Now is the time of year where many of us overextend ourselves financially. We tell ourselves that we are getting deals, catching sales and making good decisions when the truth, for most of us, is that we are actually going into debt. Cut up those credit cards so that you don’t spend money you don’t have and use cash. I guarantee that this will change the way that you think about your purchases.

For me, this comes down to our stewardship.

“For every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Psalms 50:10-12 NIV

So if everything is God’s then we are only stewards of the things that he provides us with. Which means that it’s not our money that we are spending, it’s God’s, and this ain’t nothing to be playing with. When I think of stewardship, Joseph comes to mind. God uses him and his life to show us many different things including God’s favor, patience, and how to flee sexual sin, but the verses below illustrate his stewardship.

“The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.” Genesis 39:2-6 NIV.

Joseph would later go on to manage the prison that he was being held in (Gen 39:20-23), then after being released from prison, he would go on to manage the entire land of Egypt (Gen 41: 41-45). Can you say God’s Favor! We need to manage everything that God gives us the way that Joseph managed Potiphar’s household, the prison, and all of Egypt. God not only gave Joseph favor but he also gave him gave him discernment and guidance on how to handle those assets that were owned by someone else. The best thing is that God will give us the guidance to handle HIS assets! If we just follow God’s guidance we will become good stewards!

Being a good steward means managing our assets (blessings from God), which are really God’s assets, for the benefit of the Kingdom of God! This includes saving, making smart purchases, investing (see Luke 19: 11-13), building businesses, etc., using every gift that HE has given us, financial or otherwise, to bless others…and build his Kingdom.

Keep this in mind as you shop this Christmas season!

It’s time for me to start defining pages and panels for chapter 4, so I am entering daydreaming mode. You know, daydreaming gets a bad rap. Whenever we think of daydreaming we envision a kid in school gazing out of the window into another world while his teacher is sharing the lesson. Unfortunately, to this kid at this time, the teacher sounds like she has a starring role on Charlie Brown. OK…so this ain’t good, but I submit to you that there is a proper time to daydream when creativity runs rampant and things get done!

When Jeff gives me script pages, I still need to break them down into comic panels and pages. I’ll do this for a scene before I draw anything. His writing style for a scene usually consists of an establishing shot to set environment, location, and mood. Then he’ll go into the dialogue, mixing in “call outs” of all of the very important shots. These “call outs” kind of work like key frames or check points for me. They provide tempo and sometimes work as mood/attitude shifts for certain scenes. Now he leaves the space in between these “call outs” with mostly dialogue, totally up to me as far as what to draw. This works because he doesn’t have to block the complete scene, it allows him create the type of flow he needs in order to get his daydream onto paper.

So when he gives me the environment, mood, and dialogue, I daydream to figure out how to best present it in sequential art. I try to place myself in the scene, I’m the fly on the wall, but I visualize it like a movie. A general rule is that there is only one action per frame. Our goal as story tellers is to choose actions that the reader can tie together from panel to panel. In comics something is always happening, even in the blank space between panels, the reader just doesn’t see it; they have to visualize it themselves.

So when two people are having a conversation, to add interest they can be completing an action too. This is how I add blocking to a scene that Jeff has given me environment, mood and dialogue for: In panel 1 the smug character lights a cigarette as he speaks to a character with less confidence. Then in the panel 2 the smug character blows smoke into the other less confident character’s face. Finally, in panel 3 we see the less confident character deciding whether or not to stand up for himself as the smug character turns his back to walk away. This is just my first pass. For my second pass, I go back and daydream camera angles which can make a scene average or great. Then, for my third pass, I break down the panels to pages. I do all of this before I draw a single picture…daydreaming in my mind and then jotting down notes onto paper.

This is just my process. It may be too mechanical for some of you and not mechanical enough for others. I just encourage you creative folks to take the time to daydream. Do what you have to do to set a mood. There are many examples that folks use to set the mood such as, total silence, scented candles, vibey music, or environments like coffee shops, the beach, or driving in the car on the way to work. Basically, do what you need to do to get your daydream on…and the creativity will follow!

I’ve been battling the flu all week so this will have to be short and sweet. Psalms 34:1 says “I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”  Well, I’m praising God through this flu and everything else my family and I go through…good or bad. All praise, honor, and glory be to God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Praise Him!