Thinking...What one person has most impacted history?

HERE WAS A MAN

Here was a man, a man who was born in a small village 

the son of a peasant woman
He grew up in another small village
Until he reached the age of thirty 

He worked as a carpenter
Then for three years He was a traveling minister
But He never traveled more than two hundred miles from where he was born
And where he did go he usually walked
He never held political office

 He never wrote a book never bought a home
Never had a family he never went to college and He never set foot inside a big city
Yes, here was a man
Though He never did one on the things usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself

 He had nothing to do with this world
Except through the devine purpose that brought him to this world
While He was still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against him
Most of his friends ran away one of them denied him
One of them betrayed him and turned him over to his enemies
Then He went through the mockery of a trial
And was nailed to a cross between two thieves
And even while he was dying his executioners gambled
For the only piece of property that he had in this world
And that was his robe his purple robe
When He was dead he was taken down from the cross
And laid in a borrowed grave provided by compassionate friends
More than nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today He's a centerpiece of the human race
Our leader in the column to human destiny
I think I'm well within the mark when I say that all of the armies that ever marched

 All of the navies that ever sailed the seas
All of the legislative bodies that ever sat

 and all of the kings that ever reigned
All of them put together have not affected the life of man on this earth
So powerfully as that one solitary life
Here was a man! 

  What did Napoleon say about this man?  Napoleon said, "I know men and I tell you, Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force! Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour, millions would die for Him. I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man: none else is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than a man.”  

  In this a confused world..."What is the message of Christmas? It is the birth of the One who promised peace, joy and love. Try as we will, we cannot realize such values without acknowledging the point of reference for these absolutes: the very person of God and his gift to us of a changed heart and will. That message needs to be heard around our world that is reeling with problems and rife with hate. For we have proven we are not fit to be God." - Ravi Zacharias, philosopher 


When the question is asked. What one person has most impacted history?  The answer seems to always come back... Jesus Christ.  Interesting isn't it...  


Merry Christmas friends!


AWAKE 2 TRUTH

Toe to Toe...Boxing paintings. *Past artwork

 Its been some time since I last posted... I have had some older paintings laying around that havent seen day light in a while, so I thought I would bring them back out.  Below is a series of oil paintings a did in the late '90's  I think around '98-'99 of these boxers. In the recent passing of Joe Frazier, I thought it was the right time to post them.  I have always enjoyed watching boxing and I have always been intriuged by the life of a boxer. The painting are big 2'x 3'  If your interested in the paintings they are for sale...serious inquires only. 

LENNOX LEWIS

WBC Heavyweight Champion in '93

JAMES MURRAY

 Scottish Bantamweight boxer 

(*painting was of his last fight before he died of brain injuries)

EVAN HOLYFIELD 

Former Heavyweight Champion

LARRY HOLMES

Former Heavyweight Champion

Lance Training...

Photo by Grant Brittain

Thought and Prayers for Japan.

Winning or Losing?

   Sheen and Gadhafi - crazy, winning?, angry, on dope, want to take people down, have loyal followers and want to get their message across.

 When I look at these men, I see the reality two broken individuals...lost in the madness and evil of our times...that ultimatly stems from the heart.   Craziness sets the stage and we are the audience.

An old Proverb says, "A fool has no delight in understanding, But expressing his own heart." 

Official World Record Ollie!

Two weeks ago I watched this kid literally knock himself out at a best trick contest in Carlsbad, CA. He shows up at the Maloof High Ollie Challenge in Vegas and gets the world record!  Aldrin Garcia can pop!

Ignorance is there.

This artwork makes me laugh!                    artwork by Steve Olson

  Ignorance - "unproven knowledge" imbedded in someones mind as if it was factual information.  It's interesting how people will base all their understanding or view on a certain people group or person or polictical party just based on what somone tells them or what the news media fortells. We live in the age of technology from iphones to facebook to text and we still can't get the right information. We get a news? story from CNN or Fox news and we get angry or fearful of a certain person or people group.  I see it on both sides of the fence if it be Left or the Right. Ignorance is there! 


  But, saying all of that, I think the real issue is man's heart. Man's heart can be full of hate, ignorant, full of pride, or just plain hard.  The Bible says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?  Jeremiah 17:9  

Hows your heart?

A Thing Called Love

Have you ever thought... Where does love come from?


"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." -Jesus

Who will answer?

From the canyons of the mind,
We wander on and stumble blind
Through the often-tangled maze
Of starless nights and sunless days,
Hoping for some kind of clue
a road to lead us to the truth,
But who will answer?....

Is our hope high upon some dusty shelves?

or in the stars?

or in ourselves?

Who will answer?

