Friday, August 24, 2007

chalk talk

This is a second drawing of something I originally put up on a chalkboard. It comes from some ideas floating around in my head that I haven't given words to yet, and I thought I'd open it up for discussion before making any big speeches on television or signing a book deal.

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What interpretations would you draw out of this picture?

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Image by: Me>

32 comments:

Pete Juvinall said...

A big idea would be shelter. What shelter gives you and how it forms your outlook on life. Shelter could be many things, spiritual, physical, etc.

L.L. Barkat said...

Blue people like rain?

L.L. Barkat said...

Or, I've got it... rain makes people blue?

Craver Vii said...

Pete, I still haven't read your mom's post on grace. I'll have to read it later, today.

Oh LL, those were very Craver-esque comments! The colors were only to indicate separation. Otherwise, the hues are irrelevant.

I will miss you terribly while you're away. Shabbat shalom.

Craver Vii said...

The halos are almost invisible, but the yellow chalk-figures each sport a halo.

Anonymous said...

Ummm . . . could it be that all those who are in the Lord are covered and under His protection, while those who are not covered . . . are not?

Mark Goodyear said...

Well, clearly the invisible stick person holding the umbrella is much bigger than the ones who are getting covered.

It's awfully nice of the invisible stick person to let both blue and gold people under the umbrella.

If everyone were gold, would the umbrella be bigger? Or would the stick people just be squished together?

Dude, I'm not away.

Dan Leman said...

It looks like an illustration of common grace to me. Except in this case, the rain doesn't fall on the righteous and the wicked.

Pete Juvinall said...

doh! thanks for the spot, Craver, it's a mom's blog, not my mom's blog. :)

Pete Juvinall said...

Actually, I've changed my mind, I'm hopping on the blue people like rain comment by LL.

Either that or the yellow/white people are going to ride the giant hook up into a spaceship.

Lara said...

Could it be that the light blue umbrella belongs to the light blue people and the yellow ones are just glomming on?...No, maybe not.

Oh, wait! I get it now. There are three yellow halo people...are they the Trinity?

The only other thing I can tell is they must have been in that storm we had here yesterday because it's very, VERY dark.

Craver Vii said...

Good try, Mrs. Craver.

Dan (Llama in Need), I was talking about you just yesterday. I miss you, Bro. But that's not what I was thinking either.

As for the rest of you lunatics, it's not even a full moon out!

First, we'll go over what I intended the symbols to represent, and then we can talk about what I was thinking when I drew this.

The broadly defined umbrella called Christianity has many people who claim to be under it. Notice how its handle forms a big "J". But Jesus' parable about the sheep and the goats said that he would turn away some who falsely claimed to be His followers, so only some of the people under the big umbrella have been given a halo.

There is nothing special about the color blue, except to make it obvious that they were different from the ones under the umbrella. Here, you have all those who are clearly not under the name of Christ. This is not a judgment over them or insult by any means. They are just people who do not go to church or maybe they claim a different religion.

Craver Vii said...

Now here's what I was thinking when I first scribbled that drawing. I wanted to identify two basic types of people under a general classification of Christianity, because we who would truly be Christ-followers have a hard job. We must love our neighbor as ourselves. And as if that wasn't challenging enough, we are also commanded to love "one another" as Christ loved the church. I don't know about you, but I feel like it's sometimes easier to love people who are outside Christianity than some of the people who are inside.

We have an obligation to be faithful to the truth, "both to encourage others by sound doctrine and to refute those who oppose it." It's tricky to refute and love at the same time.

Some people who call themselves Christian hold different opinions in certain areas, and some even spread heresy. But the world that is totally outside Christianity may not see what the big deal is. We must be very careful how we deal with people who call themselves Christian, otherwise we tarnish the reputation of Jesus Himself.

Anonymous said...

Oh man, you gave away the punch line before I got a chance. I was going to suggest that we either need a bigger umbrella, or more likely, the people under the umbrella need to squish together and invite the others in. I think my second thought might fit in better with the actual interpretation.

Now, when are you scheduled for the Larry King Live show?

Lin said...

I am probably far too pragmatic but it looks to me like you just became an agent for Traveller's Insurance. Logo recognition is everything.

david mcmahon said...

That we are always welcome to shelter, but we seldom accept the offer.

Llama Momma said...

I was going to guess it was some kind of rainy day at the Smurf Convention...

donsands said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
donsands said...

"Do I have to tell the story
Of a thousand rainy days since we first met
It's a big enough umbrella
But it's always me that ends up getting wet"

It made me think of this song by Sting.

And it is easies to love some who are outside the Body of Christ, and hard to love some inside the walls of the Church Craver. I'd really like to kick this around some time on a blog.

I deleted my earlier comment.


Have a great Sunday.

Brian in Oxford said...

If this play is some trick to hide Rex Grossman's inadequacies on offense....

Unknown said...

The church is the umbrella.

Shrink Wrapped Scream said...

Original post, good to make us think outside of the box occassionally!

karoline in the morning said...

well...then i would be one of the blue people on the right i suppose...but, because i get lots of nice rain, i have a luvely garden growing at my feet...you just forgot to draw it in...

;)
k

fascinating query actually...

Craver Vii said...

Has your neck of the woods been under severe weather this past week, Charity? If so, and the umbrella induces nightmares, I must apologize. It's great to see you again.

Speaking of disaster... Lin, I was just reading your latest misadventures. 'Hope you're feeling better today.

There's a lot we could go into there, David. So right. Maybe I'll try to peel back some of those layers another time.

Smurf Convention. Cute. You're more into green, LM, aren't you?

Sandman, I look forward to reading your post.

Thanks for visiting, Brian. I'm not real big into sports, but yeah, Grossman's been catching some heat in the news lately. I would totally prefer spend Sunday afternoons watching my own children play.

Yes Eve. Generally. Hey, I thought about your family this weekend.

Hooray! SWS is back!! I hope my kids don't read our blogs. They might use your story to try to get a laptop. (As if I could afford one!)

Those are some cool socks, Karoline! Just for you, I'm going to go back to the original drawing and add some green under one of the blue figures on the right side. I appreciate your visit and comment.

jazzycat said...

Psalm 32:1 Blessed is the one whosetransgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.

The different colors under the umbrella could be either Jews and Gentiles or redeemed of the O.T. and N.T. The others are the non-elect.

Every Square Inch said...

Craver

Thanks for the explanation of the drawing. Wow, you packed all that thinking into an umbrella and a bunch of stick figures. I can only imagine what you could do with a raincoat, walking stick and a pair of Wellingtons.

http://www.funky-wellington-boots.co.uk/

Anonymous said...

Too Much John from Cincinnati?

Craver Vii said...

Welcome, Jenny. Who is John from Cincinnati?

Craver Vii said...

Jazzycat, I saw the advice you gave Susan about her dog. I wish someone had advised the Craver family the same way, but I guess there are some things we just have to learn through the school of hard knocks.

Those "Funky Wellingtons" certainly live up to their name, ESI. Do not adjust the screen; those are the real colors and patterns.

Inihtar said...

A fun way to induce some serious thought. Interesting that there are more people under the umbrella WITHOUT halos than with them. I wonder if that was intentional? A confession: There was a time when I was 100% certain that I was one of the ones with a halo. Now I'm not so sure. . . :(

Cuckoo said...

Well, When I first read this post, my immediate reaction was someone like pied piper (not him) driving away all the hypnotized people with him.

Nonetheless, the discussion here has lot more to say.

Unknown said...

Thanks for thinking of us, Craver! Prayer would be good too. :)