Radically Real

A Little More Homework
My son Chris and I are really into musical theater. Recently Chris bought the soundtrack to Jason Robert Brown's Musical 13. I love the music for this show especially the song in the video above, A LIttle More Homework. It's a song sung by a 13 year old boy walking into manhood and confessing that he will do his very best, but he still has a lot to learn. The lyrics are very honest and very poignant and while I'm a long way past 13, I still feel like this song applies to me.

I know this song was not written for the church and I don't want to over spiritualize it, but every time I hear this song, I think if I could sing I would sing this song to the church, cause I think we all need it. We don't always do the best job representing the love of God to the world around us. I think part of it at least is because we are dishonest. We feel as it we have to act as we've arrived and that we have it all together. My confession is as a pastor, I don't have it all together, I'm not all the way there, and I really wonder what would happen if we in the church could make this same admission and mean it from our hearts. We're supposed to be growing into the fullness of Christ becoming more and more like Him each day, but even if no one else will admit it, I will, on my best day, I have a long way to go. We are in this world to love people and share the love of God, and there are days where I fall terribly short of that goal. Maybe we need to be honest about that, come along side others and say, God loves you and I'm trying to too. Let's come along side each other, try and live this thing out and just concede we all have a little more homework to do.

AMOK Creative Arts Ministry presents Making a Fish

This week my video is a little different. It's a how to video I created showing how I made a prop fish for an upcoming production of Seussical Jr. for Alpha Omega Players. Beyond that there is a message attached challenging believers to do two things vitally important in being used by God.

AMOKArts Resource Review
Creative Calisthenics: A Workout for the Writers Imagination by Terri Main
available through the web site http://www.creativecalisthenics.com

Did you ever spend your time staring at a blank page and hoping for inspiration? I think it happens to all of us. Well if you’re a writer, Terri Main has a book that will come to your rescue. It’s called Creative Calisthenics.

Creative Calisthenics started out it’s life as a very regular, very valuable contribution to the Fellowship of Christian Writers. Quite a few of the members of the list encouraged Terri to compile these contributions into a book and I for one am glad they did. The book is filled with writer’s prompts, idea generating ideas guides for creating believable characters and settings as well as tips on organization and plotting, poetry, improving your writing and even games to enhance your creativity.

I’ll be the first to confess, I didn’t use this book properly. Main advises the reader to open the book at random and start writing. I read it cover to cover in airports and on planes while traveling to Nashville (for a gathering of writers incidentally) and found it extremely engaging. There are a wealth of ideas contained in this small volume and as I was reading I really struggled to resist the urge to quit reading and start writing. This book is a treasure trove of great ideas that will never be far from my desk. Now all I need to do is find the time to write.

Interestingly enough while this book is designed for writers, in reading it, I began to realize that this resource could also be helpful to artists working in other disciplines. After all what artist couldn’t use help with a good idea now and then. I heartily endorse this book.

Creative Calisthenics may be ordered through Terri Main’s website:http://www.creativecalisthenics.com or for more information contact Terri Main at webservant2003@yahoo.com