John Michael Talbot's new recording

In a recent interview, John Michael Talbot said "I’m kind of preferring to spend some time with nothing for a while,” he said, adding that what God wants him to do after that is God’s business.

He still plans to tour in the fall of 2008 and the spring of 2009 to promote his new album, which is to be released Aug. 15.

Although touring is a lot of work, he said he loves doing concerts and would continue them, except, in prayer, he hears God telling him to stop and “stand still for a while” so God can direct him. That could be back into touring, doing prayer walks again or even being a recluse for the remainder of his life.

“In the mind of God, the song has been there forever, and the job of the composer is to find that song,” he said.

Word from Foster Anthony

That's my moniker in Second Life. And here's a link to a great resource I am exploring...

Another cultural icon bites the dust- from the First Earth Day, 1971

From The Straight Dope:

"According to an article in the April 8 Los Angeles New Times, the entire persona was exacty that--merely a persona. "Iron Eyes" Cody was actually Espera DiCorti, born of two Italian immigrants in Gueydan, Louisiana. DiCorti had loved playing Indians as a child and always said he was going to be an actor one day. After a move to Texas, he shortened his name to Cody and headed off for Los Angeles to make his fortune. According to Mae Abshire Duhon, his only living sibling, "The next thing we heard was that he had turned Indian."

The story is verified by a 1996 article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune that also established Cody's Italian-American roots. "

Here's the Wikipedia entry...

Expelled opens well

Made 3 Million plus on opening weekend- pretty good numbers for a limited opening venue and little or no advertising...

Thoughts on Earth Day.

I would likely be cast out if I frequented places where tree huggers dwell.

That being said, having grown up in the sixties in a VERY rural place, I know how to live in symbiotic relationship with nature. And I remember the childhood ads and programs created to educate us to environmental awareness...please please don't be a litterbug, for every litter bit hurts. I remember the ad with Iron Eyes Cody shedding a tear.

We made good use of everything and waste was not an issue. Today I have returned to the same county I grew up in and the sights are appalling- young people make a habit of making the landscape their garbage dump. I thought the next generation was green! Not so here. There is no recycling program in Bullitt County, and that's the first time that has been the case in my married life- Memphis, Dallas, and Illinois had recycling programs. Try to find a magazine recycling bin here and you are out of luck. Families have 4, 5, 6 cars and gas guzzlers galore. Fast food is the order of the day, and I get enough junk mail each week to half fill our waste container.

I believe in cycles of climate change- climate based on thirty year cycles. I'm not yet on the global warming bandwagon, but it doesn't take a genius to recognize things are still going horribly wrong in the area of personal environmental stewardship. Education has not helped; it is human laziness and arrogance that makes the mess I see daily. Fast food wrappers, beer cans, cigarette butts. The county just dredged the river and removed tons of debris from where it's been used as a dump. Driving along a lazy country road here gives you a view like a landfill with mattresses and garbage. It is sickening.

The Temple Trembles

The temple now trembles now as it is filled
By radiance and glory- all nature is stilled
God’s presence has come out from that most holy place
To meet with his children face to face.

We are the temple God’s Spirit indwells
Our heart is the altar where true praise now swells
A glorious building made of living stones
With light in our eyes and fire in our bones

The water that cleanses in the Holy laver
The altar where the One pure sacrifice finds favor
The showbread, the lampstand that is filled with light
The altar of incense where prayer takes its flight
The one tabernacle where God and man meet
The door, the way, the living vine, the one mercy seat
The ark the manna and living Rod-
the final Word of God
The slain lamb now stands-
and we see the Great I am.

The temple now trembles, the temple now quakes
God’s presence is revealed to us for our sakes
Though once we were cast out we now enter in
To feast with the Father once again.


April 22, 2008
Anthony Foster

The Kindle

I've been hearing the buzz on the Kindle and the reviews I have seen have been very positive. I'll have to try one for a while before adopting a new way of reading- Larry sent a link to the Charlie Rose interview with Jeff Bezos, which I found pretty interesting...

Advocacy Apologetics

Read Rusty Wright's article here.

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, writes in unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity, "In studying thousands of outsiders' impressions, it is clear that Christians are primarily perceived for what they stand against. We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for "[emphasis his].

