Joyful ‘toons Blog

The Joyful ‘toons email list recently passed a significant milestone. I added my 5,000th subscriber. When I started the email list approximately two years ago, if you had told me there would eventually be over 5,000 subscribers, I might have had a difficult time believing it.

The idea of having an email list was suggested to me by two different readers. At first, I managed the list with my Mac Address Book, and sent the email using Mac Mail. As the list grew longer, I began to realize that I needed something better. Then I discovered the Dada Mail computer application. Even with my limited knowledge and experience, I was able to get it set up on my website by carefully following the instructions provided.  Now I use it to automatically add (or subtract) subscribers to the list, and to send out my weekly email. I recommend it to anyone who needs to manage a large email list.

I remember there was one time, early on, that for some reason I didn’t get a cartoon finished on time, and so I didn’t send out an email that week. I was genuinely surprised and touched at the number of people who emailed me, wondering why they hadn’t received the weekly cartoon, and asking if I was OK. I hadn’t realized how much people appreciated getting the cartoon in their inbox every week. Now I’m careful to send out a cartoon each week, even if I have to resend an old one.

The weekly deadline to finish a cartoon and get it out in an email has been a good discipline for me. It keeps me on schedule, and I have been able to maintain the pace of one new cartoon per week, rarely missing a week. So, I am thankful to those two readers who suggested the idea of an email list, sometime around two years ago.

If you would like to subscribe to the Joyful ‘toons email list, please go to the subscribe page of my website, enter your email address, and click “submit your information”. The subscription is free, and your email address will not be shared with anyone.

My cartoon for June 1, 2009 has received more than the usual response from readers. I received a nice vote of confidence from many readers, while others were not so sure. They were a bit skeptical of the cartoon, while also being thoughtful, considerate, complimentary, and in some cases, quite informative. I think that, perhaps, some of those who took issue with the cartoon didn’t quite get what I was trying to say. Hopefully, this blog post will provide some clarification.

The point I am trying to make with the cartoon is simply this: that we should try to remember that those who have a relationship with the Father through Jesus are your brothers and sisters in the Lord. The guy who is following Jesus along with you is your brother, even though he may be in a different group with a different label. The cars on the train represent the different denominations within Christianity. Though separated by their disagreements, the characters in the cars recognize that they are still united together on one train, because they are both connected to the engine (Jesus) and the coal tender (the Holy Spirit), and they are both running on the same track (the Word of God). Both of the characters are heading to the same destination. Salvation is not found in denominations, but in Jesus. Without the engine (Jesus), the cars aren’t going anywhere. The theme of the cartoon is the unity of the church in Jesus Christ.

Of course, I understand that there are those groups which are not a part of the true church. That is why I included the car that is labeled “false religion”. It may look like the other cars, but it is not connected to the engine (Jesus), it is off on the wrong track of false teaching, and it is not going anywhere. In Romans 16:17, the Apostle Paul warns us about them.

I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.

These people are not serving our Lord Christ. They lack a relationship with Him.

I have been involved in various church denominations and Christian groups in my life. One thing I hate is to hear someone in one denomination belittling or ridiculing their brothers and sisters who are in a different denomination. Certainly, there are disagreements among the brethren on various issues. I, of course, have my own views on such matters, based on my own understanding of the Bible. But we should not allow such disagreements to cause us to lose sight of the fact that we are still brothers and sisters in Jesus. The Apostle Paul wrote about this in Romans 14:1-4:

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

If we are serving Jesus, even if we disagree about some things, He is able to make us stand.

There is, however, one thing that we absolutely must agree upon: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, this is the issue of first importance.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

I believe sound doctrine is important, but I do not believe that doctrine alone can ever unite the Body of Christ. Unity will not be achieved by a creed or a list of principles. Unity is found in a person, Jesus Christ. When we are all rightly related to Jesus, then we will begin to be rightly related to each other.  I chose 1 John 4:2-3 to go along with the cartoon because I think those verses point to the one central thing that brings us together as Christians: our relationship with Jesus. It is also the main thing that separates us from the rest of the world.

In the book of John, chapter 17, Jesus prays to the Father on behalf of the future church. Here is a portion of that prayer, from verses 21-23:

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their (the apostles’) message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

What will bring us to complete unity? Jesus in us, and we in Jesus. I believe that God is in the process of answering Jesus’ prayer.

Another cartoon of mine tries to make the same point about the unity of the church in Jesus Christ.

