Cartoonist/Illustrator - Jeff Larson
Minnesota
 If MILK does a BODY good, then.. PRAYER does a CHURCH BODY good. President Harry S. Truman proclaimed a National Day of Prayer to be observed on July 4, 1952. Each year since that date, Americans have observed the day in their own way. The observance moved to the first Thursday in May by President Ronald Reagan and has been proclaimed each year since, and so this year, May 7th 2020 was the National Day of Prayer. OK, (IF) we believe prayer is powerful and (IF) we prayed for our nation.. why is our nation is such a mess.  A few weeks ago as our Country and this world continued to implode over all things Corona-19 and Race related and where any resemblance of truth was blinded by a cocktail of panic & blind rage I received a social media request to pray for our nation every night at 8PM. My wife and I have been mostly faithful to praying for our nation since then, but to be honest I have missed a few times. With this request in mind.. What if each of us prayed for our nation and the world everyday. Many of you I am sure do, but I am sure many others of us do not. What if we asked God to show America mercy as we are in many ways so far from His will., What if we prayed for those we do not honestly like nor their politics, hidden agendas, and religious beliefs that conflict with our 'Christian' sensibilities. What if we prayed for (not at) those caught up lifestyles contrary to God's will. What if we prayed for all these things rather than just complain to God about those less 'enlightened' than ourselves. What if? and if not What if?.. then Why not? As I continue this blog I find the prefect reminder of who am I when I pray and who I pray to in the lyrics from the song Who Am I by the group Casting Crowns. click here to listen to song-> WHO AM I Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth Would care to know my name, Would care to feel my hurt? Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star Would choose to light the way For my ever wandering heart? Not because of who I am But because of what You’ve done. Not because of what I’ve done But because of who You are. CHORUS: I am a flower quickly fading, Here today and gone tomorrow. A wave tossed in the ocean. A vapor in the wind. Still You hear me when I’m calling. Lord, You catch me when I’m falling. And You’ve told me who I am. I am Yours, I am Yours. Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin Would look on me with love and watch me rise again? Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea Would call out through the rain And calm the storm in me? Not because of who I am But because of what You’ve done. Not because of what I’ve done But because of who You are. CHORUS: I am a flower quickly fading, Here today and gone tomorrow. A wave tossed in the ocean. A vapor in the wind. Still You hear me when I’m calling. Lord, You catch me when I’m falling. And You’ve told me who I am. I am Yours, I am Yours. Not because of who I am But because of what You’ve done. Not because of what I’ve done But because of who You are. CHORUS: I am a flower quickly fading, Here today and gone tomorrow. A wave tossed in the ocean. A vapor in the wind. Still You hear me when I’m calling. Lord, You catch me when I’m falling. And You’ve told me who I am. I am Yours, I am Yours, I am Yours. Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I fear? ‘Cause I am Yours, I am Yours.  Think about it, Prayer is access to God. If you believe this, then this is the time we collectively say.. "WO!" So please let's not reduce prayer into a hocus-pocus moment, making wishes to a Genie in a Lamp, or reduce it to casual words spoken quickly before an evening meal or in moments of desperation. Instead follow the instructions of Jesus on how to pray.. “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, (GREAT IS OUR GOD) your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. (YOUR WILL NOT MINE) Give us today our daily bread. (PLEASE MEET OUR NEEDS) And forgive us our debts, (FORGIVE ME) as we also have forgiven our debtors. (FORGIVE OTHERS) And lead us not into temptation, (STAY FROM TEMPTATION) but deliver us from the evil one.’ (PROTECTION) Pray knowing who God is, and who we are to Him. Pray humbly for mercy for the people in this nation and world and for revival. Too busy to pray?.. I sometimes think this as my busy mind in this busy society overwhelms my thoughts, BUT how long does it take to just say the Lord' Prayer which outlines perfectly all things we daily need to pray for. 1. Honoring God 2. God's Will 3. Sharing our needs 4. Forgiveness 5. Deliverance from Temptation and Evil Then after I say amen I can feel peace. PEACE BE STILL.. are the words Jesus used to calm the sea, and PEACE BE STILL is the challenge for all of us when life is raging like a stormy sea.  What if.. we prayed the Lord's Prayer Daily and not as a rote process but instead meaning each part? I believe it would CHANGE THE WORLD. I have featured a cartoon of a business meeting in Hell where there is great concern regarding Hell's lack of influence when faced with Christians praying. This is a ScrewTape letters sorta image that I believe captures the true (too often untapped) power of prayer. Everyone of us have challenges, stress, loneliness, sadness, tragedy, debt, sickness, and/or death that greet us daily. This is a fallen world and I know for myself I make this worse as like Peter I take my eyes off Jesus and focus on the problems (the raging sea) of my day.  But no matter your circumstance, know that our prayers are heard by a God who loves us, and wants what is best for us like the PERFECT father that He is.
