Highway to Hell?

If there were two roads, one leading to Heaven and one leading to Hell, what would they look like? What would you see along the roadside? What things would people discard on each of these journeys?

I was in a bible study and the verses of Matthew chapter 5:29-30 came up.

And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell. And if your right hand offend you, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell. – Jesus the Christ

I asked the group if Christ was being literal or figurative? The answer they gave surprised me. They said literal. It made me think more about this in detail. Why would they think He was being literal? Why have I always thought of this passage as being figurative. Something more to ponder...on this highway to Heaven.

The House of Prayer

If I could snap my fingers and change one thing... I wish I would pray more. PS 118 vs 5-9 says ”In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. 6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies. 8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.”. I saw this house and had to take a picture of it. It reminded me of how much things can fall apart when we do not take things to heart. We might talk about prayer, we might call days of prayer, we might even blog about prayer, but if we do not do it, nothing will happen. I think I will go call out to God.

The Dark Knight... the hopelessness...

Just saw The Dark Knight last night. A good movie from a movie standpoint, but hopelessness from a message stand point. The Joker seems to be most vulnerable (no armor, no guns, no vehicles, etc) yet everything goes his way...not even a scratch. Yes yes, his makeup does seem to run from time to time, but not a scratch, no blood, not even pain. Take this one scene, Batman gives him a royal beating, slams his head into a table, breaks a glass window with him, yet no visible signs of anything, but a little fatigue.  Where all the other characters in the movie all have scars, cuts, pain, etc. the joker on the other hand has a joyfully happy time. There is some insight to the Jokers past and why he is who he is, but it is so overshadowed by the carnage around him, that his past is quickly forgotten.  Evil just seems to triumph over good. Yes there are a few redeeming moments, where the people of Gothom show mercy to each other, but the darkness of the movie left me with a sad cloud the following morning. Maybe, that is the whole idea of this batman series.

In the end, I am thankful we do not exist in a universe where things are left to random chance, a flip of a coin. In stead all things are by the order of a living holy God, willed with mercy and long suffering to all who worship Him.

It never gets old.

Old stuff, still fresh

More old work but, still very fresh.

Lucky Robot

Just finished this project with a great new client. Gerry Campbell... check out his site LuckyRobot.com

Old Stuff, New Stuff

Here is some old stuff, but first time that I have posted it online.

Three Treats in One

www.KurtAspland.com

The Trinity
So much has been said on the Trinity, so go get a cup of joe, glass of wine or what ever you like and just enjoy...Three Treats in One.

Kill them with Love

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On the eve of Fourth of July–we can change the world if only we would love our neighbor. But this starts out at home first. For me it begins by showing love toward those who are near me. My wife. In this day of divorce this is must not be neglected, nor taken advantage of. My children. Remain patient in all circumstances, slow to anger. My Neighbor, caring and wanting their well being. The most important of all my enemy.

Go Vote baby!

www.KurtAspland.com

Depravity T-shirt design
I love it when people start a internet based company that could not work in anyother format. Here is what I mean... I found this company on the web called Threadless. They are nothing more than a t-shirt printing company. What is cool, is that they encourage anyone to submit a T-shirt design for printing. Then they put that design up for a vote to the web community. If the design receives enough votes they print the shirt. That vote tells them that people will buy that shirt before they even print it. Is that awesome. Anyhow, so if you like my shirt please go to the site and vote for it.
Thanks

Freedom of the will...

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Does man have a freedom of his will to make choices outside of the will of God? This question and the debate that happens around it has be the source of distruction between many many people throughout history and continues to do so today. So this is just my babbling journey trying to answer that question myself. I did this piece "Depravity" to represent mans continued attempt to make himself look good before God. The viewer might notice that this person has even tried to cover his wound brought on by his own nature/physical makeup, with a band-aid. Very simmular to Adam and Eve covering themselves with fig leaves.
Does man have a free will? I am not sure I even understand what that means, but I know this... The nature of man is to hate God, mans will is tied to his nature. If I put a freshly cooked chicken in one corner of the room and freshly washed head of lettuce in the other corner, what is my hungry dog going to go after? The cooked chicken! Why? It is in his nature to go after that chicken... Does he have freedom to choose the lettuce? Yes, but his nature desires the chicken every day at every meal. It is not freedom of the will where our conversation should lie, but what is the nature of man? For the will of man always follows his nature.

