Hi John!

Good day my friends.

I missed sending the letter last week. I apologize. LIFE!

I hear from people every day who are scared to death of what they’re going through.

The deconstruction of our beliefs is scary.

We’ve been trained to stay on the straight and narrow. But when we stray, we are terrified because of all the bad things that will happen to us that we were warned about.

I simply try to comfort them: those threats were employed to scare you into not changing. That’s it!

Give it time. Eventually the fear will pass.

Has the fear passed for you?

DAD JOKE OF THE WEEK

Why do I like dad jokes? In many cases, it’s in the delivery. Which of course we miss in a letter. Here’s one:

What do you call it when Batman skips church? Christian Bale.

CARTOON OF THE WEEK

“Done Hiding” struck a chord with many people this week.

I’m sure you identify with the woman in the cartoon too.

This cartoon was liked and shared and commented on by thousands of people.

I find it cute though when people let me know they dared to share one of my cartoons and the heck they’re getting for it.

I think for many of us who spend any time online, we realize we are always taking a risk when we expose ourselves there.

I know I do.

Every time I post something, there’s a voice in the back of my mind saying, “Okay. Here we go. Fasten your seatbelt!”

CLICK HERE TO READ SOME REACTIONS TO THIS

POST OF THE WEEK

I call this one “Fear or Freedom”.

Someone thought it said “Fear OF Freedom”. That works too.

My utmost passion for myself and others is freedom.

My personal freedom is important to me.

Your personal freedom is important to me too.

One of the biggest lessons I ever learned… actually maybe THE biggest lesson I ever learned… is that I’m always free. There might be restraints on the outside. But within I am always free. Once I saw that and that it was fear that made me feel trapped, I’ve lived with this realization of freedom.

Know what I mean?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE BLOG POST

PAINTING OF THE WEEK

I painted this last week as a commission piece.

I call it “Join Me For Breakfast”.

There are many stories in the Bible that intrigue me still after all these years and even after leaving the ministry, the church, and going through a massive transformation of my beliefs. One of those stories is when Jesus' disciples find him on the shore cooking breakfast for them. This is a more northern wilderness interpretation of that story. Do you feel invited?

The customer wasn’t happy with my choice of colors. I wasn’t bothered at all. In fact, I knew I would sell this one pretty quickly, and I was right!

We’re working with blues instead. I’m enjoying it.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY OTHER ORIGINAL PAINTINGS

Sophia’s Story

This is my Sophia drawing “Fearless”.

Someone asked me this week what my first Sophia drawing was.

It was this one.

Such a strange occurrence.

I had never ever drawn anything like this. My art was usually pretty watercolor landscapes.

Then this happened.

For the next two years I let Sophia flow out of me… the 62 images and meditations.

Then, when she was done, I was done.

I think Sophia is my proudest project because I feel like she happened to me. She is me, my inner self, my feminine aspect, my wisdom, my liberation.

Maybe she’s yours too.

WATCH A VIDEO OF HER

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"But it’s awfully hard, when you write arguments, to avoid the tone that implies that you know what other people ought to do. My work is best, I think, when I talk as a person who’s not an authority on anything but his own experience." (Grubbs, Conversations with Wendell Berry).

This is what I try to do.

If you aren’t aware of Wendell Berry, I suggest you become so. I consider him one of America’s most important thinkers and essayists.

A FINAL NOTE

I’ve been hearing back from some of you, and you don’t realize how much this means to me.

I feel like I live the life of a hermit monk most of the time.

To get a kind message or constructive feedback from you reminds me that I don’t live alone in my own echo-chamber, but in the same universe as you.

This is love.

Thank you!

David

View this email in your browser

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to David's "Fearless Monday" on his nakedpastor website.

nakedpastor

564 Gondola Point Road, Quispamsis, NB, Canada

Quispamsis, NB E2E 1H6

Canada

Add us to your address book

Update Preferences | Unsubscribe