...If the soul is darkened

By a fear it cannot name, 
If the mind is baffled 
When the rules don't fit the game, 
Who will answer? Who will answer? Who will answer? 

                  Here is a photo I shot of Christian Hosoi (left) and Steve Caballero(right) about 2 years ago in San Diego. 

  

 Steve Caballero and Christian Hosoi, two of skateboarding's biggest legends. Here they stand side by side in this photograph. In the middle of them on the table lies a open Bible. Why? As the above song writer asked in his lyrics, so did Hosoi and Cab of their own personal lives and cries of the heart. Wrestling with their own struggles for truth in life...they asked "Who will answer?"  

  Hosoi almost threw his entire professional career away because of Crystal Meth. He had all the fame, but deep inside still searching for fulfillment in life, gave into the modern day street crap of drugs. 

  

  Caballero, one of skateboardings great vert, and pool skaters wasn't looking for fulfillment through drugs, but trying to find it in his agnostic mindset and in the teachings of Zen. "I chose to follow the Zen way because it didn't have a religious aspect to it. There wasn't a belief system; It was a way of life. But, It didn't help me though in terms of my personal struggles."-Cab.

 Here Hosoi and Cab stand at a Bible Study in San Diego. Why!? To get religion? No. Because they lived out the lyrics of that song. They stumbled through the maze of life, trying to find a clue, a road that would lead them to the truth and they found it. The Bible spoke true truth to them. They did not just find one of the many ways. They found the only answer to life's meaning and fulfillment.  And that meaning in life was found in knowing the God of the Bible... The meaningful life comes through acknowledging our dependence on the God who is there and in Jesus Christ as The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He will answer. 

Think about it...and seek out what really is truth. 

Side note:  I also know there are people not like Cab and Hosoi. They keep searching through life for the answers. But, they really don't want the truth or they really don't seek in truth. Like the atheist philosopher Thomas Nagel... He says, "I want atheism to be true. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief; It’s not that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that." Wow! That is some bold committed unbelief."I don't want there to be a God." The only answer for what exist is that God, the infinite-personal God is there. 

Rippers that pioneered the flip trickers.

  Skateboarding has been a big part of my life. If someone would have asked me when I was 15..."Are you going to be skating when your 37?" I would probably have said bluntly "Yeah man!" But, inside thought "Oh man, thats going to be a bummer when I'm 37 and I can't skateboard anymore." Well, time has shown that there is no age limits in skateboarding. Here I am at the age of 37, married with 4 kids and still have skateboarding in my life. It's funny. My buddy Bob and I always joke about it...now we have kids with skateboards. I do not skate as much as I use too and that's ok. A reality check always hits now a days. I'm not 17 anymore and shredding the streets, but hey at least I'm rolling! I thank God for that.

  Over the past 24+ years since I have been skateboarding, it has been rad to watch the progression...from 1987 til now. Here are few of the dudes of 1987 that pioneered the Chris Cole's and the Andrew Reynold's of today. Know your skate history boys...


Mark Gonzales

Natas Kaupas

Neil Blender

Jesse Martinez

 
Tommy Guerrero

Enjoy skateboarding!

The King who had a dream.

As a white male raised in a Pennsylvania 'steel city,' I have observed and experienced much that has influenced my perspective. Being a son of a Prison Chaplain, I am no stranger to the many burdens and concerns that I saw in my own neighborhood growing up.  The black community was a very real part of my experience. I have seen and heard much that effected my neighbors and the growing national tension that manifested itself in ignorance and racism. What I saw with my eyes effected my heart. 

 Martin Luther King Jr., a man who had a dream... a dream that would one day blossom into a reality. The path that he chose in life was not a easy path. It was not one that many accepted or liked. But, he stayed the course. He did not give up... Why not?  Because he had a God given dream. 'That one day his children would live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.'  He walked in faith, hope and love. He refused to obey what he regarded as an immoral law that did not square with the law of God. Writing from a jail cell, King declared that the code of justice is not man's law: It is God's law. Imagine a politician saying that today!   Happy birthday Dr. Martin Luther King!  I thank God for you and the blessing of my experiences as a child that effected my heart to this day. 

In my senior year in art school I focused all subject matter on the social concerns of what I saw in my own community. More than a appreciation for art, I wanted to communicate the hope, the struggle and the glory of a people that I love and a culture that God allowed me to experience.  Here are a few early paintings...although poor, and early in my artistic ability, the content shows forth my perspective at the time. 

Ray...what can I say.