One last reminder.. let’s be as the Bible teaches in an attitude of prayer. Pray without ceasing.. meaning we communicate with God throughout our day. This type of prayer should be the natural communication of thanksgiving & praise, repentance, for protection & guidance, and the desires of my heart. Flowery lofty language is not needed, but instead honest ongoing communication about our worries, doubts, and dreams with our loving God. Blessings (PRAYING in the Back Pew) Larson 4/15/2020 Silence in the Shutdown During this pandemic shutdown, I have come to realize how very LOUD our society was. Oh there is now less to do, less to watch, and less to fight about, and HEY.. THEY TOOK AWAY MY SPORTS! But we are still Loud while Home-bound .. once we turn on the evening news. AND in the midst of this Shutdown we are becoming a little (or lot) stir crazy. The rush is removed from rush hour traffic while the din of sports, entertainment, and misc. life have been reduced to .. sports reruns (zzzz), and movies of the good ol' days before social distancing. I even treat watching Gilligan's Island reruns like it was the original Survivor series! My money is on Gilligan getting voted off. The blessing for me of this shutdown, is before the government shutdowns are lifted and we return to the 'smack down' of 24/7 Election coverage.. I have been listening to audiobooks  One of my current listens is a biography on the life of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who stood up to Hitler and the Nazis. It is very interesting listen, but I have found disturbing parallels between Nazi Germany in the 1930s with America in the year 2020. While you may think this is a grand conspiracy theory of someone in a state mandated lock-down.. I respectfully disagree, and so let me share a few social parallels..
In response to Hitler and Nazi Germany Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote..
 So as we move back towards the din and distraction of normalcy let's not lose sight of what God has been teaching us in the Silence of this Shutdown. As believers we cannot be silent. We need to stand tall and strong in our obedience to God proclaiming the Gospel. And remember part of these loving words and actions is to speak loving truth. We cannot be compromising of God's Truth even when our secular society reacts with any of the above 'Social Parallels' to Nazi Germany. Finally, remember the words of Jesus
 May God bless and speak to you in the Silence of the Shutdown. May you fill your stir crazy moments with prayer, and God's Word. Tune out the voices of the world where blame for the pandemic and the panic of the pandemic can consume our thoughts. Our God is sovereign, and soon this shutdown will be over. Let's take this time to be a spiritual reset so when the world is running full tilt again.. our spirits compass points to God alone in a way that the din of society cannot alter.
In all things (including shutdowns), to God be the Glory. Amen Jeff (Shutdown but not Shut off) Larson 11/2/2019 My own little FAITH box (rr) I guess by strict definitions I am a protestant, but technically more of a protestant MUTT. Actually I would like to be simply defined as a CHRISTIAN thank you very much. I am not being a rebel, but I don't fit nicely into any denominational box. I respect the views of others, but have to come to my own conclusions on all the nooks and cranny faith issues. And let me be clear I am not judging your choice of 'box' unless.. you have a SNAKE in it. So with this in mind I place all I have learned from God and his church and it all fits nicely in 'My Faith Box'.  The next challenge is fitting My Faith Box into the ever changing Post Modern Society box aka the PM Society box. This is a big box with lights and sounds. Inside their is a society of blended cultures with ever changing faster than a speeding bullet technology, and much much more. All the bells & whistles of the PM Society box are distracting and often attractive BUT I need to be careful when fitting My Faith Box in the PM Society Box. This can be messy. I believe a classic Billy Graham message shared.. We are called to be in the world, but not of it. And certainly not a frog simmering in a pot of secular values.  So In this PM Society box I find things like.. The internet. Which is both an incredible resource for 1. LIGHT (faith, family, friends, news, etc) and 2. DARKNESS (anger, hatred, self-indulgence, porn, etc ). The internet also offers the ever evolving social media kit at no extra charge where I can text, tweet, post on facebook, instagram, or you can blog.. Blog? sounds like a cheap horror movie from the 1950s.. 'The Attack of the 50 Page Blog'. Maybe that should be the name of my blog? In our PM Society box I can also stream music, videos or even sermons (if I am feeling particularly spiritual ) of any big name preacher or subscribe to Cyber Clyde's Bed Hair Pod Cast. This can all be done from the convenience of my office chair while donning the same gym shorts, tank top, and bed hair just like Cyber Clyde.  When PM Society is not on the computer it is on your smartphone, or surfing HD TV with a bazillion (I actually counted there are a bazillion) sports, news, and movie channels. In PM Society Box people buy meals, high buck coffees and lattes through a drive through window... or have them even delivered to their door. They will soon even have their groceries delivered by little retail drones. I can't wait til they do appliance deliveries via drones. When that happens I am canceling Cable TV and just following the Home Delivery Channel. My Faith Box is now feeling a little agitated and stimulated at the same time. So far I am having trouble keeping all this PM Society box stuff out of My Faith Box. I see a TV remote is in my Faith Box, and an Amazon Prime Card. In fact I think grease from a leaky fast food bag from the PM Society box is soaking into the corner of My Faith Box and sadly I like the smell. I kind of like some of this PM Society stuff, and it is easy to justify there place in my Faith Box. I THINK I NEED HELP.  OK, I may not be so desperate that I need a Faith Box Exorcism, or an Exterminator, but I could do some spring cleaning... here in November. My serious prayer is to have an honest Faith Box, with the word of God in it that never changes and a prayer list that is ever changing. I want to be in this world but not of it. This world (aka PM Society Box) is a mess! It is filled with noise, smells, and sights that are often far from God. It is a box that NEEDS GOD, not religion of man, but needs GOD THE CREATOR and GOD THE SAVIOR. PM Society box is in need of a revival.  Regarding Revival: I listened to a sermon a while ago by Louie Gigglio and he said "Where there is pain, where there is a mess this is where a revival can happen". No one has a personal revival when life is going perfect. So by this definition this world is ready for a revival.
