Word: Jude
First off, a big congrats to Brandon Cox, the winner of last week's free Word print giveaway! Brandon's winning entry was a blog post on his site about my Word project. Brandon went all the way back to 1 Samuel and picked up the David vs. Goliath print. Remember, that was just the first of three giveaways. The second giveaway has already started and this time your chances double since I'm giving away 2 prints!
Celebrate baby Jesus with 25% off Word Prints!
For those of you who don't like getting stuff for free, I've got something special for you too. Through Saturday at midnight, you can get 25% off your entire order from my ImageKind store. Just use the code ORNAMENT25 when you checkout.
Keep in mind, it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts. Maybe a Daniel for your dad, a 2 John for your significant other or a Nahum for that co-worker that somehow thinks your official job title is "The Person Who Fetches Me My Coffee." Or maybe you're wondering what gift to get for that person who seems to have everything. They don't have prints of mediocre Biblical designs, do they? Well maybe it's time you changed that this Christmas.
Hey Jude
Another week, another single chapter book at the end of the New Testament. This time it's Jude. I just checked and Revelation has 22 glorious chapters which should make things a lot easier next week. Until then, it's another week of trying to squeeze a design out of just a few verses.
Excuse me while I admire myself.
In situations like this, I look for any sort of visual nugget in a book and try to build off of that. In the case of Jude, that nugget was verse 19:
These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
These "people" Jude is referring to are folks who are in the church community and receive, but don't give. Sorta like the mooches Paul talked about in 2 Thessalonians. You know, those people who never bring anything to the potluck and always skip choir practice because they are "too busy." Their internal soundtrack is "me, me, me, me, me...." I think we all know someone like that. The co-worker who will let you pay for his lunch, but never offers to pick up the tab on yours. The family member who is always busy when you ask for help with something, but when she needs help you better be there or else there's a heavy dose of guilt. Or that friend who, every time you invite him to hang out, tells you he's too busy making Bible designs. Bunch of jerks.
Don't be "That Guy"
I guess I hear Jude saying a couple things here. First, he's warning folks in the church to watch out for mooches. They can be more than just an annoyance, they can divide the church and that's not good. Second, I'm also hearing him say "don't be that guy." Don't be the one who is selfish and can never think outside of himself. It's bad for you, it's bad for the people around you and it's bad for the church.
Yeah, every once in a while I rewrite the Bible.
You'll notice that in the design I made a slight addition and added the word "ungodly." I've change things like that every once in a while for the sake of a design. Without "ungodly," the verse felt like it lacked some context. While I may change words, I try to never change the meaning. In this case, the word "ungodly" is used to refer to these people or their actions 7 times in Jude, so it didn't seem like a huge leap to throw that in there.
Design Nerdery
I often like to point out designers that are better than me and this week is no exception. Like the collage style of this design? Make sure you check out these 2 dudes. They make me look like a hack:
- 2nysis: Don't know much about him and his Flickr account has been inactive for over a year, but he's got some great work.
- DeviantMonk (AKA Jason Watson): Jason is an online bud of mine and lives in Kansas City. He does some great collage style work and you can see a lot of it in this Flickr set and his blog. (Make sure to check out his Psalms series.)
Remember, enter to win a free print!