Laura in a Bulova Commercial

My bestie from my New York days is in a commercial for Bulova, which gives me a chance to brag on her for a bit.  She was my roommate for years, both in the model's apartment, and then later in Prospect Heights in Brooklyn.  I'm pretty sure that she had this effect on men wherever we went, which was kind of fun, because we never seemed to find any door closed to us.  The two of us had a blast together-- I remember always laughing (Larry, my affectionate nickname for her, is hilarious), and enjoying being twenty-somethings in the city that never sleeps.  Seeing her here makes me nostalgic for those days!

More Recent Work

I spent the evening happily chatting on Skype with my best friend while working on this flier for an upcoming concert of the Newark Symphony Orchestra.  Graphic design work always takes a lot of time for me-- I don't have the training, so I often don't really know what I'm doing, and I don't own the right software either-- but it's usually a pleasurable way for me to pass the time as well once I get started.

As always, if you're in Newark on December 14th, treat yourself to some quality music performed by the NSO and friends!

Recent-ish Work

Hia Magazine

Good Fortune

There can be something cruel about people who have had good fortune.  They equate it with personal goodness.

~Ann Patchett, The Sacrament of Divorce, Vogue, April 1996

Jesus Came Into the World to Save Sinners

All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass-- "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners."

~Archibald Alexander (1772-1851), Presbyterian theologian and professor at Princeton Theological Seminary

Fight Beside, Read With, Argue With, and Pray With Him

When I spoke of Friends as side by side or shoulder to shoulder I was pointing a necessary contrast between their posture and that of the lovers whom we picture face to face. Beyond that contrast I do not want the image pressed. The common quest or vision which unites Friends does not absorb them in such a way that they remain ignorant or oblivious of one another. On the contrary it is the very medium in which their mutual love and knowledge exist. One knows nobody so well as one's "fellow." Every step of the common journey tests his metal; and the tests are tests we fully understand because we are undergoing them ourselves. Hence, as he rings true time after time, our reliance, our respect and our admiration blossom into an Appreciative love of a singularly robust and well-informed kind. If, at the outset, we had attended more to him and less to the thing our Friendship is "about," we should not have come to know or love him so well. You will not find the warrior, the poet, the philosopher, or the Christian by staring in his eyes as if he were your mistress: better fight beside him, read with him, argue with him, pray with him.

~On Friendship from The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

In Sickness and In Health

     A friend posted this on Facebook this morning and it blew me away.  If you don't feel like watching it (although you should-- it's powerful), the gist is that Ian and Larissa met in college, fell in love, and then he was in a car crash that devastated his brain and left him disabled.  Larissa chose to marry him anyway, and the love she shows for him, and for Jesus is haunting.

   For better or for worse.  In sickness and in health.  For richer or for poorer.

   One of the desires of my heart is to be married.  And yet.  As a Christian, marriage must mean something more than finding a companion to pass your days with.  It paints a picture of Christ's (sacrificial) love for his church.  It's a way that God uses to sanctify his people, to conform us more to Christ, to make us holier.

   I recently listened to a speaker talk about singleness.  In it she said something that shocked me.  She said she'd prayed that if it would glorify God the most to remain single then so be it.  She was giving him her singleness.  I've prayed to God that if it glorifies him the most for me to die tomorrow then, well, take my life, and I've prayed that if it brings Him glory to give me cancer or some debilitating disease then he should do as he will.  But this-- this giving up my hopes of being married and being a mother is totally radical to me.

   I'm encouraged by Ian and Larissa's story.  This isn't the marriage that either of them pictured, and yet they're faithful because of their dependence on Christ and what he has done for them.  I pray that God will continue to strengthen and bless their marriage and that the light of Christ will shine through their marriage so that all may see that he is Lord.

   And I pray that God uses my life to bring Him glory as well-- in singleness, in marriage, in my relationships, and in my lifelong walk towards that celestial city.

[Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome]

Sonnets are full of love, and this my tome
Has many sonnets: so here now shall be
One sonnet more, a love sonnet, from me
To her whose heart is my heart’s quiet home,
To my first Love, my Mother, on whose knee
I learnt love-lore that is not troublesome;
Whose service is my special dignity,
And she my loadstar while I go and come
And so because you love me, and because
I love you, Mother, I have woven a wreath
Of rhymes wherewith to crown your honored name:
In you not fourscore years can dim the flame
Of love, whose blessed glow transcends the laws
Of time and change and mortal life and death.

~Christina Rossetti, 1830-1894

Happy Mother's Day to my first love!  I love you, Gru!!!