OK, probably I took the box analogy a bit too far about a half a blog ago, but if you are still with me I pray God inspires in us a love for Him and His ways that make us truly salt and light in a PM Society box that is in contrast bland and existing in the dark like a mole eating rice cakes. Jeff (All Boxed in) Larson 10/24/2019 Open Hand.. Closed Fist Life again reminds me we are all so very busy with days filled and choices to be made. Sometimes I feel like a contestant on the Price is Right TV show and I randomly choose door number #3 today.. and hope for the best. So to help guide our life decisions I would like to suggest the Closed Fist and Open Hand approach.
But.. a serious dilemma occurs when we mix our Open Hand and Closed Fist views. Just think if an alcoholic who continues to drink, a marriage without fidelity, or if I decide not to pay my bills on time.. or pay them at all. All are a recipe for disaster. Of course, Open Hand and Closed Fist views are rubbed in our faces when we turn on the evening news where Washington is filled with Closed Fists ready to punch political opponents in the nose.. or lower. I guess this is what Washington calls 'reaching across the aisle'.  Now finally, how's the old Open Hand v Closed Fist working with God's people? From my vantage point, not so good. Just a glance on my Twitter account I could imagine..
 Seriously, the church can be a prickly place. Not just your basic Predestined v Free Will, eternal security, or are Infant Baptisms ok debates? There are more serious divisions where when we do not agree on the interpretation of a passage of scriptures then someone must be a HERETIC... when maybe we really don't know and simply disagree. But then to be fair again.. some teachings are heresy. God save us! No really, GOD SAVE US! Now take it with a grain of salt that you are reading a blog from 'a grownup' who draws cartoons, but the following is my exhaustive (or exhausting) guide to Closed Fist and Open Hands in the Church.
 The reason for writing today's blog was fueled by ongoing battles among well known evangelicals, and then watching the 'Christian' media and 'Christian' social media fanning the flames that divide us.
Of course I do believe in addressing sin and true heresy in the church. BUT.. I pray for a biblical approach.
Sigh.. Maybe from time to time I will just open my clenched fist and slap myself. I am not positive today's blog is helpful, but the spirit of it is on my heart. May God use my fumbling words to speak truth or the desire for us all to seek truth. May God bless you in your busy lives. Be true to God, stand for Him, know your Bibles, have good friends, and eat all your veggies. :) Jeff ( in between a slap, tickle, & a fist fight) Larson 8/6/2019 Messy Grace My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” James 2:2-3 <-- James 2:2-3 This is how it looks for me in Minnesota  Let me start by sharing I attend a good church that I really like. It is a mix of all ages, from college students through senior citizens. The preaching is straight from God's word in a manner that is both challenging and at times entertaining. The worship is performed by talented musicians and the words and atmosphere are both.. worshipful. There are 3 big screens up front to assist in this modern presentation of church. Our motto is no perfect people allowed. It is a welcoming church where you are greeted at the door, there is care for the little ones, and classes for all the kids through teens. Ways to connect and become involved and a place to ask for prayer are presented each week. My church is attractive, welcoming, and like I said, I really like my church.  Then on Monday's recently I started attending a Celebrate Recovery program at a different local church (my church does not offer one). I am over 4 years sober now after it became apparent I was an alcoholic where drink had compromised my life for about the previous 15 years. It did not ruin it, but I was headed on the wrong road, and my addiction to a buzz was growing and dangerous. I thank God for his healing in this area and for the love and grace of my family.. especially my wife. So anyways, I never really attended treatment when I quit, but now 4 years later found myself in a Celebrate Recovery program which my wife attends with me. She does not have a problem with alcohol but supports me and encouraged me to attend for my own well being and to give back and support others in this struggle.  Well, in contrast to my good church where the worship, preaching, and presentation on Sunday's is clean and sharp.. this Celebrate Recovery program is messy. These are people who are struggling. Some have been sober for 15+ years, others are celebrating not have a drink for 30 days, or less. Some are people who have been in and out of treatment, and/or suffering the consequences of their addictions by losing their drivers license, jobs, or family. Stories of jail-time, and restraining orders were common. Many were in the place where they were not drinking but now dealing with the void in their lives where once was a buzz. This group is a mess.. such a beautiful mess. What makes this group such a beautiful mess is their journey starts and ends with a return to God. Not just a higher power but the only true God of our Bibles. This is our only hope for the alcoholic and ALL of the rest of humanity (aka sinners).  