Jacob Captures The Flag
 
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 
Matthew 9:36
 
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Luke 23:34
 
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Luke 23
 
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves… My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers. Matthew 21:12-13
 
He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant…
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross. 
Philippeans 2:5
 
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”
Matthew 11:4–5
 
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 15:13
 
COMMENTARY:
Lately, I've been having trouble really experiencing Jesus fully through his life and actions. I asked God to reveal Himself to me through a children’s story and He did. This simple story contains Jesus’ compassion for the poor, his comfort to the meek and lowly,  his forbearance, his anger (overturning the temple sellers’ carts), his humility, his miracles and, most importantly, his sacrifice. This is a kids’-eye-view of the whole redemption story. Jacob dove and scratched his knees. Jesus dove and had nails bore into his hands and feet. Jacob returns home and is celebrated. Jesus returns home and is worshipped. This book, more than any other in the Spiritivity Book Series, is a direct mirror of Jesus’ life. 
 
Jasper Jacket
 
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:15
 
COMMENTARY
We’ve all lost something. And we lost it long before Jasper. We lost it way back at the Garden of Eden. We forgot God’s original plan for our lives. In our selfishness, we completely missed our relationship to each other and the things around us. We are disconnected. We try to do things to forget our “lost-ness”, but bottom line it comes down to this: Are we in relationship with Him or not? 
 
Kailey's Big Apppointment
Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.”
James 2:21-24
 
COMMENTARY
Kids often feel like they're not significant. That their opinions don't matter. They are simply an extension of their parents, like a limb that's permanently attached and can't go anywhere or do anything on their own. Kailey takes action because she knows she belongs to a bigger world. A bigger picture.
 
Sandwriting 
 
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
— Jesus’ final promise before His ascension
Matthew 28:20
 
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5
 
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20:29
 
COMMENTARY
Sometimes we have periods where we don’t trust that God’s there. But He’s always there and he shows up in the most unexpected ways. This is also a story about Mother Wisdom. Kailey’s seeking answers, but doesn’t even know the right questions to ask. God always turns our groans into something meaningful and wonderful. God writes his truth on our hearts with a wisdom that only He can provide. 
 
The Ball, The Tree and the Old Man
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38
 
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (NIV)
1 Thessalonians 5:18
 
COMMENTARY
So many of the psalms are about gratitude. When God’s people saw what God was doing, they built Him alters to acknowledge what He had done at a particular time in a particular place. This story is definitely about gratitude and how it always rebounds back to you. But it’s also about Jesus’ sacrificial love for us. The old man was willing to climb the heights and literally risk his life for those kids, even though he didn’t know a single one of them. Of course, Jesus knows each one of us and the “ball” that we hold most dear. Sometimes we find it when we don’t even seek. That is the surprising mercy and grace of Jesus. 
 
Sicklies & Wellies
Matthew 25:31 Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
 
COMMENTARY
This book, designed to help people in emerging nations, follows Jesus' heart to help the poor and downtrodden. We can help ease the suffering in the world by paying attention and following Jesus' heart. The spiritual warfare we face is very different than the daily germ-warfare our sisters in the Global South face on a daily basis. 

In The Front Seat
The last will be first, the first shall be last. Matthew 19:30
 
The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them… But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.
Luke 22:24-27 

"Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in glory."
Mark 10:35
 
COMMENTARY
The boy always puts himself first, not being humble enough to discern where his real place is.  Like us, he can't see beyond his own selfish ambitions. But, like James and John, we have trouble seeing where our rightful place is.

Parable of the Talents 
“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” he said to the first two.
But to the third, who hid his talent:
“You wicked, lazy servant! … You should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”
Matthew 25:14-30 
 
COMMENTARY
One big reason for launching Spiritivity Studios is to make scripture accessible to children in a fun, interesting, relatable, modern way. I hope to eventually do this same things for all of Jesus' parables. Not only will this be helpful in Christian settings, but these stories themselves, just like Jesus himself, are relatable to everyone.

I Don't Deserve That
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
 
COMMENTARY
This is actually a deep reflection on grace and what it means to a child. They can't understand huge concepts like this without putting these principles of grace into their world and giving them new, relatable ways to grasp this foundational Biblical truth. 

