Poundland can see me coming :-)

Not sure what I'm going to keep in him yet, but I'll think of something. Chargers, maybe.

Success

"How will you define "success" for this collection? 
Wow, good question. There are so many different metrics. At the end of the day, I need to feel like I’ve told the truth. So that’s the first measure of success for me. Beyond that, hearing that the songs found people where they were and helped them would be the second measure. And beyond that, I know my label and management hopes it succeeds commercially. I hope for that, too, because it will mean I can make another record and keep doing this work. Commercial success also reflects that you’ve struck a nerve and that it’s connecting with people, which is important to me as an artist who sees my music more as a way to serve than as a mode of personal expression."

~ Jason Gray

Assumptions

I'm working on some commissioned illustrations about Nicodemus, to match with some previous illustrations I did of the woman at the well.

As always, apologies for paranoid watermarking - I do this when posting commissioned work to protect my clients' rights.

Interestingly, both stories mention the time of day the person spoke to Jesus - Nicodemus came to see Jesus at night; the woman met Jesus when she went to the well around midday. I might reflect this in the colours of the borders.

We are often told - as a fact - that Nicodemus came at night because he was worried that others would see him during the day, and that the woman came to the well at midday because she was a social outcast as a result of her immoral behaviour*, and she knew no-one else would be around at that time.

Maybe.

Or maybe Nicodemus was extremely busy during the day, and he came at the first opportunity he had. Maybe the woman had accidentally spilt the water she had already gathered at the normal time, and this was an unscheduled emergency trip.

Maybe.

The point is we don't know, and any suggested reasons - however plausible - should be clearly pointed out as speculation, and definitely not used to make important points.

---

*It's also assumed that she had been divorced 5 times. But maybe she had been widowed 5 times (or a mixture).

Catch 22

To make a fire escape plan more useful,
you need to add more info.
Which makes it more complex
which makes it less useful...

Although, tbh, I doubt anyone looks at them anyway.

The outward appearance

A game I've been working on as part of my next PowerPoint (David is chosen). Took waaaaaay longer than I anticipated!

I was originally just going to have two pictures in the PowerPoint: 1) the outward appearance, and 2) the outlines - some with red hearts (Christians) and some with grey hearts (not).

But judging by appearance is so ingrained that I was worried that it might backfire.

If the children were already prejudiced against a certain kind of person being a Christian, and that person was drawn with a grey heart, that might actually confirm their assumption that 'that kind of person definitely isn't a Christian' - even in conjunction with a verse that said the opposite.

Of course, I could make sure that all the 'less likely' people were marked as Christians and all the 'more likely' were not. But a) that would be silly and b) different people have different prejudices. Even in this country, never mind internationally.

So, in the PowerPoint itself, they all have red hearts. BUT there is also the game, and in that, random people are/are not Christians each time you play.


I suppose this could be classed as another example of Kirsty overthinking...
But I don't think so. As a Sunday School teacher, I am very aware of the unhelpful assumptions children make about these things. And the last thing I want to do is exacerbate them

The romanticism of the past

[Door opens with a spooky creeeeaaak]
And a drear enough place it was. Tallow candles glimmered in their niches, casting long flickering shadows out across the tall oaken desks and the ink-spattered ledgers that sat thereon. In short, it was the very acme of a soulless modern office.
"Why," said I, "This is the least spooky place imaginable."

~ John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme series 8 episode 1

A song for control freaks

Tbh I find the video a bit distracting (though fun). But the song's good.



Sometimes the things that worry us are huge things (for example, the singer's son is currently undergoing chemo). But sometimes the stress and anxiety and the 'need to control things' applies to much smaller things.

But "He already holds it all".