  A very nice photo by Mark Whiteley...of a very nice human being, Ray Barbee.  What can I say about Ray?  Ray is as genuine as they come.  The first time I met Ray was at a skateboard trade show in Long Beach, CA.  He was smiling from ear to ear watching the high ollie challenge contest. I walked up and introduced myself just to say hi. It ended up being a hour long conversation about skateboarding, life and God. When I came up with the idea to make a skate culture documentary, Ray was the first to encourage me to do it.  Ray is a gifted skateboarder, musician and now photographer. People are always drawn to Ray's peaceful personality and genuine spirit. Where does that come from? Well, if you ask Ray, he will tell you. It comes from the Author of Life...God. See Ray has always been a nice guy... but Ray came to a point in his life where he searched for real truth...in a world of all these religions, philosophies and mindsets. He asked, "Who really holds the truth?" He really wanted to find true truth in this life. He will tell you what he found...he found the one true answer to life. He found it in the Bible... he came to the realization that God is a real God (the God of the Bible). He found that Jesus wasn't just some nice guy that walked the earth...but that He was truly the Son of God, that came to this earth to seek and to save that which was lost. You and me. I have been blessed to call Ray my friend. He has been a great encouragement to me and I will be forever grateful.  He will be one of the guys featured in my up coming film documentary "Woven." www.wovenskatefilm.com 

May you to search out real truth, in this crazy world.  

Role model...?

Role Model: generally means any "Person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".


huh? No comment...

I where the Black...

  John is one of my musical heroes.  His music and his life spoke volumes... most people just like the rebel or darker side of John. I guess because we all can identify with that stuff. But, John was more than a rebel... in the darkness of his life he found that God was real and close by.  He wore his frailties on his arm...he identified with the lost man. He knew and believed in the saving grace of God, found in Jesus.  "The Master of Life's been good to me. He has given me strength to face past illness, and victory in the face of defeat. He has given me life and joy where others saw oblivion. He has given new purpose to live for. New services to render and old wounds to heal. Life and love go on.  Let the music play." - Johnny Cash

If you know me, this won't be the last time I'll post something about John on here.

The uniqueness of people

  As a young skateboarder thumbing through the magazine pages of Thrasher and Transworld.  Certain individuals and their styles would catch my eye.  I would analyze the photographs of these certain skaters. Look at the position of their feet, their hands and try to imagine the motion on that skateboard. Then when videos came out with these individuals skating...not only would their original style show true, but their personality.  Skateboarders have always been unique individuals, set apart from the norm. And then there are those within skateboarding that are set apart from the norm within skate culture.  Mark Gonzales has always been and will probably always be one of those individuals. I always been intrigued by Mark.  Not just by his skateboarding ability, or his art, but by his unique personality.  I look at Mark and I see this wonderful reality of a man. He might not realize it, but his life shows forth truth.  What do I mean? When I look at Mark, I see a man that is made in the image of God.  If our world began from the impersonal energy, mass, motion and chance... then how can we explain personality, the uniqueness every man in this world? The creativity of people? Creativity marks the truth about man. It can only start at a personal beginning. God (the Creator) in the beginning of time, made man in His image (Genesis 1:27)... thats where creativity, and personality point us to the answer of meaning and existence.  So when I look at Mark, I see a man made in God's image, not some dude that just happened to be that way by evolutionary chance. I hope Mark realizes that or at least some day comes to that realization. You, and I are the same... I pray you come to realize it... that in this world influenced by one emotional view or another...there is only one philosophic answer to existence, to being... only one...God created you. 

An abnormal world

 The way mankind is today, is not what he originally was created to be. There was a historic change in man. Man, made in the image of God turned by choice from his proper intergration point at a certain time in history. When he did this, man became something that he previously was not and the dilemma of man became a moral problem. -( F. Schaeffer) This historical change or choice that man made is called the Fall. You find this in the literal history of the Bible.  Because of one man's(Adam) choice. Sin (aka: the crap in the world) came into the world.  This is the reality. The tension between what God meant us to be, versus what we are and what death is.

Awake 2 Truth

Photo: Ray  Barbee

 In a world of fast paced images and sound bites, it is easy for one to either not pay attention, or, to be influenced in one emotional direction or another. Relationships, theologies and societal attitudes are often the result. 

  

Something new to dabble in... or ramble in

 I thought I give it a shot at blogging... Share my thoughts...world view... on our generation...Tap into the things that make me tic.  If it be the spiritual, art, photography, philosophy or the unique people within our culture. This is my expression and appreciation for life, the life that comes from the personal-infinite Creator God. The one who made everything...the original aka OG Artist, God.

 Life is as a work of art. Our lives are as empty canvas, and as we live and move and begin to live (create), something comes forth that is either ugly or a thing of beauty. The tension between either direction is always there... but, the answer is not to become a perfect artist or have the perfect life....thats foolish... the secret to such a life is found in knowing the Creator... to love Him, to know His presence, and walk in His way. "The Art of Life"