Sunday Snippets: A Catholic Carnival #4

Sunday Snippets for the week of Sunday February 28 to Sunday March 7.

What is Sunday Snippets? Read this!

This week I bought Anne Rice's second novel on the life of Jesus, "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana".

The back inside cover of my new book advertises Anne Rice's 'spiritual autobiography' which I also want to read. "Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession".

A friend posted this interesting letter on his FaceBook account. It is a love-letter from God to YOU, made entirely of passages from the Bible... and it reads really, really well!

I wrote an update to my New Years Resolutions this week.

Each day I read my Bible, I get closer and closer to finishing it! See how I am going!

Finally, I decided on writing a more DETAILED testimony as to how I came to embrace Christianity once again nearly five-years ago.

Enjoy my writings for the week! Remember to come back again next week ;-)

My Bible reading-plan

I have been catching up on my Bible reading-plan over the weekend. I am now only ten-days behind; I am hoping to have caught up before I start TAFE again on Wednesday, then have a plan in place to read my Bible daily of a morning. Before breakfast, which consists of several coffees and several cigarettes... Before Sunrise - the morning television program, not the actual sun waking up!!!

The books I have finished reading so far are Genesis, Exodus and Matthew. I am now on to Leviticus and Acts of the Apostles, also the Psalms which I have been on since I started. Leviticus will prove to be quite a handy one to read with all the laws! Genesis and Exodus both had their tedious parts... Genesis where every second word was 'begat'... ie: "So-and-so begat so-and-so... so-and-so begat some other so-and-so, who begat.....". Then Exodus with all the detail of the alter, the robes and all the rest! Leviticus will be the some, with all the laws. It is good though and I am looking forward to it!

RIGID

Art classes art going great! I think they will do good for my health. So far I have been somewhat out of my comfort zone most of the time, not really using anything I usually use. For instance, I generally do sketching with greylead. Very rarely do I use colour, and when I do, I usually only use a set of different Derwent pencils and perhaps some pastels... and then there's the computer graphics I make in PhotoShop and Illustrator, which, of course, will not be part of this course at all.

Charcoal. Paint. Ink. Clay. Messy stuff! Things I don't use very much, in the past mostly because it is messy... these days I don't care about mess. Not like I have any new clothes that will get wrecked, and I live in a shitty little flat that I don't care if it gets messy.

I can see I will loosen up a fair bit with the help of this course, which is good. It will help me to be able to actually create some more art! I'm usually too picky and careful. Too rigid. And I hate it. I never used to be this way. I used to be pretty relaxed. These days I haven't been for a while though.

Gone now, however, are the days where I would keep a visual diary and be so anal about it. Either writing notes down roughly in a book then transferring it carefully into my visual diary with only the best of handwriting as though I were making Wedding Invitations, or typing it, printing it and sticking it in. That took too much time! And what about when I had something in class to do? Then I would have to leave some blank pages spare because I couldn't possibly have the dates out of order! Too rigid. Too boring. Too perfect. Too time consuming! It's not supposed to be that way. It's not like my visual diary is a bloody folio - it is just a record of work for my own recollection and reference, duh! Tired tired tired.

I'm forced to work on different techniques instead, which make me evolve into different styles. Stupid art teachers of old... I reckon they haven't done much to help me. I can hear their words now... "No no no, not like that. Look at that nice curve there - you need to bring the leg down more, and look at the expression on her face..." - NO! IT'S NOT MY STYLE!!! And now that's all I have been doing... like I still need to impress you. Well are you happy? For a few years, you've killed my style. I used to have the semi-realistic look, but also heaps of stylized drawings and works of abstract and cubism.

VISUAL ARTS: So far...

These are just some pieces I have worked on in class over the last couple of weeks. Nothing special - no masterpieces (just yet!) we are simply focusing on technique more than subjects at the moment.

This is a collage composed of bits of painted white paper and coloured paper.