A Frostco Christmas
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. 
— Matthew 20:28

My kingdom is not of this world.
— John 18:36
 
COMMENTARY
Christmas has lost it's meaning. This is a tale of the God of the Universe that did not come all puffed up, bloated and full of himself. He came in the humblest of circimstances, a helpless child, wholly dependent on humans to raise him and care for him as a baby and child. In that nurturing environment he could speak with authority at the temple. But Jesus couldn't have gotten there without human parents who raised him. If he wanted to appear as almighty God on earth, he would not have needed parents. This is a part of the Bible story that goes untold and left to our imaginations. We just skip right from the  birth of Jesus to Jesus teaching at the temple. In those in-between years, as a human, he had to be fully dependent on Mary and Joseph. So this humble birth doesn't require huge decorations filling our front yards and roofs. The humble nativity is the most powerful human manifestation of God's redemptive plan. 

This Upside Down World
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”\
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said:
“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Mattthew 18:1-4
 
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth…
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3-12
 
COMMENTARY
There is no one scripture to sum up this foundational principle of Jesus' life. Everything he said and did boils down to healing a broken world, confounding our expectations, showing the difference between serving and being served, and his final act - the powerful Lord of the Universe reversing everyone's expectations of a triumphant king, and dying in the most terrifyingly human (sinful) way possible. Opening up his arms and having his hands nailed to the cross is the most vulnerable, weak position we could ever imagine - fully exposed and helpless. In this greatest act across all of  human history Jesus gave the ultimate illustration  of His upside-down world. He defeated death itself and rose to life. His death became life to us. Talk about upside down. 

Joining In
I will extol the Lord at all times;
his praise will always be on my lips.
I will glory in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt his name together.
Ps. 34:1-3
 
COMMENTARY
We each participate in God's glory. Every time we do something kind for others. Every time we
sit in nature and notice his wonders all around us in sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch. We participate in God's glory by utilizing the senses he gave us. We participate in God's glory by creating, whether it be creating: relationships,  new images, new songs or new stories. Every day we participate in God's glory just by being alive. He created man and woman, you and me,  in His own image. What could be more glorifying than that?
 
 
Special Delivery
Acts: 20:35
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: "It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

Luke 16:25
“Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.” 

COMMENTARY
This is another story about grace and how God gives us gifts we don't deserve. But it's also about our response to his grace. Do we take it all in and hoard his grace? Or do we freely give it back to others. Do we thank the one who gives us grace in the first place? His gift of grace is truly a special delivery.
 
Dashing Home
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
Ephesians 2:8-9

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.’But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
Jesus said, ‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.’
Luke 18:9-17
 
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Matthew 23:8-12
 
COMMENTARY
We try so hard to earn God's grace. We do our good deeds: Read our Bible. Pray. Serve. But are we doing it out of love for Him or in order to receive "Heaven Points?" One is works (however Godly) and one is grace. Let's let God do the work, shall we? He does much better work than we can ever do. 

Cars & Keyboards
 
Then the Lord said to Moses,  "I will rain down bread from heaven for you."
Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed.
Exodus 16:1-36
 
The Lord said to Moses, "Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.’”
Exodus 17:1-7
 
COMMENTARY
We can bring joy into the workplace no matter what kind of job we have. Oftentimes God surprises us in unexpected ways. We think we have everything figured out, then God performs a miracle. In desperate times, God delivers and surprises.

A Bajillion Ways to Use a Paper Clip
 
Proverbs 10:18; 11:12-13; 17:9; 24:17-18; 25:7b-10; 27:5-6.
 
Tim Keller Sermon “Repairing Relationships” — preached June 5 2005, part of the Proverbs: True Wisdom for Living series. 
 
COMMENTARY
This book was inspired by a Tim Keller sermon where he talked about wisdom revealing something brand new that you may have known but never experienced before. Like hearing about honey instead of tasting it. He talked about wisdom being all about relationships and seeing relationships between things. It boils down to The Trinity, where Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in loving relationship with each other and have been since the beginning of time. It’s also about using the gifts (talents) God gave us and not hiding them from others. And of course, Bajillion Ways is a creation story - not ours, but His. His beautiful design for everything. How many ways can we view a flower, a sunset, the clouds. They are always changing, moment to moment. 
 