Can't sleep, so here I blog.

I ran across a cheap but pristine copy of a book I remembered from 30 years ago titled God's Images by Dickey and Hayes. I first saw it and photographed images of the fine drawings during my days working on my BFA. It is as beautiful today as I remembered.

Early wakeup call- quake style...

Here's the story...

We were awakened by a substantial tremor around 5:35 this AM- (actually, Earnie was awakened, I slept through the fun...) I chalked it up to a barrage from Fort Knox, which we are still not used to after moving here. Seems Earnie was right- it was a 5.7 earthquake centered near Evansville- which is the epicenter of the New Madrid fault. They's calling it a tremor on the Wabash fault however...

Dawgs I have known.

There were others from the litters along the way, but these were the main ones... can't imagine life without a dog.

Jobs I have known.

What, you might ask, is a "laserist"? Hmmm...I created computer generated animations using laser displays for what, at that time, was the largest non-travelling laser light show in the U. S. We had about five different lasers to work with and I drew and entered the plot points in the computer to make this happen. I also provided projected images and designed special effect lighing effects. That job was like a laboratory of learning. Didn't pay much though. Here is a link to laserlightshow images I created, used in dozens of shows over a five year period from 1983-88...

Truth is important.

I like urban legend sites...
they tell you a lot about human nature. Here is the link to the Eye of God one, which is notable for its beauty if nothing else...

Snopes.com is my favorite one...and imho, should be perused by every thinking Christian.

So was this a goof or not?

Coins are circulating now with no "In God We Trust" inscription... almost immediately, this spawned a viral email that is being propagated by the uncritical attentions of many Christians.
Here's the skinny...

Leatherheads

We saw the movie last week and thought it was pretty funny, if predictable. At times the repartee between Clooney and Zellweger rivalled the interplay of the likes of Roz Russell and Cary Grant in His Girl Friday; but this level of interchange was not sustained for very long. The movie fumbles the ball in places, but overall, it was entertaining if unevenly paced. Clooney does comedy well, I think- this is a stark departure from his somber Michael Clayton role.

Student Art Exhibition

I showed up, as planned, to take a look at the installation of the SBTS First annual student art exhibition- except there was no installation. Dr. Halla and I swung into action and four hours later we had a presentable show with fourteen works, labels and (passable) lighting. Chef Pam added her culinary artistry and the chocolate lovers began obeying their olfactory senses. We probably had 40 folks show by the time I left, and this was early on.

I hope the efforts will shed some light on the potential for God glorifying visual arts in the seminary community. This was a small start, to be sure, but an important first step, I think. This, along with the inception of a new Student Arts group on campus(I met the principal from engagingculture.com at the opening) may provide the impetus for more and greater things down the road.

We also had a prolonged conversation with Dr. James Parker. I knew him from the early days back in Dallas and his work with the Trinity Institute study center.

Visualcy defined- sort of...

Here's a link to Andy Crouch's article in CT from 2005...

This day is heavy with memories

I won't be writing much on the loss of my dear mother in law, Jennievie Smith. I feel I must say that I have been a student of this woman for over thirty years, from the first time I drove down that driveway to meet her before I married her daughter. She taught me a lot about life and living. I recorded hundreds of hours of her stories over the years, but none of them were as instructive as having the privilege to help my wife take care of her Mom in her last months on earth. In this, she taught me much about dying as well. I pray I will finish my own race with as much tenacity mixed with grace as what she exhibited.

Great Churches we have been members of

Through the years, God has blessed us with great churches with ministries that were as deep as they were wide. Here are a few.
Bethel Baptist Church. Tim Lewis was our pastor. This is where I was licensed to the gospel ministry.
Northwest Bible Church Dr. Howard Clark was our pastor then.
Rhinehardt Bible Church is now Firewheel Fellowship. Dr. Gary Inrig was our pastor then.
New Covenant Presbyterian Church, PCA. Dr. Bob Palmer was our pastor.
First Evangelical Church, Memphis.Dr. Duane Litfin was pastor then.
Highview Baptist Church, Louisville.Dr. Kevin Ezell, current pastor...



We've also been able to attend some great schools...
Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary
Covenant Theological Seminary
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Currently working a Ph.D. there.

