tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post6097836265565010250..comments2024-03-10T10:40:32.319-07:00Comments on Pyromaniacs: Academics: pastor as tour-guidePhil Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00649092052031518426noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-26196808299934865702014-07-26T09:11:21.725-07:002014-07-26T09:11:21.725-07:00Really good, Dan. And I like your "notes"...Really good, Dan. And I like your "notes" sheet.<br /><br />I know the "art" thing was just an illustration, but I couldn't help being reminded of my first visit to the Art Institute of Chicago, AFTER taking an Art Appreciation class at Grand Valley State.<br /><br />I had almost zero interest in art, but that teacher was SO good that he captivated me.<br /><br />He had been EVERYWHERE in the world and taken "slides" [those are projectable photos for you youngins] of thousands of original paintings.<br /><br />One was <br /><a href="http://goo.gl/1l0pAq" rel="nofollow">The Old Guitarist</a> by Picasso, from his "Blue Period".<br /><br />Some of us more art-ignorant students were amazed that Picasso actually knew how to paint a real human, but we learned much more:<br /><br />that Picasso was very poor then, and often painted over previous paintings to save on canvas costs;<br /><br />that this Guitarist painting was an example of a "painted over" canvas, and that if you saw it in person, you could vaguely see the painting underneath;<br /><br />that in his Blue Period (1901-1904) he really was "blue", due to the suicide of a friend, and so forth.<br /><br />Just seeing the "slide" of the painting made it my favorite.<br /><br />Anyway, as we were walking through the Art Institute, I turned a corner and was shocked to see THE original right before my eyes!<br /><br />I was surprised how HUGE it was. I had pictured it as a little bitty thing, but it was actually something like 3x4 feet.<br /><br />Sure enough, I could see the previous painting underneath it, and the blue coloring was striking.<br /><br />Point being, a few years later I became a Christian and the Word of God has supplanted Art and everything else as the thing I'm most interested in having Tour Guides for.<br /><br />Like most folks, I have my favorite Tour Guides, but the best of them are able to take their own many hours (and years) of study, distill it, break it down, and communicate it for the common man in the pew...<br /><br />(as J. Vernon McGee used to say, taking the hay down out of the loft and putting it on the floor where the sheep can eat it)...<br /><br />-- with a passion that the Tour Guide himself has, creating a passion in the hearer -- all leading to the lifting up of "our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ".Terry Rayburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722632954331009294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-20456111800340635832014-07-25T12:49:22.645-07:002014-07-25T12:49:22.645-07:00I think you described the heart of a pastor well: ...I think you described the heart of a pastor well: a love for God's word (meaning all the excellence you can bring to rightly dividing it), and for bringing it home to the flock.<br /><br />Love God, and love one another, directly applied to pastoral ministry.Kurthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06582334461932851552noreply@blogger.com