Danny’s Front Yard
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights above.
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
Praise him, sun and moon;
praise him, all you shining stars.
Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for at his command they were created.
…
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,
you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars.
Psalm 148
 
COMMENTARY
This story shows us that God honors those who can find Him wherever they go. His love knows no physical bounds. It’s abundant and inescapable. Knowing how to translate his natural beauties is only found in His Word - the Bible. The adventure of adventures. 

Sticks & Tricks
Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
Proverbs 13:20

I was so inspired by the kind, generous, gracious, warm people of Uganda, I just had to tell this story as a tribute to them and a warning to us all. Just because we are a wealthy nation, doesn't mean we're rich in all things. I'm also so grateful to be able to participate in cross-global partnerships with fantastic Ugandan illustrators Davis Bamwine (for this book) and Muganga Samuell (for Sicklies and Wellies.) 
 
Ding Dong Delivery Series
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 
 
COMMENTARY
The world is out-of whack. We all bumble our way through life, setting in motion one thing after another, not ever realizing the affect our actions can have on others.  I love the Tim Keller sermon about how he got where he was - as a Presbyterian minister in NY. 1) the influence of a special professor 2) this professor  wouldn't have even be able to teach in the US had he not gotten a VISA 3) he wouldn't have gotten a VISA without special intervention 4) the Dean asked a student for a favor and since Gerald Ford happened to be the student's  father he was able to deliver the favor 5) Gerald Ford wouldn't have been president without Nixon resigning 6) Nixon wouldn't have resigned unless he was forced out because of Watergate 7) Watergate would never have happened if one guard hadn't noticed that a door was open that shouldn't have been due to one of the burglers forgetting to check. So Tim Keller traced his whole story all the way back to those two Watergate burglers. BRILLIANT! Sydney's Ding Dong Delivery stories are kinda like that - always seeming to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, but, even through that, things always seem to end happily ever after.  

Johnny-in-a-Box
Biblical Allegory for the Spiritual Disciplines

 
COMMENTARY
This is perhaps the most didactic of my pieces: but it is a Biblical allegory, so it's justified, right?  Like Milo in PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH taking his journey through the magical land and discovering his true self, Johnny and Angela go through these Escape Room experiences which lead them not to self-understanding, but  to God-understanding. True wisdom. Each experience brings them closer to God. Each shows them a different spiritual discipline. First Johnny has to break through his hard, black heart until he can start to come into the light. Then he encounters Angela, showing us that our journey through life is not a solo journey, but one we take with others. Like iron sharpening iron they help each other through the trials and pitfalls of these various rooms. In the gray hallways they learn that they can't just clean their way out by themselves, they need an outside force to bring them closer to God. That's the work of the Holy Spirit (the Zoomba in this story.) This leads them to the yellow room where they both learn the importance of gratitude. The word box room shows them the importance of being in THE Word so you can distinguish truth from lies. The pink room teaches them the discipline of fasting, even though temptation surrounds them. The green room shows them the importance of forgiving others. The brown room symbolizes  "waiting on the Lord." We cannot rush that process (as I tried to do in launching Spiritivity Studios.) The final setting brings them full circle back to the world they left and reveals the importance of having a faith community and sharing God's love with others. There are too many scriptures to list here since each room entails a different spiritual discipline.  I urge you to read Dallas Willard's classic, The Spirit of the Disciplines.

Nerd Initiation
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”
- Matthew 5:23–24 
 
COMMENTARY
This story is my Mea Culpa to all the people I've wronged in my life, and there are many: the girl in elementary school whom I teased by chasing her around the playground yelling: "My Princess", the inspiration for this story (you know who you are), the people I've treated poorly when I was young and foolish, my poor parents whose love I took for granted, the friends I've used as "connections", the students whose stories I never got the chance to hear. And, most especially, my own kids who I didn't spend enough time with. I wish I could have had all these stories to read them as they were growing up. Hopefully I'll get to read them to my grandkids someday.

And, finally to my ex-wife whom I didn't love like this: 

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Ephesians 5:28-29