Timothy J. Pruitt's Blog, page 113
March 22, 2022
March 21, 2022
Six Days From A Miracle
March 21, 2019, by now we had ran a rollercoaster of emotions. Ashley and I had expected our baby the first Wednesday, but then it looked like it would definitely happen the next Wednesday, it hadn’t. The day after we were confused, disheartened, and holding onto hope at the same time. We didn’t realize we were now six days from seeing our son.
A flood of memories come back as you relive it. Especially all of the blessings God gave us during the time of waiting. Waiting is hardly ever easy, but harder if you’ve waited for a long time, and we had. Of course now the waiting makes the reality of it all sweeter.
Looking back on the waiting, I remember being so homesick in Arizona. At first it was interesting, but the longer we were there, I didn’t want to see another palm tree, cactus, or move into another corner of Phoenix. It felt like we traveled to every suburb they had in that big city.
We still had some moves ahead of us, the sweetest being the day Nicholas was born, and the day we all got on the plane to come home. Thinking of the word wait, I can’t help but think of the word weight.
They’re spelled differently, and technically mean different things, but someone who’s been there will tell you, there is heaviness to waiting, and that’s not a bad thing. Usually a quality made product, has some weight and wait to it.
It takes time to produce something valuable, and there is a sturdiness to something well crafted. Whatever, or whoever you’re waiting for, don’t view the weight of the waiting as a burden. Consider it this way, both will reflect its value when it arrives, an it will right on time. Our Nicholas who will turn three in six days, is proof God’s miracles are worth every moment!
The Most High
Psalms 83:1-3 (ESV)
1 O God, do not keep silence; do not hold your peace or be still, O God!
2 For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads.
3 They lay crafty plans against your people; they consult together against your treasured ones.
This was the last of the eleven Psalms written by Asaph, a Seer to King David, and conductor of song. The interesting thing about this, as he was a Prophet and a musician, is the way he sets the pace for this Psalm. It booms with a call to God, and the threats of a conspiracy.
Asaph explains that the enemies of God are making a noise, and making plans against His people. Notice, he did not say they were making plans against God, but when you attack the children of God, you aren’t just attacking a people, by doing so they were attacking God.
As a child of God this so encourages me, to know when the enemy picks a fight with me, He’s not just attacking me. We serve a God Who stands up for HIs people in every battle. No matter how hard the attack, no matter how much the enemy of our soul desires to destroy us, God is for us.
Before we approach the spiritual, let’s return to what Asaph knew about God’s physical abilities. He knew that in God’s arsenal were the plagues of Egypt, the Red Sea and the Jordan parting, the ground opening up at the prayer of Moses, and the destruction of Jericho’s walls with Joshua. He knew about the hailstones in the battle to take the promised land.
He knew about God’s ability to slay lions, bears, and giants, but he also knew about God’s greater arsenal. He knew about God’s anointing, for he was anointed. He knew that the anointing of God would keep you in those times when you were in despair, and had questions.
He knew that God would send the right words to you at the very moment that the enemy whispered in your ear. Asaph knew that praise and worship lifts the spirit, and lifts us higher. In short, he knew that no matter what form the enemy took, God would do more than counter it.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (ESV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
The Lord Of hosts is a God of battles. He can fight a giant or a whisper, the whispers that come to our mind being even more deadly than Goliath. Yet just as Goliath lay dead on a battlefield, so will any thought we bring to The Lord Jesus. Paul would later say we are given the ability to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.
Asaph means gatherer, He knew what it was like to be gathered by God to a calling and a Ministry. Asaph knew what it was like for his sorrows and questions to be gathered by God to receive an answer of joy. Asaph knew that we all gather before God for Him to fight for us.
If you are in a battle today, though you may feel all alone, please know you are not. You may not see The One between you and the enemy, but I promise you He is there! David saw Him by faith when he told Goliath basically, paraphrasing of course, you’re big, but He’s bigger!
What is against us, whether a whisper or a giant, can not take a form that is too small or large for God to deal with. To the whispers of the enemy, God can counter in a still small voice. When the enemy screams loudly against us, roaring as if He were a lion, The Lion of the tribe of Judah has a voice that is as loud as many waters.
I won’t right it all here, but I hear The Man Of God in my mind recounting God’s ability to fight for us. It usually began with He’s The Wheel In The Middle Of The Wheel, meaning among other things, God keeps everything turning, rolling towards our completion and victory.
Psalms 83:18 (KJV)
18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH,
art the most high over all the earth.
Asaph said, God they’re plotting against you, because they’re attacking your children. God’s answer in the last verse, again through Asaph was this. God only allowed them to make a plot, to reveal His dominion, reassuring His people that God is Most High over all the earth. Nothing can grow so big that God is not higher, and can bring it down. The enemy can’t form an attack so lowly and disgusting that God can’t reach down to save us!
