| ///Flourishing Men's Ministry I am thrilled to be apart of the men's ministry at my church called Beyond Valor. Luke and Heath have done a tremendous job building this ministry up into what is has become. I am very grateful to them and to my pastor for helping them. From personal experience, this is a great ministry to help men become more like Christ through Bible study, prayer, scripture memorization, fellowship and accountability. This is also a ministry that can be started at your church or with a group of men. You can go to the website to learn more about Beyond Valor and to contact someone for more info. |
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| ///Who are you praying to? This morning's surfing brought me to a particular story with a nugget buried beneath. It seems that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, was involved in a motorcycle accident and was seriously injured. This is a young athlete with his career ahead of him with an impressive start already under his belt. Just in his second year as a professional football player, he led his team to win the Superbowl. Quite a feat. But that's not the point that I'm trying to get at. It's not even that this up-and-coming, very talented, potential seeping out from the seams quarterback decides to ride around on his bike without the notion that protecting his noggin might be a good idea. Or the fact that his moxie was turned to "told you so"s. Nope. My point lies in this statement: Steelers president Art Rooney II said the team was "encouraged by the early reports from the medical team" at the hospital. "I am sure Ben knows that we are praying for his complete recovery." It seems convenient that when terrorists crash their planes into American buildings, people are killed and displaced by hurricanes and tornadoes, and when a young quarterback with a huge contract and the potential to win even more titles and rings crashes into a larger moving vehicle while not wearing his helmet, this is when it is appropriate to say our prayers. To bring out our pseudo humility, a throw up our concerns and desires. But who are we praying to? It seems funny that in a country founded on the principles of the Bible and with the presence and nature of God woven into our very being, that we only turn to Him when we need something. Like a spoiled child in a toy store. We know that God is the only one who could keep us safe after 9/11. He is the only one who can truly give comfort and peace to the families who have lost loved ones and have lost everything. And He is the only one who can bring back to health the ignorant young quarterback. But we can learn from this, if we wish to. First of all, God gave us a brain that sits inside our noggin. We have the ability to use it. The intelligence of the Creator lives inside us and when we lack the knowledge to know what to do, all we have to do is ask. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 When it comes down to it, prayer is powerful. God is a merciful god and I believe that He does hear the prayers of those who throw their prayers up at Him but will turn their backs to Him the moment things go back to normal. But there is a better way. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16 A personal relationship with Him through daily prayer and Bible reading is the start to become that righteous man or woman. To be righteous, we must seek out the One who is holy. |
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| /// Summer is over. So to speak. School has started and that means summer is over, at least for students. I haven't been in school for many years but there is something about the summer drifting away into the past. It just makes you sad. I enjoy the warmer temperatures and then you have the whole "I still haven't gotten to that one thing that I wanted to do this summer." Time is slipping away.
This year we will be going from five at home to 3 1/2. My oldest goes to school all day while my middle will be doing half days. Schools days, school daze. |
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| /// Okay, I'm 30 now. What does that mean for me? I don't know. I don't feel any older than when I was the young age of 29. There have been some self-imposed "goals" that I had established to be completed or at least in progress by now. Few have been achieved. But God is beginning to stir again. I don't know where He will lead but I am holding on for the ride. His rides are usually very exciting. Like when you were a kid and your dad would throw you around and give you piggy back rides. He's my dad of dads. So I can't wait to see what He has for me.
