The Monster in the Dark

In a damp dark room she sits
Swatting feverishly at the air, the ground, herself
For you see she is under attack

It wasn't until recently did she know he was after her
The monster in the dark
She began to get cold
She reached up to warm herself, and there he was
Eating her clothes
The clothes that were once so warm and finely made
Are now in rags from the monster
Determined, but unable to see her assailant
She slams into walls all the while he evades her
"How can I make it stop!?
I cannot see him
Who will show me?"

She slowly turns around
And a man appears behind her
"My child, what happened to the clothes I bought you?"
"They were eaten by the monster in the dark"
He bends down to her and hands her a new garment
It is the most beautiful thing she has ever seen
"Have you tried to capture what is eating your clothes?"
"Yes, but he is too big and too fast for me"
"Allow me to show you"
"Yes"

He stands up and begins to glow bright
Brighter
And brighter still
Her eyes burn at the sight, but then she adjusts and opens them
Moths
Hundreds of hungry moths swarm around her
"I can see them! It was not one monster, but many"
"What will you do now" He asks
"I will capture them before they eat my new clothes"
He smiles and hands her a jar
Capturing the moths, she dances for joy

'For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.' 2 Cor 10:3-6

Sometimes I'm Sad

Sometimes I'm sad
I dwell in things I can't remember why

A girl on a desert road walking an endless path
The dust engulfs her but leaves her alone all too soon
She finds she must focus on that dust to burn her lungs or it's gone
Gone
Gone
And then what is she left with?
Solitude?
Emptiness?
Happiness? No that can't be right
Why would there be happiness if all she feels is dust
Rather the longing for dust

It's all gone now and sometimes I'm sad
Over what I don't remember

She sits in a hospital bed
Please heal my wounds, my scars, my brokenness
Why?
There's nothing wrong with her
There's no one around anyway
Or so she thinks
She's suffering from blindness
And self loathing
Too much outside
Nothing inside
A lack of proper vision she's told

Sometimes I'm sad
But only sometimes, and I don't remember why

The Little Old Lady

My co-worker had me drive around all over today. Her PowerPoint I helped her with earlier in the week did not work at her presentation, so I had to print out copies for everyone in the meeting and bring them over to her at a local restaurant. Only thing was that the printer was slower than dirt, and I had to take one set to her and come back for the rest. Needless to say, I was hot, tired, and cranky when the ordeal was over. (Not a good combination) I decided then that I needed to go get some lunch (since I was already out), and drove through the parking lot of a building by the restaurant to get back on Preston.

As I was about to turn right, a little old lady holding a small pet carrier flagged me down. I rolled down my window and asked if there was anything I could help her with. She said "I need some money for a motel". It could be a scam I thought. I bet she comes out here every day to get money from suckers. I bet she's a serial killer (alright, that one's a stretch) So I said "I'm sorry, I don't have any money". . . . WHAT!?! "I don't have any money"? I had a five dollar bill in my wallet I was about to go get some lunch with. How could I say that? Easy, I already justified my actions in my head. So why didn't I tell her the truth? Oh, well, that would make me look like a "bad" person. Therefore, instead of looking like a bad person, I went ahead and lied to that little old lady and became a bad person.

I turned onto Preston and started to drive to lunch, and I remembered what I prayed to God this morning. "God, please let me have a good day, but not just a good day, please let me have a good day in You. I want to actively wait on Your will". Oh, man! How I failed Him! He gave me an opportunity to do His will, and I blew it. I wasn't actively waiting at all. I was falling asleep at the spiritual wheel. I mean, who am I to judge her so quickly. The money I had was not mine, it is God's to do as He wills. So I decided to ask Him what I should do. "God, if I should go back to that lady, please clear traffic so I can turn around" (which is silly because I knew what I should do) Right then, traffic cleared, and I turned around. God gave me a second chance and she was still there asking for money from the cars ahead of me. I pulled up and said "You know, I do have a 5 dollar bill, here you go". "God bless you" she said as I drove away.

I see now that God is trying to show me where my heart is, and it's not where I would like it to be. I'm so thankful for His mercy. He could have said, "Nope, Lyndsey, you messed up, too bad", but He didn't. He gave me a second chance to give Him control over my life.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?" The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' " -Matt. 25:34-40

To end the story, I got in the office and started to get back to work. My co-worker I helped out pulled me into her office. She shut the door behind me, pulled out a $20 and said "I don't want to hear you refusing this. You helped me out today and you better take this". Just goes to show, God will always beat you at the giving game.

-Out

Manga Artists

So I did a post about comic artists a while ago, and now I'm going to give some love to those that give us the wonderful world of manga. I find myself more fulfilled with a manga volume rather than a comic book. Maybe it's because I'm getting what Americans like to call a trade paperback instead of a one shot comic. In Japan, they like to put all their comics in magazines, so even if you get a one shot, you still can read the other comics (and get hooked on them) to satisfy an hour of enjoyment. On the flip side, most comics are jam-packed with dialogue, where as you could read four pages of a manga and get only 4 words out of it. I've noticed many mangas I read focus on subtle facial expressions and body language to tell a story. (And since I'm a visual learner, this appeals to me greatly)

Ok, on to my favorite manga artists / writers (yeah that's another diffrence, most of the manga artists also write)

My favorite and most consistent artist would have to be Yu Watase. I buy up everything I can from her. Her stories are full of fantasy, romance, and lovable characters. Her art is so beautiful, and very easy to follow. One of my favorite things she does is outlining her full bodied characters. (I've always been a fan of that technique . . . i.e. Adam Hughes) The first series I have from her (and #1 is the first Manga I've ever purchased) is Alice 19th. Since then, I've bought Imadoki, Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kiaden, and Absolute Boyfriend. I adore all of them. My husband bought me the complete Fushigi Yugi anime for Christmas one year, and we watched it together (almost every night). Her Ayashi No Ceres anime is worth the watch.