These two are continuous line drawings - where you keep drawing, the pen doesn't leave the paper. The first one was made using greylead, graphite and charcoal whilst looking at the subject and the page, while the second is made of just charcoal without looking at the page.

This was a very tedious exercise as the paper is shiny. We used greylead, graphite, charcoal and ink (the ink went on the easiest).

We started with the subject as a silhouette then went over it with white pastel to "draw the subject out".

These two pieces were made using dot technique with paint. The only difference is the first one was done using brushes on white paper, the second using fingers on black card.

A detailed testimony

A number of my fans and friends have been asking me lately questions such as "Why are you a Christian?" "How did you come to find God again?" and the likes. My previous testimony (written in two parts, here and here) obviously wasn't enough, so now I will focus more on the time just after my car accident...

One night in the hospital, I had a dream. It was quite a strange dream as it felt real - actually real, not just a very realistic dream, but real! In this dream, I was lying in my hospital bed, in the same room as reality - everything was how it really was. Same window, same door, same ensuite - right down to the pictures on the wall that my two nieces drew, and there were quite a number of these!

The only out of place thing in the dream was a person, and it was Samantha. She was sitting on the chair next to my bed, holding my hand and talking to me. We both knew what had happened - that we'd both been in a car accident, I was in Royal Melbourne Hospital, she was in the Alfred.

We simply talked for an hour about general things, but Samantha kept holding my hand, telling me to stop worrying about her and to focus my attention and concentration on getting myself better. Though we knew we'd both been in this horrific accident, it never once seemed strange that Sam was by my bed and not in her own bed on the other side of the city.

The next day, our friend Victoria came in - this is back to reality I might add! I told her all about this dream, how strange and real it was. Victoria just smiled, thinking back on it I knew she wanted to tell me something but simply couldn't. A few days later, she did.

"Davie... Do you remember the night you had that dream? Well... Samantha passed away that night." she said. I simply went blank. There was no way of me knowing Sam passed away. All I knew is she was on life-support in the I.C.U and that four or five days before she passed on, the family decided it was time to turn the life-support off; she kept kicking on for the next four or five days, before eventually passing on, visiting me in my dream before leaving this world forever.

It wasn't for another few weeks, once I was out of hospital and in the care of my parents in Wodonga, that I thought back on this dream again. Strange. Really, really strange. I just couldn't comprehend how I managed to have this dream - this really realistic dream - the same night Samantha passed away. I of course at the time wasn't a Christian, but agnostic. I was open to believing in a God if I had something in concrete, otherwise I was happy to live my life. I wasn't seeking a religion or a God, nor did I feel the need for one. So after reflecting on this dream, I stored it again in my mind, and would soon revisit it again and again.

When I was a little better, well enough to get up out of bed for at least an hour at a time, my mind was wanting some activity for the first time since the accident. I had been doing puzzles on and off while in hospital, but only just. I couldn't manage to read a book because I was far too groggy, in pain and had very little concentration.

Now that I was a little better though, I craved something requiring a little bit of brain activity. So I jumped on the internet and just had a surf. I was compelled for some reason to look up religious things, and one of these things was the Saint I chose to study in preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation some ten-years before. Saint Stanislaus - the boy Saint. Usually this sort of research would be for school or something other than personal interest.

I was soon re-acquainted with my Patron Saint and learnt some new things about him in the process. One of the things he was the patron of is broken bones. Prior to the accident, I had never been to hospital as a patient in my life. Kids are always going into hospitals for a broken arm or leg, large cuts on their knee and other minor injuries. But not I. I was only bragging about it a few days before the accident! Now here I was, back in Wodonga, in a back-brace and with crutches for I had broken one of the bones in the body no one wants to break - my spine.

Amazingly I was walking though, no damage done to the spinal cord. Even after surgery I had a risk of losing the ability to walk because of the delicate nature of it. Removing a vertebra that had been crushed by fifty-percent and putting a cage and bone graft in place. The vertebra wraps around the spinal cord too, of course, so I could see how it would be easy to nick the cord when trying to remove it.

