Several years back Fish Without Feet Graphic Design and another CCAS'er started an endeavor to create a card game. Some of you may have seen samples of what the cards will closely resemble if you have looked at my artwork on here or my website. Though it has many elements of Christianity, it will not be a bible thumping, preaching type of game. It is our attempt to give the people who love to game, something they dont have to question the morality of.With that in mind, obviously hundreds of cards will need to be made up. What I am looking for is weapon, armor, and helmet contribution art. It doesnt have to be colored or inked...I can do that myself if you cannot or dont want to. So pretty simple stuff. The only thing it MUST be, is UNIQUE...no copy written stuff. So please dont get me in trouble with the law. This is your chance to be creative and go crazy, there are no limitations on the type or style of what we are wanting. There is no compensation for this, except exposure if and when the game gets published. As of right now I am planning to have an ARTIST card, which will list the artists who contributed. I may also do what I have seen on some cards which list the art by: Joe Blow, at the bottom of the actual card.Creators: Many of you have your own COOL characters. If they have a weapon that you would like featured, let me know, and I would love to feature it, and give you (c) on it. For instance...you have a comic book called Hand of God. The lead character runs around with an over sized mace. We would feature the mace on the card, and actually give it the name...HAND OF GOD or whatever the mace is actually called. This again, would give some exposure to you, and also your creation. Please contact me for more details.**Check out my photos for samples of the cards, they will be a bit different, these were just samples I worked up to get an idea of how I wanted them. **Read more…
God has been blessing my...HIS business. I am continuing to get new work. What is even better, is that work is following with residual work. He has provided me with the program I had been wanting, as well as many other things as I continue my trek not just in the business but in school as well. This past week one of my returning customers gave me the chance to color a page for a pin up to be put into an ongoing IMAGE comic. Of course you can imagine how hard it was to not get excited on the spot. I hope and pray that God will continue to bless this business.-FWOF-
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God is good in all he does. I have always struggled with doing things my way, or trusting on my own abilities first. Well I feel God has asked that take a step of faith. There are several items, including a scanner, (since mine went down) that I am going to need as I pursue his will in my life with my art and writing. The cost of these items reaches close to $1500. This is something I was planning to just save for and get on my own. And it may be that God still has that planned. But he has placed it on my heart to trust him for these things. To stop trusting in my own abilities, and start trusting in him from the start. So I give it to you my lord. Bless me, that I may shine for your son. Amen.
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On a rather emotion filled ride home from getting my wife's children, God placed a rather powerful realization on my heart. My wife had went through a divorce several years ago. Her husband had made her and her kids the victims of adultery. The children do not know the events that took place of course, but none the less feel the effects. They were missing their daddy, and it made for a heart breaking hour trip home.About halfway through the trip my wife leaned over to me and said, "This may sound bad, but I don't think it is fair that me and the kids should have to suffer for him (their dad) choosing to leave."I saw the tears well up in her eyes again, and my heart sank. It was in that moment that God spoke to my heart. He flooded my mind with an image of a pond. A smooth and heavy stone being tossed forcefully into it. The grand splash and the endless ripples that followed. Each ring going farther and farther out. Anything and everything in it's path being moved, changed and altered.Not only did he speak to my heart, but he spoke through me. I began by explaining my own failings. See, I myself am no better than her ex husband. I too chose to leave my first wife. No matter what happened between us, no matter my or her transgressions, in the end, it was me who left. I threw the stone into the pond.I explained that it all goes back to the idea of why God allows bad things to happen to good people. We are all given a choice. We are given the FREE choice to either follow God, or not. To live our life seeking to do his will or living daily focused on our own selfish desires. When we choose to walk away from God, allow sin in our hearts, and make selfish, self gratifying decisions, we send ripples that we never see, or do not feel for weeks, years or never at all. What God showed me this day was just how far reaching those ripples can be. I told my wife about how my decision affected my son and my ex wife. Those were easy ripples. I went on to point out the ripples that were not so obvious. It affected my friends, who I lost when I left. It affected my church, and the view they had of me and my wife. It changed my extended family. I then also pointed out that it keeps going beyond that. That in the end, it affects her, it affects her kids. Cause they are apart of my son's life now. It affects her parents who love my son. It changed things for my ex wife's boyfriend and his son. And the ripples go on, and on, and on. Some ripples I will never see, but even the ones that God put in front of my face were hard hitting enough.I told her, that no matter how close I now get to God, no matter what my walk is when I die, my life and the lives of many have been forever changed by that one event. It is in that moment that I turned to her and said, "Isn't it amazing that we choose to do anything that isn't God's will when you think about the ripples you cause others around you?" I have been a changed man for a while now, but one thing that God made clear to me was that what I wanted as a man was NEVER what was best for me. So daily, I pray to my God, NOT MY WILL, BUT THY WILL. That simple prayer that has been so strong in my heart the past year or more, became even more passionately clear to me now. How could I EVER want to do something that isn't God's will ever again, especially knowing how I can directly and even indirectly affect those around me. So my prayer has become stronger, and even more fervent....NOT MY WILL, BUT THY WILL BE DONE! AMEN...