It's been 2 months since last time. So what has happened? At the end of January I had 3 pictables over a week and a half period of time. Very cool. Then in Feb. I got a call from Sue at Firehouse Underground in SD. She wanted me to come back to paint for their 3rd anniversary in March. You can read about it here. Then I felt God leading me to do an all in one service with an Easter theme. I did it on Maundy Thursday night. It was a good night but I know more of how Satan attacks. He nailed me while on stage but God showed me afterwards that when I gave it up to him that He was in control. The path ahead is dim but I can feel God moving. It's an awesome feeling. I'll try to share more often. Maybe even in new ways too. I'm considering using this space or a similar one to share my spiritual journey that is getting a good kick in the pants right now. We'll see. Let me know if you would read it. Drop me a line. If there is anyone reading this... |
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| /// I finally got to present the pictable at chapel at the college that I went to many years back. It was a great time but a little weird. Being on the other side of the chapel service and in a completely different environment. I attended chapel at the sports complex but they now have it in their theatre in the Fine Arts building. I was nervous going into it because of the whole meaning of what I was doing but God brought me through it. I think I spoke well as I offered up my testimony and explanation of the painting. It was a great experience. | ||
| /// It might be a little late for the party but I have put it off just a little bit. Here's my year in review. It was an amazing year for many aspects. So much happened and by hindsight, I can see God working in my life. For those reasons, I just have to share my 04.
January The start of the year also marked the last few steps of our anticipation of our son. My wife was in the last full month of pregnancy. She was miserable but it would be worth it. February Here he comes. Xavier Phoenix Damotte was born on the 9th. His arrival marks the tipping of the scales in the favor of the males in the Damotte family. Now it was 3 girls to 2 guys. He was fondly welcomed into our family and into the month of birthdays. Our nephew Braden came into this world to help add to the overwhelming February birthdays. March After Xavier was born, we decide that our procreation activities should see their end. I went to see the doc to schedule the "V". During the visit I shared some concerns and after some investigation and tests, they found 2 masses on one of my testicles. And I found that out on my birthday. Happy Birthday! April Easter Sunday night I got to paint the Christ Face during the Lord's Supper at a local church. A friend of mine set it up. It was a great experience. An appropriate time and place for that pictable. Due to the oncoming surgery, I felt the need to try to resolve and reconcile a couple of relationships that had been broken. These two meetings happened the week before my surgery. The first was with my old boss. We were close friends when I worked for him. It was a unique and special situation. I had never connected with someone, especially an employer, in that way. When I left that job to start Chez Seigneur, things went downhill and I wanted to get back to where things were before. That meeting went well but the next wouldn't. It was with my father. Long story to short, he was making many bad decisions and was heading down the wrong path. I had talked to him before about it but he always blew me off. This time was no different. When he was confronted with the sin in his life, he shrugged it off. Even the presence of my pastor had no effect on him. It was not a good time. May Our family joins Prince Avenue Baptist Church! June Amie's sister, Sara, weds Lance Jones in a barefooted ceremony. The girls were barefoot. July A few weeks later Amie and I went to camp. We helped out a friend who was running the youth camp. This was actually my first time at camp. I was brought there to do a pictable but God had other plans. It was truly a humbling experience. The kids in our "family" broke my heart. They were dealing with some pretty tough things. I gained a new understanding for them while also loving them. They were great! I also met and got to know Byron Keith here. He was the camp pastor and worship leader. This relationship would open up other doors. August Oh wait, I did get to paint at my alma mater–Hannibal-LaGrange College. It was during a service welcoming the students and parents to campus. September I got to finish off the month by going back on stage with Byron when he played at HLG. This time I did two pictables during their set. October November I got to paint at my mom and brother's church. And a custom pictable at that. My parents finalize their divorce. December The last of the Cookson clan, Beth, marries Steven Forman. The pictable gets the opportunity to live out the other great celebration of the year–Christmas. I was commissioned to paint the Christmas 3 for a Christmas Eve service in Quincy. It was an awesome service and experience. Praise God! Christmas was a blur of a few days spent with family in 3 locations roughly 2 1/2 hours away from each other. It was good to see everyone and spend what little time we had together. The first anniversary of the pictable ministry was appropriately spent at the same event that launched the ministry–Illinois Youth Encounter. This year we went from 3 paintings to 8 pieces. Two in each session and two done graffiti style in between sessions. At the end, all of the pieces came together to form Christ. The event was another great experience with the ministry. 2004 was a great year. Quite a whirlwind. But I am looking forward to what God has in store for this year. |
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| /// Do you ever have a problem turning off your brain when it is time to go to sleep? I have this problem quite often. I can be extremely tired but the moment that I lay down, my brain goes into over drive. It may be the fact that I am too busy to stop and ponder the things of the world during the waking hours. It's a difficult thing to turn off your brain. It can be half an hour to many hours before my noggin will stop ticking. Then there are the times that I let things creep into my bedtime thought process that shouldn't be there. It's a struggle within myself and usually I am only the one that is aware of what is going on. Sleep without thinking. That is the goal. | ||
| /// A simple email ignited a long diatribe to a close friend. Emails for me have an emotional history. Usually I pour my heart and soul into communicating my feelings and then the fuse has be lit. An explosion is usually coming. The other day I penned such an email. Luckily for me the person on the other end took it well and for the reason it was sent.