This was the thing that finally grabbed my attention and made me think of God, Jesus, Mary, my eleven-years of Catholic schooling. It was all undercover at this stage however - no one knew I was secretly reading up on different religions and Saints, not even my parents.

One Sunday morning, when I was much more able to get around and leave the house even, my mum asked me if I would like to go with her and dad to mass. Now understand, that was a pretty strange question to ask me! Mum knew I didn't believe in God, more-so than my other siblings. I was a goth during high school who somewhat resembled the antichrist even at the worst of times! So asking if I would go to church with them?! It's not even as though they found I was looking at religious things by checking the history as I was using my own laptop!

My reply was of course yes, and I felt relieved! I was to go to mass for the first time in a number of years. I felt relieved because it was something I wanted to do, but I couldn't find the way to tell my parents I wanted to! It was almost like I was "coming out" to them it was that scary! I didn't want to seem a hypocrite or something as I was always paying out on Christianity as a high school student.

So I went with my parents to mass that Sunday, and the following Sunday. I was soon a regular at church and at times I was visiting other churches just to see what the differences are. I was going to a Pentecostal Church for a short time, but still going to the Catholic Church all at the same time. Finally, I made my home within the Catholic Church. Sure at times it may seem boring in comparison to the Pentecostal style, but all the other non-Catholic Churches were just missing something... It wasn't the tradition they were missing either, there was something more. Even the other more traditional churches I went to - the Lutheran and Anglican - I felt something missing. I now believe that "missing thing" to be the Virgin Mary.

Since then, I have had a few other small "visions" I will call them. So there you have it, a more in-depth recount of WHY I am a Christian. Well, not WHY, more-so HOW. Some of you will applaud, others may think it was just the drugs, but I'm sold to Christ!

God's Love-letter... to YOU!!!

My child,

You may not know me,

but I know everything about you.

Psalm 139:1

I know when you sit down and when you rise up.

Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways.

Psalm 139:3

Even the very hairs on your head are numbered.

Matthew 10:29-31

For you were made in my image.

Genesis 1:27

In me you live and move and have your being.

Acts 17:28

For you are my offspring.

Acts 17:28

I knew you even before you were conceived.

Jeremiah 1:4-5

I chose you when I planned creation.

Ephesians 1:11-12

You were not a mistake,

for all your days are written in my book.

Psalm 139:15-16

I determined the exact time of your birth

and where you would live.

Acts 17:26

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Psalm 139:14

I knit you together in your mother's womb.

Psalm 139:13

And brought you forth on the day you were born.

Psalm 71:6

I have been misrepresented

by those who don't know me.

John 8:41-44

I am not distant and angry,

but am the complete expression of love.

1 John 4:16

And it is my desire to lavish my love on you.

1 John 3:1

Simply because you are my child

and I am your Father.

1 John 3:1

I offer you more than your earthly father ever could.

Matthew 7:11

For I am the perfect father.

Matthew 5:48

Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand.

James 1:17

For I am your provider and I meet all your needs.

Matthew 6:31-33

My plan for your future has always been filled with hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

Because I love you with an everlasting love.

Jeremiah 31:3

My thoughts toward you are countless

as the sand on the seashore.

Psalms 139:17-18

And I rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you.

Jeremiah 32:40

For you are my treasured possession.

Exodus 19:5

I desire to establish you

with all my heart and all my soul.

Jeremiah 32:41

And I want to show you great and marvelous things.

Jeremiah 33:3

If you seek me with all your heart,

you will find me.

Deuteronomy 4:29

Delight in me and I will give you

the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

For it is I who gave you those desires.

Philippians 2:13

I am able to do more for you

than you could possibly imagine.

Ephesians 3:20

For I am your greatest encourager.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

I am also the Father who comforts you

in all your troubles.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When you are brokenhearted,

I am close to you.

