<![CDATA[Draw Near

<![CDATA[Draw Near - Blog]]>Sun, 16 Aug 2026 14:10:06 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving]]>Wed, 30 Apr 2025 12:55:02 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/the-sacrifice-of-thanksgiving

"What shall I render to the Lord, for all His benefits toward me?... I will offer up to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving." -Psa. 116:12,17a (Lev 7:12)

The sacrifice of thanksgiving was a variant of the peace offering, similar to the sacrifice of a vow. The difference between the two is, while the sacrifice of a vow could be eaten in more than one day, the sacrifice of thanksgiving had to be consumed on the day it was made. A vow stays in effect, but thanksgiving must be renewed daily. What will be your sacrifice of thanksgiving today?

This drawing is actually a little older drawing, I think a couple of years ago. I didn't really like it, so I never posted it, but it did make a good illustration for this passage, so here it is.

]]><![CDATA[Christ in Me, Not Christ and Me]]>Sat, 01 Feb 2025 16:55:23 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/christ-in-me-not-christ-and-meI got the idea for this from a video clip of Lou Giglio, where he said, "It's not Christ and me, it's Christ in me.
If you watch the process vid, you can see I tried about ten different roots on the left vine, but eventually settled on the simplest one. I experimented a little with background textures, which you can see on the trees and vines if you zoom in. The downside is that it darkened the picture a little more than I realized. But finished, not perfect, right?

]]><![CDATA[More Than Enough]]>Sat, 25 Jan 2025 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/more-than-enoughThis was a one-afternoon drawing, where I got the idea and banged it out with pretty much no break. I had to go back and redraw the manna because my wife said it looked too much like a pot of gold. The rocks were a little bit of a challenge as well. It would have helped to have a reference photo to work from there. I debated whether or not to color this one, but it's much more obvious what everything is in color, so I'm glad I did.

Not only are each of these three pictures explicitly linked to Christ, each represents an unlimited source of grace: There was always more manna, more water, and more healing left after everyone who wanted it was satisfied. Even more, the references to Christ also contain unlimited language. The bread of heaven was given "for the life of the world." The water of life is offered to "all who are thirsty." Christ's lifting up is proclaimed to "draw all men." The pictures Christ has chosen to represent his universal offering illustrate an over-abundance: Grace on grace!

I set this one's process video to music as well. The song is "Come Ye Sinners," performed by The Petersens.

]]><![CDATA[For I Desire the Knowledge of God...]]>Sun, 12 Jan 2025 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/for-i-desire-the-knowledge-of-godThis was a very quick sketch, mostly to refamiliarize myself with Clip Studio, which I've switched back to from Procreate. I like Procreate, but its lack of cross-platform availability is a major thorn for me, and the new(ish) simple mode for Clip Studio on the iPad is fantastic.
The drawing comes from Hosea 6:6—"For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." The style was a little inspired by Jason Brubaker's graphic novelization of the Book of Enoch.
And speaking of inspiration... inspired by my Christmas post, I set this drawing's process video to music as well, but this time it was just some random 15 second clip from Clipchamp's free music library.

]]><![CDATA[Love Came Down]]>Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:00:00 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/love-came-downI was blessed recently in reading an old (1967) Master's thesis by Donald Heinz, "KOSMOS in John." It's a comprehensive exploration of the Greek work "kosmos," or "world." There's a ton of quotable material in the couple of hundred pages, and one of those quotes inspired the Christmas drawing below, along with the process video. I'd argue that the process video is better, because the Jars of Clay song I set it to (Love Came Down at Christmas) is really good. I used AI generated art to generate some ideas, and then did a really loose sketch from that. Originally, I was just doing a light study for fun, but after I finished the black and white version, I decided to splash some washes right over the tones, and it looked pretty good, so I ended up making a post out of it.

]]><![CDATA[Be Transformed]]>Thu, 26 Oct 2023 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/be-transformedThis one was inspired by a Monarch chrysalis we discovered on the side of the house. If you're not familiar with these, they are little, pre-packaged miracles. I strongly suggest you check out Illustra Media's documentary, "Metamorphosis."

I did this from memory, and I wish I hadn't, because it's a little too angular for a monarch caterpillar. Oh well.

]]><![CDATA[Brought To the Feet of Christ]]>Fri, 13 Oct 2023 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/brought-to-the-feet-of-christI love the idea that the Pharisees, who sought to harm this lady in order to attack Christ, inadvertently brought her to the one person who could truly save her.
Process video below.

]]><![CDATA[No Coffee in the Sanctuary?]]>Wed, 04 Oct 2023 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/no-coffee-in-the-sanctuaryI drew this one after a little online brouhaha in which popular speaker John Piper insinuated that people shouldn't be bringing coffee into the sanctuary. To quote, "Can we reassess whether Sunday coffee-sipping in the sanctuary fits? 'Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.' Hebrews 12:28"
Regardless of your opinions on coffee, I fixated on his misuse of the word "sanctuary," an error which might also moderate his views on coffee.

The inspirational source for this was David Dunlap's book, "Hallowed Be Thy Name."

It also inspired this little doodle:

]]><![CDATA[Christ's Love Isn't...]]>Mon, 04 Sep 2023 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/christs-love-isntThis was a little series I did to address some regular charges I hear on social media. It wasn't meant to be provocative so much as just highlight what I feel are misunderstandings or overly simplistic sound bites.
Process vid at bottom.

God's provision of his Son is not wasted: God's provision in Christ wasn't a commercial transaction, but a moral satisfaction that covers every sin ever committed, without limit. (John 1:9, 1 John 2:2)

God's love in Christ isn't reckless. God's provision in Christ is offered to all, but faith is a boundary in which God requires man to humble himself in complete dependence on the gracious person and work of Christ. (John 3:16-18, Ephesians 2:8-9)

God's love in Christ isn't conditioned on acceptance. God offers his provision to all people regardless of whether or not they will respond positively, and all are given enough light to respond in faith, so that all people are without excuse. (John 1:9, John 3:19, Roman 1:18-21)

]]><![CDATA[Do Not Call It Common]]>Tue, 04 Apr 2023 04:00:00 GMThttps://www.drawnear.today/blog/do-not-call-it-commonI spent quite a bit of time on this one, but it was worth it to illustrate the beautiful Tozer quote. You'll notice that I ended up not using the mop bucket and sign. It didn't fit with the aspect ratio restrictions of social media and made the picture look off-balance. In retrospect, I could have just shrunk it a bit and put it behind the custodian, which would have given more context clues to his employment.
The characters of the mother and custodian both came to mind pretty easily, but I struggled to conceptualize a construction worker in a way that didn't require a lot of extra set pieces (like the mop bucket). When I finally thought of a jackhammer, it was one of those, "Oh, duh!" moments.
I received a request to illustrate some gospel literature after I posted this, but at this point I just don't have the time or skill-set for it. Maybe next time, Oasis Vegas.

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