Nonetheless, communication is truly what makes relationships in this world of ours. Email is a great convienence but is sometimes used as a crutch to talk to someone without having to get a direct, immediate response. We don't have to read the reply and that makes us happy to know that we can talk and not have to listen. We are becoming lazy. Pick up the phone or go find the person the next time you need to talk about something... myself included. |
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| /// Busy. Very busy. I can't get everything done busy. If I were any busier, I'd be dead busy.
The last one fits me very well right now. Unfortunately. I hope I can make it through this month and be able to enjoy Christmas. We'll see. More to come... |
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| /// Christmas trees. The subject du jour at our house right now. Growing up, we always got a real Christmas tree. We would go out as a family, tread through rows and rows of pine trees and cut down "our" tree. It was a tradition.
We've been married for now nine Christmases and each year we have had a real, pine smelling tree. That is until last year when a tight budget prevented us from acquiring our tradition. This year we were going to go back to getting our own tree but we paid the price. Not only are real trees expensive for a three week visit in our house but the tree farm had a lousy selection. So we now have a full year to find a tree farm with cheaper trees and a wider selection. Good luck! We did get to decorate the tree with our ever expanding, massive collection of decorations. The girls loved it and we had fun creating a mess in the living room. Well at least they did! |
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| /// So I added this page to my start-up files. This way it will come up every time after I start-up. You will then be tortured with more random banter revolving around my all-so-exciting life. Let's begin with today.
I'm tired. Last night I stayed up way too long. I downloaded over 7 hours of music from band websites. All of which is legal. I first hit the links page at Aireline's site. First of all, I am completely consumed with Aireline music. Two Voices is simply... I don't know what to say that could adequately describe it. Check it out. Their links page has other bands that they like/are friends with that you might like. This is a good way to expand your music with similar music. This is what I did. I also hit Cool Hand Luke's site. I don't really have too much of their new stuff but their first album got me hooked. From all of this search and updating of my site, I decided to look at LifeLight's site to see if there were any photos of when I was up there with Byron. I didn't think that there would be but I was hopeful. The first photo that I found was of Byron. It's encouraging to see your photo on another site especially one like this. After I looked through the vast photo gallery from the fest, I found a pic with me painting during the first set of the weekend. Byron was in the shot too. WhoooHooo! (This is me screaming here at home. My wife came in wondering what I was doing.) I was in a photo on their site not once but twice... well kind of. The second one was of a finished Christ Face. My night was made. I then tried to see if there were any photos from my other festival experience of the year–Cornerstone. I hit their site and found nothing. But I did start looking at all of the artists there and found a lot that I was interested in. When you are at a large fest like Cstone, you can't physically see every show or band. It is also a little overwhelming to try to get to know that many bands before hand to know which ones you might want to go see. I am usually on music overload by day two or three. But this artists page with links to their site was helpful because you go check out their music. Anyway I love music. I love art. I love God. And when those all come together, I am in heaven on earth. |
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| /// LifeLight Fest pic and another. Kind of makes me feel legitimate | ||
| /// HOLY KEY-RAP!! It's been awhile. I think it is a new record, not like there was much to go by in the first place. Almost five months. That makes this section worthy of being here. Anyway, much has been going on. A lot in five months. I have probably forgotten most of it anyway. Since July? I helped out with a youth camp for my bud Cal and was a very rewarding experience. Then again I was thoroughly humbled and broken by the people who I got to know and what they have to deal with on a daily basis. I am nothing as are my problems in relation. Some very strong youth! I got to also teach a class on arts in the church and in the world. It was a good starter for me to begin communicating what God has laid on my heart. I also got to paint three