Aihara Miki is the manga artist I would give the "most improved" award to. Her Hot Gimmick manga is WAY better artistically than the other series I have from her called Tokyo Boys and Girls. I guess she took some art lessons since, but MAN is Hot Gimmick amazing. I find myself drooling over every image. She constantly amazes me page after page. Her female characters tend to get the beat down quite often, and are not to keen on sticking up for themselves, but they are still likable and I love to see them pull through.

Wann is the third artist I'll post here (not because she's my last favorie, but because I really should get to other things). She does the art and story for both "Can't Lose You" and "100% Perfect Girl". I first picked these manga titles up simply based upon the art. Ok, ok, so this isn't really a manga, it's technically called a manhwa (from Korea I believe), but whatever. . . it's good. If my mom were to read a manga....manhwa, I would recommend Wann's titles. They are chalk full of suspense and intrigue. You'll see the mob, hit men, and at least someone getting shot in her stories. Her female characters are always fashion forward. That has to be the best part for me.


Ok, got to do other things now.
-Out

People Get Ready!

So there's this Misty Edwards song that my sister-in-law Marci let me listen to called "People Get Ready". One line goes "Once again I'm going to shake everything that can be shaken / Once again, I'm going to break everything that can be broken". Yeah, this idea has come up quite a bit for me lately. (I don't know what it is about certain verses [Heb. 12:26-28] He'll show me a verse MANY times played out in different situations to get His point across. I love it, cuz it's the only way it gets in my thick scull.) Anyways . . . um, what was I talking about . . . oh yeah! Shake and break. God is so cool and scary at the same time. Just imagine someone picking you up by your ankles until all the loose change falls out. Except when it's with God, He shakes out all the impure thoughts, false securities, pride, and those things you and I cling to so desperately. He rips out the secrets that keep us sick. (Man, I don't know if I'm ready for that. . . then when will you be ready? This world isn't going to last forever so we have to get real. Right now God is shaking away my casual living and hidden sexual addictions...so there....my secrets too.) What He can do to us is so powerful, and yet He always has our best interests in mind. That is the God I serve. The God that doesn't mess around. The God that will do whatever it takes to get us to look like Him. If all the demons and darkness are scared of our great God, then why wouldn't we want to look like Him. So let Him shake it off. Anything that makes you weak and vulnerable to this world (lust, hate, apathy), shake it off! The devil is a roaring lion waiting to devour the weak. But our God is so mighty! PEOPLE GET READY, JESUS IS COMING!

Comic Artists

For your enjoyment, I'll talk about my favorite artists. (Ok, so it's more for my enjoyment)

As most of you already know, I adore comic artists. When I was younger, and still sometimes today, I wouldn't pick up a book unless I liked the art. As I got older, I began to notice styles, and I could decipher one artist from the other.

The first artist I did this with was Joe Madureira. His style is fused with Japanese Manga and old time American comic art. I love it! For a long time in the mid 90's I would pick up anything that looked like his, and sure enough, from comics to video game magazines, it had the famous (or famous at least in my mind) MAD! logo. He did a comic called Battle Chasers, but he never finished it :(. Then he was missing from the business for so very long I thought I would cry. He's back now doing work for The Ultimates.

My next favorite is Chris Bachalo. His style is (in my opinion) softer than that of Joe. He is extremely talented at female facial features. He is so detailed and sometimes a bit abstract. However, there are times that his art gets in the way of reading the story line. I find myself reading the same few panels several times to understand where he is going with it. This was just the case when I read his Steampunk series. I don't think I ever knew what was going on in that book, but the art was so beautiful, that I bought everyone I could just to look at the pretty pictures.

If you like cover art, and I know I do, you will love James Jean. HE ACTUALLY DRAWS A COVER THAT FITS THE COMIC!!! Just look at any Fables cover. (It's what won him the Eisner award a few years back for best cover artist) You just don't understand how good the cover art is until you read the comic. He does a lot of work for magazines and usually that stuff is VERY trippy. His concepts simply blow my mind. I would never think of them, yet he creates something so perfect that it seems there is no other way for the art to be done. I believe he is going to have a book of fables covers coming out soon, but I could be wrong.

Man, I could go on and on and on about this stuff. Right now I'm fascinated with art I see on Deviant art. Perhaps I'll do a B-log on that. Dunno.

-Out!

Everyone Else Does It

So, I'm feeling like such a Peeping Tom. I look at my friends blogs, but I don't say anything. (Not that I have anything worth saying, but hey, everyone else does it). So here I am, blogging away (which, by the way, I think "blog" is a funny non-word-word) "Lyndsey's bLog, star date 2008" ←Wow, am I'm a dork or what. Yeah, every body's blog I've read so far is deep and meaningful, but sorry guys, I don't always write like that. I don't even write in complete. (←see I didn't even finish that sentence) Maybe I'll do some free verse poetry. I don't know. Ok....um.....the end!

(You're so jealous of my writing skills)