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Everyone knows the story of Jonah. However I think there is a much bigger picture, beyond the fish and Nineveh. In Jonah 1:1-2 it says, "The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.'" (NASB) In the first two verses God is very clear about WHO he is sending. He specifically called upon Jonah. The thing about this is that Jonah was neither the only prophet at the time, nor in Theory, was he the only one who could do the job. If we believe God to be all powerful, then he could have sent anyone to let Nineveh know of the impending judgment. In fact, Jonah was believed to possibly be one of a group of traveling prophets of the time. (see 2 Kings 2:3). So why Jonah specifically? What made him special?In Jeremiah 29:11-13 he writes, "'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.'" We believe this verse is for all of us, so if it is for all of us now, it too was for all mankind in history. However, when we read this verse we limit it's meaning. We think when it talks about the plans for us that it is our future and ministry. It goes much further than that. His plan for us also include lessons for us to learn, trials we will face to make us grow in him. In this story, God had a specific plan to change and affect Jonah.If you look at Jonah 1:17 it says, "And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights." Your saying, "...yeah, so the fish ate him." If you look deeper it says that the Lord APPOINTED or PREPARED (NLT) a great fish to swallow him. This means that the fish was set apart for this purpose. In fact, Jews had a word for Whale, and that word was NOT used in describing this great beast if you look at the original Hebrew. So it was a fish unlike any other, brought to Jonah for God's purpose.God is awesome that when he works, he isn't limited to teaching just one person, or one group of people. He can grow and nurture his own people while his will is being done. This story is as much about Jonah's growth as it is the saving of Nineveh. My wife is now working so I can follow where God is leading. Yesterday she said something profound. She said, "You know, God put it on my heart that maybe it is you who is staying home so that I can be a witness at my job, instead of the other way around." She went on to talk about how she feels it was to be specifically her there. Yes someone else could have been sent to her job to witness, but God wanted her there. Why? I told her that maybe it is because you are growing as a Christian there while you bringing those there to know him.Probably the biggest evidence that this was about growing the prophet Jonah as much as it was about the saving of Nineveh, is what Jonah says after God spares the city. He says in Jonah 4:1-3, "This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.'" (NLT) You can hear the resentment and anger in Jonah. He had many reasons to be this way towards Nineveh which was the capital of the Assyrian empire. If you look at Nahum 1:9 through chapter 3:4 the Assyrians were guilty of evil plots against God, exploitation of the helpless, cruelty in war, idolatry, prostitution, and witchcraft. He didn't run because he was fearful of what might happen to him there, but because he knew they would turn. He knew God would have mercy. He didn't want God to show them mercy for all they had done. This man was a prophet and had certainly seen a lot of God's love and mercy shown in his travels. This was about vengeance for Jonah and his own personal judgment on these people. God knew this and even responded by saying, "Is it right for you to be angry about this?" (Jonah 4:4) He went on to say in verse 11, "'But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?'"The book doesn't say that Jonah realized the poison in his heart and the hate he felt for these people. However, the Lord has a wonderful way of taking anything and making good out of it. We can believe that since this book is in the Bible, that Jonah later woke up to his foolishness. Better yet, we can believe that God knew YOU would read this story, and had a plan for personal growth in YOU. So the next time God puts it on your hear to do something, he may have plans to do some moving in your Christian walk, and that you may be there for more than what you think you are.May God bless this message...Amen
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