pictables. One for class, one during a talent show and one during a concert with Byron Keith. That helped get me into the next big event. In September, I went out with Byron and his band for two separate trips during his tour. Overall it was fun and a learning experience. During one show, I had to paint the Christ Face in about 7 minutes due to many circumstances. Since that time I have been getting increasingly busy and I am at the moment booked solid with work. A very good thing! Oh yeah, Chez Seigneur celebrated its first anniversary/birthday on September 23rd. It feels very good to get through the first year. Now on to number two! Due to being so busy with design work, the ministry hasn't been focused on. I needed the break. But it is starting to get hot again. Many things are brewing! One of them is the Youth Encounter again this year. This one has a lot of potential. I can't wait. We celebrated the birthdays of both of my daughters and my wife. Happy Birthday ladies! We just got back from a week at my mom's house for Thanksgiving. The brought forth the finalization of my parents divorce. This has been coming for the last three years. I might share more on this later. Overall, I am very busy, very excited about what's coming up and what's in my head, and glad that God is a loving, merciful, patient God. I love and give all praise to Him!! |
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| /// So I am checking one of my favorite sites and what do I happen upon. Third Day, Jeremy Camp and Mercy Me on the front page on Apple's site promoting the countdown to 100,000,000 songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. Very cool! I was blown away! Not by the fact that they could be there but that they were put there by someone at Apple. Very cool! Bravo to these artists! Now the rest of us need to get out and do the same in our circle of influence. |     |
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| /// I got back last night or early this morning from the Cornerstone Fest. What an awesome time. The ministry was the main focus of the week and we got a lot of feedback. I did say "we." I had six guys help out. Some were there all week and others came when they could. I've got good friends.
The weather was pretty good. We got a great campsite right next to the main road so that when I painted people could watch. The bands were excellent for the most part. Some left much to be expected but I won't go into that. The musical highlight of the week was Saturday. After a rough start on the Main Stage, Blindside came on and rocked the house. This was my first time seeing them live. Then P.O.D. came on and took it one step higher. The flame boxes helped heat up the rain drenched crowd. The night ended with the much anticipated Demon Hunter concert. What a night. Other highlights worthy of mentioning-Newsboys worship service, Jeremy Camp apologizing to the crowd, David Crowder band, Skillet, painting on stage with Zippy Josh and hearing Brian Hurtgen playing his guitar. |
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| /// I am the world's worst blog writer because I can't get around to writing more often than every two and a half months. At least it gives you a good laugh... whoever is listening.
Catch up time. The biggest thing in my life right now... or at least it is top three, is that fact that I do have cancer. Yep, I figured that I would get it just not before 30. They found out that is was indeed cancer after it was removed. Good news: you had it removed. Bad news: it's cancer. Testicular cancer to be specific. No I am going through 3 weeks of radiation. I started today and threw up four times until they gave me some pill to take. All better now! Moral of the story-you are never too young to get cancer. We should all be aware of it and be on the lookout. See a doc on a regular basis. Now I have to make sure that it doesn't popup somewhere else. The pictable ministry has many open doors ahead. The one that I will share is that I have a booth at the Cornerstone Festival. This could be huge! But only if it is a God thing. He is the one and only to take this any further. I want to stay out of His way. If you are going to be there, stop by the booth and say that you read this on my site and that you deserve a prize or something. Who knows I might just have some type of prize or something. (No guarantees.) Any way come see me and the guys who are helping me. Some great guys too. I have to go now. See you next quarter... Hope not that long before my next entry. We'll see. |
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| /// Instead of two months, I only waited two days this time. Last night I got to experience my first pinewood derby race in... a long time. I had competed in a few when I was in Cub Scouts many years ago and then some while I was in RAs (Royal Ambassadors).