Psalm 34:18

As a shepherd carries a lamb,

I have carried you close to my heart.

Isaiah 40:11

One day I will wipe away

every tear from your eyes.

Revelation 21:3-4

And I'll take away all the pain

you have suffered on this earth.

Revelation 21:3-4

I am your Father, and I love you

even as I love my son, Jesus.

John 17:23

For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed.

John 17:26

He is the exact representation of my being.

Hebrews 1:3

He came to demonstrate that I am for you,

not against you.

Romans 8:31

And to tell you that I am not counting your sins.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19

His death was the ultimate expression

of my love for you.

1 John 4:10

I gave up everything I loved

that I might gain your love.

Romans 8:31-32

If you receive the gift of my son Jesus,

you receive me.

1 John 2:23

And nothing will ever separate you

from my love again.

Romans 8:38-39

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party

heaven has ever seen.

Luke 15:7

I have always been Father,

and will always be Father.

Ephesians 3:14-15

My question is…

Will you be my child?

John 1:12-13

I am waiting for you.

Luke 15:11-32

Love, Your Dad

Almighty God.

Summer Dayz

We can kiss the stinking heat away for another year as today marks the start of Autumn. No more 47c days, or even close to it. The loud buzz of the air-conditioner will no longer be heard, in the coming months to be replaced by the gentle hum of the heater. Ahh... I can't wait for the cold weather - the winter - where I can dress up in one of my numerous trench coats and funky jackets.

I will miss the Summer of course; nothing like Summer. The hot air on your face, eating ice-cream and cooling down in the river or pool by day; drinking beer and cooking a barbecue by night. Mosquitoes, ants and flies. Summer rain, scorched earth and dead grass.

But for no longer! It is officially over!

Insomnia

Moon shine and star sparkle

The night is here to stay

People climbing into bed

While wide awake I lay

Unable to sleep

Insomnia has its grip

Pills and relaxing tapes

I just can't get to sleep.

I dream of having dreams

Not sleepless nights

Or nightmares when I do

Each time is a fight.

Called out of darkness

At the back of "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana" is an advertisement for one of Anne Rice's other new books, a personal biography of sorts, "Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession."

Wouldn't mind reading that. Many things in my own life seem to mirror that of Anne Rice - from her early books with the fascination with vampires and darkness, homo-erotica tones in most her stories, right through to her new life as a returned Roman Catholic. Funnily enough the same year she turned her back on darkness, I did too later that year! Interesting, huh.

Though it is sad to see the good old vampires disappear - Lestat, Louis, Armand - all good things must come to an end, so I am happy that any books from now on by Anne Rice to be "for God".

Here's what is said about her auto-biography:

Anne Rice's intimate memoir - riveting, moving, honest - of her Catholic girlhood, her unmaking as devout believer, and the path she found to a new, all encompassing belief in her faith.


"A vivid, engaging tale of the journey of a soul into light. The vampires have hung up their capes." - Chicago Sun-Times.


"The author of 'Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt' offers her spiritual autobiography... [written] with heartbreaking honesty and beauty." - Library Journal.


"Fans of Rice's earlier works will enjoy discovering more about her life and fascinating journey of faith." - Publishers Weekly.

Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana

Last pay-day I trekked around the local bookstores trying to find the second Anne Rice book about the life of Christ. The first one - "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" is a fictional, Biblically studied story of Jesus' life as He and His family move out of exile in Egypt back to the Holy Land.

I have eagerly awaited to read the second book - when it came out I never saw it in any local bookshops, and only recently have I actually made an attempt at acquiring a copy.

None of the bookstores had it when I last looked, so I ordered it in. At one store, it was about $39, but at the store I purchased it, it was a mere $12. It arrived in store during the week so on Saturday I collected it. Started reading it tonight and so far is a good story! Might write a review here for you if I have the time.