Not to mention: University of Louisville (Art), Murray State University (BFA), coursework at Southern Methodist University, Collin County Community College, Dallas County Community College (Multimedia Development), St. Louis Community College, Bowling Green State University (Non -Linear Video Editor 1)... and a MS in Instructional Technology at Southern Illinois University...

The Eye of the Lord

Ayin Adonai (The Eye of the Lord)

Come you flood of tears like the rain
Dwell in our eyes for our grief and pain
Our souls have need of your flowing release
And from this Grace will flow perfect peace.

God will wipe away every tear one day
But today our mourning is displayed
And he will catch up and bottle each tear
For in His book they all appear.

The ones who for his lovingkindness are thirsty
The ones who trust in His good mercy
Their death is precious in the eyes of the Lord
Now unbolt our hearts to let in Your Word.
Unbolt our hearts to love

For as pain pours forth from our eyes
His eye sees every one who cries
While we are weary, while we weep
From within us deep cries unto deep

The ones who for his lovingkindness are thirsty
The ones who trust in His good mercy
Their death is precious in the eye of the Lord
Now unbolt our hearts to let in Your Word.
Unbolt our hearts to love
Help us to see with the eye of the Lord.

Anthony Foster
April 7, 2008

Revelation 7:1
Ps 56:8; Job 16:20

Don Carson quote (for my own sake)

“If our suffering unbolts our own heart to allow freer entrance by the Word of God, it also unbolts our heart to allow freer flow outward of empathetic love.” D. A. Carson in How Long, O Lord? I purchased this book one week to the day before Mama Smith’s death. This is yet another tender mercy of the Lord, I think.

Divine works of art....

C. S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain wrote:
We are, not metaphorically but in very truth, a Divine work of art, something that God is making, and therefore something with which He will not be satisfied until it has a certain character. Here again we come up against what I have called the ‘intolerable compliment’. Over a sketch made idly to amuse a child, an artist may not take much trouble: he may be content to let it go even though it is not exactly as he meant it to be. But over the great picture of his life—the work which he loves, though in a fashion, as intensely as a man loves a woman or a mother a child—he will take endless trouble—and would, doubtless, thereby give endless trouble to the picture if it were sentient. One can imagine a sentient picture, after being rubbed and scraped and recommenced for the tenth time, wishing that it were only a thumbnail sketch whose making was over in a minute. In the same way, it is natural for us to wish that God had designed us for a less glorious and less arduous destiny; but then we are wishing not for more love but for less.

Time off

Taking some time away as Mama Smith has passed on to be with her Lord. Pray for us...

Content Tagging

What are tags and why are they important?

A Heart Beating Somewhere Between Factivity and Possibility

Digital Image (From Sculpture, Plasma and Laser Displays by the Artist), 11 by 19 inches. March 2008.

The Joy of Your Presence

Oh Lord my God, I will seek you
I will seek you in the morning
Oh Lord my God, I will worship you
I will lift my hands in devotion
I will bow down in praise
I will pursue you for all of my days

Here in the joy of Your presence
Here in the place where you are revealed
Encountering your suffering
For there my wounds are healed

For all my days
For all my days
I will worship you
As a sacrifice of praise
For all my days
For all my days
I will I will worship
In my wilderness always.

For only You are worthy
To my Master I belong
In this slavery there is freedom
In this freedom is a song

Anthony Foster
April 1, 2008

Creativity and Cruciformity

Creativity can kill you- it must be married to the ethical and moral aspects of the imago Dei in order to form a balanced life. It must be laid down on the altar before the Lord. In the creative endeavor we model god-likeness and this can destroy a created being if used for self-aggrandizement. I have seen it get out of balance in my observations of artists. Talented people tend to get hung up on elevating the value of affirmation, and it is especially irksome if masked with false deprecation. This is just another form of self-focus. You cannot own that which was given to you by God- it is on loan to be a stewardship. The imagination frees us to be humble.What we as artists must get "hung up" on is cruciformity (the title of the image here)- delighting in becoming more like our master and conformed to His image.

Ben Stein

/>Here is theblogsite for Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. I attended a pre- release viewing of it today, and I must say it was very effective. The documentary clipped along and Ben Stein drew the viewer in with his logical pursuit of the pertinent questions. It will be in theaters April 18th- go see it!