My cartoon for May 17, 2009, titled “Strike It Rich”, is one that I have had on my computer hard drive for a couple of years, at least. I don’t know if I still have the original sketch on paper or not. Fortunately, I had scanned it and saved it on my computer. It depicted a prospector from the American old west who is dancing with joy over a gold nugget he has found while digging in his mine.

The original "Strike It Rich" sketch

I guess I have heard several Bible teachers and preachers use the metaphor of mining to refer to Bible study. Phrases such as “digging for nuggets of truth in the Word of God” were the inspiration for the original sketch. But when I finally got around to finishing the cartoon, I looked for some verse in the Bible that used this particular metaphor, but couldn’t find one. The only passage I could find that spoke about mining was in the book of Job, chapter 28.

Even though I couldn’t find a specific verse that referred to the Word of God as a mine, I still think it is a valid illustration. The verse I did use, from Proverbs, Chapter 2, verses 4 & 5, speaks of searching for wisdom and understanding as you would look for silver or search for hidden treasure.

This idea of searching for the truth, of seeking for God, is found throughout the Bible. Deuteronomy 4:29 says But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul; Proverbs 25:2 says It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings; and Act 17:27 says God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. There are many other verses that speak about seeking the Lord.

I think it is an interesting idea that God wants us to look for Him. He is, in a way, hiding from us - not because he doesn’t want to be found, but because he wants us to seek him. One way that we can search for God is to read and study His Word, the Bible. In the finished cartoon I changed the pick into a shovel, to make it easier to write the word “study” on it. And I added the other two old west characters to provide a commentary on the prospector. I hope the cartoon will be a reminder and an inspiration to Christians to spend time reading and studying the Bible. And maybe it can be an inspiration to those who don’t know the Lord to seek Him.

The finished cartoon

I made a slight revision to my cartoon “Rescue ‘copter”. The cartoon shows two men camping in a forest. A sign lets us know that it is “Sin Forest”. In the distance we can see a raging fire. It is burning up the forest and heading toward the campers. The fire represents God’s judgment against sin. Hovering over the men is a helicopter which has let down a ladder for the men to climb up and escape the coming fire. The helicopter represents God’s mercy to mankind, which He made available through the death and resurrection of Jesus. I suppose I could’ve labeled the ladder “Faith”. One man is urgently climbing the ladder, while the other man seems oblivious to the approaching danger. When I drew this cartoon, I was thinking about how our God is a God of justice, and also a God of mercy.

The original "Rescue 'copter"

In my original cartoon, the helicopter had a red cross painted on the side of it. I became a little concerned that the red cross might be mistaken for the symbol of the Red Cross, the organization that provides help for people in disasters. I think the Red Cross is a fine organization, but it is not what I intended the helicopter to represent. So in my revised cartoon, I changed the cross to look more like the cross of Jesus.

The revised "Rescue 'copter"

My cartoon titled “Peace Rock” has been on the website since August of 2007, but it is older than that. It is one of the cartoons that were hidden under the bed in our guest bedroom. It is taken from John 16:33. Jesus is speaking to His disciples and says: I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (NIV). That’s a wonderful verse to remember as we go through these troubled times. My cartoon depicts a distraught looking man in a little boat that has sprung a leak. The boat is labeled “worry” and is adrift in a raging sea labeled “trouble”. Next to the boat is a big rock labeled “peace”. The waves are tossing the boat around, but has no effect on the rock. Another man, standing on the rock, calls out to the man in the boat, inviting him to “…abandon that leaky ol’ boat and climb up on this rock”.

The original "Peace Rock" cartoon

At times I would come across this cartoon and think that it wasn’t quite right, somehow. Maybe it was a little too vague. Yes, we as Christians can have peace in the midst of this troubled world, but how? In the verse Jesus says in me you may have peace and I have overcome the world.  If we remain in Jesus we may have peace, because he has overcome the world. So, I began to think that the cartoon might have a greater impact if the rock were labeled “Jesus”, instead of “peace”. Like the rock in the cartoon, the waves of trouble in this world do not move Jesus, nor will they move us if we keep our faith in Him. But, if we get out of faith in Him, and into fear and worry, then we are like the guy in the leaky boat. So today I went ahead and made the revision, and I think the cartoon is much improved. It is now clearly focused on Jesus, as it should be. I also tried to give the rock a more “rocky” texture. I’m not sure, but I think it looks OK.

The revised "Peace Rock" cartoon