The "Nucleon" Lives!

www.KurtAspland.com
OK... you must take my word on this one. I don’t care about what car I drive. There are a lot of people and I mean a lot of people who love cars. I don’t. Just make it clean, safe, and efficient. I am not a big gaget person, in fact I have owned a VW Passat since 2004 and still don’t know everything it does. Anyhow, this all has changed since I saw this car. This is the car that I want. In the 1950s, Ford produced a concept car called the Nucleon, intended to run on nuclear power, but the vehicle was never produced. Can you say "Thermonuclear", I knew you could.

John 3:14... the prequel of John 3:16

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John 3:16 must be one of the most memorized scriptures in the world, but personally I love John 3:14 and the story behind it. John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Here is the backdrop... Moses is leading the Jewish people through the desert over a 40 year period. They like any of us would do... start bitching and complaining (yes, I said bitching). God gets wind of this and spanks them in a sense. He causes snakes to come out from the desert and the snakes start to bite the Jews. When they get tired of being bitten they turn to God and ask for help. Thus He tells Moses to take a brass serpent, put it on staff, and place the staff in the middle of the camp. The people are told, if you get bitten then simply look up to the snake on the pole and you will be healed. To think that this act of complaining would end up being a metaphor for the greatest death ant hope that the world has, is beyond any illustration that I might create.

Growing Faith

www.KurtAspland.com
January 2007 was a... what do they call it?... was a benchmark date for me. I was having lunch with a close friend and sharing with him how business had taken a down turn and how this was making me depressed. He looked at me square in the eye and said that my happiness should not be tied into the secure feelings I get from money in the bank. Instead my happiness should be tied up in the Lord. This is not what I wanted to hear, but it was exactly what I needed to hear. For that was the start of one of many– monumental changes in my life. Yes, I already knew the bible verses in my mind, (Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.) but not in my heart. . My treasure for so long was the secure (if there is such a thing) feeling I would get from a sweet looking checking account. So where are things today? Worse than they were a year and a half ago, yet I have never experienced more peace of mind, joy of life, excitement of things to come–all because the Lord had moved my treasure into heaven and thus my heart has followed. It all came down to a lack of faith in the Lord. Stronger faith comes by reading His word. Not books about His word, or books about people who read His word or even bloggers who write about reading His word. The journey for strengthening ones faith starts by quietly reading Gods Word.

Sunday Delight

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Fear Not.
Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Have you ever imagined what you could accomplish if you had no fear. Now, what could you accomplish if you did not even fear death? For a life that fears God, and not man, nor death anything is possible.

Starting Fresh

A nights rest always gives me hope. My aim is to blog more often, so with that being said much had happened over the past 6 months. I might get into that later. Anyhow I recently won a contest in which the Maryland and Pennsylvania Trail (better known as the Ma & Pa Trail) wanted to have a new logo, so on the urging of my son, I designed a logo and won, thanks be to the Lord. Here is the winning logo. PS. I even animated this logo for fun... Check it out.

Filled with Disappointment and Anger

My mind this morning was filled with feelings of disappointment, anger, frustration, toward myself and others.

Last night my son and I were reading the Chronicals of Narnia. We were in Book 1. This book tells the story of the creation of Narnia. The point is that people of the story are so captivated with the creation that they stand in awe and almost forget of their past circumstances.

Why do I linger, and let my mind dwell upon the wrongs that I have done and the wrongs that other have done to me?

The one thing that I hope for is the day that these thoughts are a distant past, a vapor of a memory–all replaced with the awe of God himself.

While I dwell on earth–I would love God, Love others and feel a great debt to both God and man.

Phil 1:9-11

So much better to dwell in the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22; Love, Joy, Peace, Long Suffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control) and apply these things as to how God acts toward me and how I should act toward God and man.