By the creators of
FLYING GLORY AND THE
HOUNDS OF GLORY…
INSIDE CHRISTIAN’S
LIFE
Growing up in the
Christian faith
through an artist’s eyes
CURRENT STORY: "Unto Others"
Posted: December 30, 2007
It was an unusually cold
Southern California afternoon as Christian Davidson and R.J. Young
walked down the street bundled in large jackets. Over his shoulder
Christian carried a courier style satchel which held his sketchpad and
pencils that he never went anywhere with out.
“Over here, this should be a good place,” Christian said and headed for
the front of the city library.
“I don’t get it,” R.J. followed as she stuffed her hands deep into her
pockets attempting to get warmer. “It’s so cold out and you want to
draw.”
“I like to watch people, and sometimes God shows me something that I
must capture on paper. Besides, Aroon and Tash will be along any time
now, and this a good enough place for them to spot us.”
“I guess, but couldn’t we go inside and get warm—“
Just then, someone pushed past R.J., nearly knocking her over.
Instinctively she grabbed her side in protection, and began to massage
her arm. She watched as the man kept running, not even looking back,
until he vanished around a corner.
“Are you okay?” Christian asked in honest concern.
“Sheesh, what a jerk! No one ever thinks about others.”
“Let’s sit over here,” Christian guided her to the library steps. After
they sat, he pulled out his pad and pencils and began sketching.
R.J. watched on in disbelief.
“What’re you doing?” she asked, disgruntled.
“You know, R.J., some people do care about others, and try to look out
for them. Even for people they don’t know. Sometimes they’re
called ‘Good Samaritans,’ but that’s not entirely accurate, as a
Samaritan represents a particular tribe of people while anyone can have
that kindness with in them.” Christian said as he sketched away and a
picture began to take form. “The Bible has a parable about it.”
“You mean a lecture,” R.J. grumbled. Christian ignored her and went on
with his story.
“An expert in the law had asked who his neighbor was after Jesus had
said that every man must love his neighbor like he would himself. To
explain, Jesus told a story about a man who had been beaten and robbed
and left in the street. A priest and another man passed with out doing
anything to help him. Then another man came along and stopped to help,
he was a Samaritan. You must realize that a Samaritan was a disliked
foreigner in the land he was traveling. Kind of like Mexicans who come
over the boarder illegally. The Samaritan took a big chance helping the
wounded man, but he did and bandaged the wounds and even took him to an
inn and spent the night with him.
Christian finished his sketch and held it up for R.J. It showed a man
handing two coins to an innkeeper, as they stood over the sick bed of a
wounded man.
“The next morning, the Samaritan paid the innkeeper, asking him to take
care of the wounded man. He also promised that when he returned, any
more expenses would be taken care of as well.”
"I'll bet he never came back," scoffed R.J. "And the guy running
the place got stuck paying for everything.”
“Let me remind you, if the Samaritan wanted to be dishonest, he could
have snuck off in the night, or never helped the man in the first
place.”
R.J. stopped and thought about that, but before she could respond
Christian’s adoptive brother Aroon and their best friend Tash Paul came
running up.
"Did you see what just happened?" Aroon said, out of breath.
"Sorry. We were kind of busy talking about the story of the Good
Samaritan," Christian said sheepishly. "What's going on?"
“An old lady standing at the bus stop had her purse stolen and was
knocked down.
She could have been hit by the bus. There were other people at
the stop, but none of them did anything for her. Some left as if they
didn’t want to be seen near her, and others got on the bus.” Task
started.
“Before we could get across the street to help, a car pulled up and a
woman started to help the lady and then called the police. There
wasn’t muchwe could do, but stayed to report what we had seen,” Aroon
said finishing the tale, “sorry we’re late.”
“No problem,” Christian said. “It gave me time to tell R.J. how the
Bible can be applied to everyday life So, what do you think now,
R.J.?”
He looked over to find R.J. shivering, looking up the street where the
man had run only minutes earlier. She looked back at Christian and
pulled her coat up tighter.
"I say it's one amazing coincidence and right now I'm more interested
in getting warm."
“Sounds to me that you at least accept the idea that a parable is just
as applicable in real life today,” Christian said as he put his
sketchpad and pencil away. “But as to whether you really believe
it can be so, only your heart can tell you that.”
“Maybe we should find something warm to drink,” Christian said as he
stood and slug his satchel over his shoulder once more.
“Sounds like a plan,” Tash said. “Lead on.”
Together, the four friends walked down the street into the city.
___________________________
“Therefore,
as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility,
meekness,
longsuffering; bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if
anyone
has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you
also must
do. But above all these things, put on
love, which is the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you
were
called in one body; and be thankful. Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and
admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace
in your
heart to the Lord. And whatever you do
in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God the
Father through
him.” --Colossians 3: 12-17, NKJV
Meet Christian Davidson, an average teenager who’s not part of the ‘in’ crowd, strong in his belief about Jesus, and heeds his greater calling to be an artist. Having said that, he’s still not quite clear yet on exactly where those artistic talents are meant to be put to use. Along the way, Christian befriends others – both believing in Jesus and outside of the faith -- and serves as a sounding board for helping others through the struggles of growing up, while sometimes put to the test himself.
n
Christian’s adventures are available in
various
ways:
o Prose Stories
o Black and White webcomics drawing on five years of experience as the creators of FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY
o … and more!
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Christian’s adventures can be downloaded from
here FREE for use in ministry:
o Provided proper credit to the authors is maintained
o That you clearly print all copyright statements on artwork and story reprints
o Not redistributed elsewhere for profit in ANY form
o With the understanding that any item may be pulled from this site at any time and that any free distribution rights are revoked when this occurs
For more information, email
iclstory (at) insidechristianslife.com
INSIDE CHRISTIAN’S LIFE
Copyright 2004-2008 Shannon Muir and Kevin Paul
Shaw Broden
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