hour and a half to produce one of these strips.

I think they have gotten better over time, and I will always mess with them and work on ways to make them more creative and continue to experiment.

But I have so many obligations towards my family and to work and will probably always need some kind of second job. So I just don’t care to try and make money off of these. I would rather draw what I want when I want, why I want.

And that means leaving scribbled out words because I sort of like the way it looks.

Its more fun this way.

Contemplative Comics day 30

I remember seeing the bodies fall on TV

and the sound they made when they hit the ground.

It caused a physical impact on the witnesses.

I will never forget that sound.

Contemplative Comics day 29

Don’t we all…

Contemplative Comics day 28

A quote from a message from my friend Brad.

Contemplative Comics day 27

Morning prayers 7/7

Contemplative Comics day 26

Morning prayers 6/7

Contemplative Comics day 25

Morning prayers 5/7

Contemplative Comics day 24

Morning prayers 4/7

Contemplative Comics day 23

Morning prayers 3/7

Contemplative Comics day 22

Morning prayers 2/7

Contemplative Comics day 21

Morning prayers 1/7

Contemplative Comics day 20

I drew this while streaming John McCain’s memorial service. I think presidents are always cooler after their time is up and they can move on (although that may not prove to be true for the current one-sorry to say).

Contemplative Comics day 18

The power and voice of this woman holding fast in the savage storm of white supremacy and violence is astounding. Some people weather the storm and some people out-storm it.

Contemplative Comics day 17

My sweet baby girl.

Contemplative Comics day 15

I remember when I was making these comics, I had been studying about American slavery, racism, Christianity, and Jim Crow. Shootings were happening all over. Families were being separated at the border. Stories of children in Syria contemplating suicide so their parent’s weren’t stressed out trying to figure out how to feed them were making their way over as our country labeled them too dangerous to allow them refuge. Images of children washing up on the shore. Watching the devastation in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and seeing people I cared about being forced to pick up and start over in a new state.

Then I would go to a little church office and try to plan out songs for the coming Sunday and organize a band to play them, schedule a mid-week bible study for youth whose families were really busy with lots of activities, and write discussion questions about sermons for our discussion groups.

Then I would go home to play with my daughter and hang out with Ashley who was pregnant at the time. And I would feel so weird with such an easy life in the face of all the suffering I was taking in.

I was working so hard, but none of it was doing any good whatsoever to the injustice surrounding me. I wanted to be in ministry specifically to spend my life advocating for some small corner of the pain. But I felt more like a manager working with a up and coming organization. It became hard to deliver.

I felt like a fraud and like I was doing a bad job at everything.

Discovering the practice of liturgy and using liturgical prayer and contemplation was my only source of peace. I was lost at sea, swimming for one life boat, then I would see another and change directions, then another so I would start swimming that way.

Using the daily office prayers and meditating on small amounts of scripture brought peace and stability. It helped me to be still. It brought a real confidence by reminding me that amidst all of the chaos, a just and loving God was at the center, seeing and feeling all of it, and slowly working to bring about peace and justice. Practicing liturgy helped me to see his kingdom at work in all of these tragic circumstances.

It is probably the only reason I am still a Christian.

In our lives and in our prayers, may your kingdom come.