March 20, 2022
Sketch Penguin Mr Farrell
A quick sketch of The Penguin played by Colin Farrell.
March 19, 2022
The Three Possums A Children’s Story
My guess is, you’ve never heard the story of The Three Possums. Oh, I know you’ve heard the story about the three pigs, and Red Riding Hood’s Grandma, and all the trouble that wolf got in. I would guess though you didn’t hear how a family of possums all most finished him off.
A few days after the last incident, the wolf all bandaged up, don’t ask, decided he’d never eat a pig or a Grandmother again. On his morning walk, he spied in a nearby tree what he thought would be a quick supper, a family of possums.
They were hanging side by side in the big oak, Momma was knitting a sweater. Baby Possum was playing with his rattle, and Poppa was using a piece of straw as a toothpick. That old wolf decided to try and eat the baby first, but you don’t mess with a Momma’s baby!
When that old Wolf came out of the bush behind the tree, she flung one of those knitting needles at him. It landed in his back, and he hollered loudly, running off to get it out.
Angrier now, he decided to try and eat the Momma Possum next. When he came out of another bush near the tree, Papa Possum took a match and set fire to the piece of straw, flinging it at that old wolf’s tail. A tail that was already partially burnt off from the pigs adventure.
It caught fire, well like straw itself, and he yelled. He high tailed it to the old creek nearby to cool off what was left. Now the wolf was really angry, but the possums just hung there still rocking back and forth.
This time he was going for Papa! Now family is important, and you don’t mess with a baby Possum’s hero. He took that rattle of his, the one topped with a rock, and hit the tree he was in, near the old Owl’s hole.
That old Owl didn’t like someone waking him up in the day time so he asked what was going on. The little baby possum pointed at the wolf, in mid flight, and that old Owl tore into the wolf. The wolf ran screaming, the Owl chasing and plucking hair with beak and talons the entire way.
FInally the wolf got away about three miles down the road, but he didn’t stop. That wolf didn’t even run back to get his clothes, maybe that’s why people think the woodsman finished him off in the Red Riding Hood business.
That day that old Wolf became a businessman. He decided he would only eat hot dogs the rest of his life. He started selling them, and became rich enough to buy whatever he wanted. Yet, no matter how rich he got, he never tried to eat a possum, a pig, or a Grandmother ever again. So everybody, even a tattered old wolf turned hot dog saleswolf, lived happily every after, bandages and all.
March 18, 2022
Art Unboxed Mixing Payne’s Gray
Recently I wrote about my search for a true red. I’m happy to report I was successful, and also added two other hues to my palette, which expanded my reds. I also replaced some blues with other blues, changed the purple completely, removed a yellow, added a green, and adjusted my browns. The color I wanted to add, which I did not yet have, was Payne’s Gray.
For those who enjoy mixing all colors from the three primaries, I admire your skill. However, I both enjoy convenience colors, and I like knowing how to mix colors. After buying a few reds, I did not want to spend any more money. Also, my paintbox holds twenty six half pans, it’s designed for twenty four, but I was able to add two more.
All this leads me to the little watercolor in the title. I should mention, I’ve mixed colors for years now, but I did so for a particular painting, never paying a huge amount of attention to an intentional color before. As I’ve wanted Payne’s Gray on my Palette for some time, but faced the roadblock of a full paint box, I decided to make it.
To do this, I mixed my Prussian Blue and my Black, yes I do have a black on my palette. Some don’t care for having convenience colors, but I enjoy having a black and a white on my palette. If you want to mix all colors you can make black using blue and brown. White of course is an opaque, which I do not mind.
I mention all of this to say that I thoroughly enjoyed mixing my own Payne’s Gray. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t use a convenience color, but it’s enjoyable to learn something new. It also allowed me to practice tonal painting, and values with the little watercolor in Payne’s Gray.
I have a gray on my watercolor palette, but it’s a warm gray. My favorite color is blue, so I lean to the blues, white, yellows, and greens. Ironically it was finding a true red that started this little experiment. Which is itself not unusual, Prussian Blue was discovered when a chemist was trying to make a particular red.
As most watercolorists will tell you, you can’t mention Payne’s Gray without mentioning William Payne. I will also mention, as he was from Great Britain, they would spell it Payne’ Grey. Gray being the American spelling, and Grey the British spelling.
Many of the techniques that watercolorists use today, including blotting out with a rag or paper towel are tied to William Payne, as well as the color named after him. It reminds me that even in art, we are built on a foundation and stories laid by others. As the writer put it so beautifully, no man is an island.
It’s fitting that I end this post then with an old man on the sea. This forty six year old is still looking to new horizons, things to learn, and adventures to explore, I would encourage you to do the same. Whether it’s in painting or in life, mix up things a little, and pursue not merely something new, but something worth striving towards. It will open up a new spectrum of opportunity to each of us.