Now after 4+ years of being sober, I look back on my journey to where I am now. I did not realize what a fragile mess I was and am still recovering from. I went bankrupt, had to sell my home and my business and start over. I was wounded deeply and felt a void of what do I replace the buzz of alcohol with. I was a Christian through all this, I prayed & read my Bible, but was still a mess. Maybe God saw me as a beautiful mess.. I think my wife saw me that way. I was a mess but oh how important I was to her and how much she believed in me and loved me. So this all makes me reflect on James 2:1-2. I am ashamed to say I honestly don't like the mess or messy people. I like happy Christians with no deep dark secrets and/or sins. I like the well orchestrated church service and an attractive congregation that looks like .. church people should look? I don't know if I want my church look like any mess, even a beautiful mess.  So here I am convicted today.. and I thank God for this conviction. I now desire to be in the mess, and I will fit in as I am a mess.. together we are a beautiful mess that God is in the process of restoring. After church I don't want to be the guy looking past the guy or gal out of place to find my usual friends where I am comfortable, and I don't want to be the guy who stays home on Monday nights instead of attending Celebrate Recovery group with my beautiful mess.
I don't know exactly how this conviction on my heart will play out, but I pray God would speak to me and change me to serve him among the beautiful mess that are the people Jesus would be spending his time with. May God bless you, care for you, and use you to serve Him in this world that is a mess. I pray for revival and restoration in America. I pray His church is sensitive and caring for the beautiful mess that we are a part of. Jeff (what a mess) Larson note: One person commented last night.. If the church was honest, the seats in Celebrate Recovery would be full. It is not just for the alcoholic, it is for everyone that struggles with the very real issues of life. Depression, co-dependency, anger, sex addiction, anxiety/fear. I pray we allow ourselves to be honest, and allow God to restore the mess in our lives. 4/24/2016 Evil all the Time? The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. Genesis 6:5 This was the report card for mankind by God just before He commanded Noah to build an ark. The letter grade for having the inclinations of your heart being only evil all the time got them a.. F! They failed! Mankind did not even show up for class or open a book (figuratively speaking). There was no extenuating circumstances to consider so get ready, and be sure to update your flood insurance policy cuz it's gonna rain. Evil all the time.. what does that even look like.? I would guess there would be your garden variety envy, greed, racism, and hatred fueled by a self indulgent 'hell bent' looking for the next high' attitude in drink, sex, and/or any other means imaginable. Evil all the time.. folk are gluttons for all forms of pleasure with no boundaries. Their motto was something like .. 'What happens in Genesis 6:5, stays in Genesis 6:5.'. Now fast forward to our modern lives. I cannot imagine a society where evil all the time is there every inclination. <insert reflective pause> Unless.. I turn on the evening news. Then I might declare .. 'whoomp there it is.'  Maybe 'evil all the time' is an unfair assessment life today, but we are exposed to a very secular 24/7 stimulus overload with very little time left over for worship of our God. This is not the road God intends for us. Of course evil all the time is not a description of the church and God's people and outside the church just to be honest does not make someone evil.. BUT I see society as a whole being like 'frog in the boiling pot' unaware of how hot the water is. Cooked in his Jacuzzi while drinking a pitcher of margarettas.  Insert REVIVAL here! If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 I know 2 Chronicles was also a very long time ago, but I believe the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14 to restore any person, or nation who has fallen is true today.  So what if.. we had a revival and we loved and focused on God in a way that was contagious? What if every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only God all the time. Then God would hear our prayers, forgive our sins, and heal our land.
May God bless each of you today in our pursuit of God and for a revival that changes the world. Jeff |
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Back Pew - Draw Close to God
116 pages of cartoons of 'Clean Humor & God's Truth' CRITICS ARE SAYING..
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7/1/2020
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