There, that comic should be up now. Odam is Jamie Norwood, and the guy in the green shirt is Janos, aka Chris Tatum. (In khakis, of course.)

A question for you. It has been said to me that my second-person narration is strange. Do you find it confusing in any way, friends? Irritating? I could change to first person if the current style is making it difficult to understand. I liked doing things this way because it was different... but defying convention isn't always the best way to do art.

Speaking of art, I'm painting a mural. The church asked me to design one for the college room, so here it is:



Simple and bold. I like it because I won't have to spend much time doing it. Big blocks of color make for an easy paint-by-number. Those words are all names of God. Alpha and Omega, Emmanuel, I AM, Theos, El Shaddai, and (of course!) Elohim. (If you haven't figured it out by now, Elohim is related to my comic. It is why the world is named Elo, and is also the name of Elo's deity.) I'm going to be up there painting most of Saturday. I'll take pictures of the real mural once its finished.

I'm actually enthusiastic about doing this because the piece I've created doesn't make any kind of statement about faith. It's not trying to remind you of a Bible story or show you the formula of salvation. (There used to be a mural in the youth room that showed the steps to getting to heaven. Can you believe that?!). My mural is just reminding you of the fact that God has many names. It speaks to everyone, not just people in this one church. Maybe not even to people of this one religion; those are Hebrew names afterall! Ultimately, I want this mural to be something people can look at no matter what mood they're in, and feel good about it.

It is my gift to that church. I do not much care for the way they treat people sometimes, but that's no reason I can't work to help them see their youth for what they really are: the future of faith. Not the downfall of it.  ¶ 21:57