How Christ Defeated Nature's Laws:

Nature is cyclical. She is a never-ending machine that favors no one. We all know this very well; we all are set to die. We all are awaiting a call that tells us a loved one is dead; we are all marching with hearts like muffled drums to the grave. Nature is cyclical, and she waits for no one.

I was born of dust, and to dust I will return. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed but only transferred.

My dark brown, curly hair is an energy that was not created but only borrowed from the earth. My fingernails, bitten down and ugly as they are, are fingernails borrowed from the earth. My entire body -- an empty shell -- has a debt to pay back to nature. Physically, I am made up of organic matter that will bend down and let the mud cover itself again, to be renewed sometime in the unforeseen future.

This philosophy is disturbing to humankind. We don't want to be part of a merciless, impersonal machine that never ends but always grinds. Do you know why we believe nature to be cruel? Did you ever stop to consider that animals don't struggle against the cruelty of nature? They don't buy anti-aging creme, they don't gather up riches, they don't strive for fame. Animals don't have souls like humans do; they aren't disturbed by merciless nature.

We are disturbed because we know, deep in our hearts, that every one of us was meant for more than just being a husk blown away in the wind. We were meant for more than to worship something impersonal; indeed, our hearts were designed to worship One who embodies the thought of "personal". God is love. And He loves you. Know that you weren't created to be a faceless, nameless part of a machine. To Him, you are individual, precious, and beloved -- no matter what you might have done, or what you might look like. You are a unique piece of art and God has placed you over His mantle; the highest place of honor.

Nature is cruel in her beauty. Without Christ, we are no better than the husks that cover our souls. Without Christ, I am only a type of animal with dark brown curly hair and bitten-down fingernails. But WITH Christ, I am a human loved by the creator of everything.

It took an immortal being to stoop down and succumb to nature's cycle to be able to make me human.

Isaiah 58

...is such a good chapter. That chapter God put on my heart last night and I've been reading it all day. This is what I want my life to look like. God did not call me for a life of only humility, but a life of offering all I have to others. That is my passion because that was Christ's passion. I will deny myself for the exaltation of my lowly brothers.

Today has been fulfilling so far. I cried in my last great text class. My professor is an amazing man of God. One of my friends in the class asked after his lecture, "How should we live?"

He smiled at her, and his eyes began to tear up. "My reply to that is not my own, you should know. What I'm about to say are the words of Christ to his disciples. 'Man should not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

I saw the look in his eyes and I knew he was speaking through the Spirit. And so I cried at the beauty of it all; of having a spiritual professor who spoke truth to me twice a week. God, I am so grateful for that man.

He spoke today about Christian artists; our calling, our art, our culture. Lately I've been really hating postmodernist culture in America; it's focus on self, self, self, self, self, experience of self, moments of self, reflection on self, expression of self. It's sickening how much selfishness is rampant in our generation and our culture. Especially in the arts. My professor said that denying the culture and showing Truth in it's purest form is the moral duty of Christian artists. I looked over to my friend Chloe who is an art major, and I grinned and said something like, "Isn't that just perfect? My whole life I've wanted to go against culture. Now I'm told it's my moral duty as a Christian artist to stand up against culture and show it the face of truth!" and we both got excited.

So now I'm seriously reflecting on the art I've created and how it relates to God. And I'm contemplating future projects and how they correspond to showing God's Truth to postmodernity. It's my moral duty; my beloved obligation and occupation.

As an artist, I strive not to express myself. I strive instead to stand and point with all my strength towards the One who gives me life abundantly. With all I am, I will proclaim that I am nothing and that He is all, and that all glory belongs to Him, and Him alone.

I can't think of any better way to show Truth to a culture devoted to self.