I put all of this time into carving and painting my car and then it barely got down the track. It was actually under my oldest daughters name, Gabriella. I also had the fun task of creating the brackets for all of the races. This wasn't your typical March Madness bracket. Nope. We were going double elimination and as I was creating the brackets, more cars continued to pour in. So the loser's bracket was a sore sight. After it was all said and done, it was a fun evening of food, fellowship and pinewood cars flying off the tracks-literally. Nostalgia is good. |
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| /// Yep. It's been two months since my last entry. And this one is for you Cal. I am hoping to work into my schedule some time every day to post something. Actually I need to add content to all of the gaping holes in the rest of the site.
So what has been going on in the last two months? I have been pushing my new ministry, working on different projects, our son was born, I found out that I might have cancer and my birthday is right around the corner. Not much. There are a few things that I wanted to get out. I have wanted to draw attention to some people. In January, video footage was shot for the pictable video. I finally got the short version put together and the long is in the works. My friends at Spaceman X Media Productions in Quincy shot it for me out at the college–Hannibal-LaGrange College. It was a freezing day but we got about an hour of footage to use. Thanks Peter and Rachel! And check out their great short film the climactic death of dark ninja. Then there's the all-talented J.R. Top. What a talent! I love this guy's music. I hooked up with him at the Cornerstone Fest a few years ago and just recently we got to hang out. Not only is he a talented musician, he designs his own stuff, he can drink a gallon of tea in one sitting and he's single. Two words: Sweetwater Abeline. Then there's Cal. I won't go into any detail because the only person who will read this besides me already knows him. Because he is Cal. Hi Cal! But in case some unfortunate person wanders in here unknowingly check out his blog. I think that is it for now. Oh... I hate salespeople. Especially telemarketers and the ones who want to come to your home to sell you something. I hate advertising and marketing. But you are what you hate! |
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| /// Real situation. Phone rings. I pick it up. Small pause. "Hello this is ------ from -------- and this is a recorded message..."
I hate when companies use prerecorded messages to interrupt my life. It's bad enough when it's a telemarketer but it's all the rage now to use an impersonal recording of a telemarketer's voice to get me to do something. Is this really going to work? AAAHHHHH!! I am currently burning more of my "candle" than I usually do in regards to work. My plate is FULL. I now have too many projects to work on. And I am not talking about paying client work if one of my clients is reading this. You can always be assured that there is not too much paying work. I haven't been able to say "No" yet. Anyway I have so much that I want to do and not enough time. Then there are two little girls who need my time and of course my wife. And in a few weeks there will be a little guy to focus on too. I can't wait! Bring it on. Life is too short to sleep it away. Stay tuned... |
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| /// The new year has started off with high expectations and a lot of possibilities. I spent the last few days of 2003 at the Illinois Youth Encounter. A brand new ministry was launched with overwhelming interest_the pictable. These are paintings done in a worship setting to give the worshipers a visual worship experience. To help tie the message with a visual image. I painted three different pictables at the Encounter while Satellite Soul played for the worship times. To say that it was a wonderful time of worship is a massive understatement. Truly great time getting in touch with God and feeling Him move.
Yesterday I painted another pictable at a church in Jerseyville, IL. The setting was different but God moved again. It is amazing to see and feel Him touch people. There were professions of faith and rededications. Many tears were shed. Many lives changed. I was glad to be there. God has many great things in store for this year. Hang on. It's going to be a great ride... |
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