I was gazing into my two-month old baby's eyes as she looked up and smiled at me.

It was the kind of smile only a baby can have. Perfectly innocent and free of any pretense. Genuine. Free. My baby has one of those smiles that light up the entire face. You've seen that kind of smile, right?

And I looked at my wife and said, "How can anything in the world be this beautiful?"

I held my little girl up, just in time for her to spit up her white, phlegmy . . . whatever it is that she dredges up from the pit of her digestive tract.

To quote Bill Murray: "I was slimed."

It didn't help that this was in the middle of church. (Serves me right for playing with my baby instead of listening to the sermon.)

And I looked at my wife and said, "How can anything in the world be so beautiful . . . and so disgusting at the same time?"

* * *

Fortunately, babies are more than dirty diapers and phlegmy spit up.

They are part of the tapestry of life . . . they are tiny human beings who amaze you with their wisdom and laugh at their foolishness.

They are helpless, which is WHY they have the dirty diapers and phlegmy spit up.

And no matter what, stinky fluids and all, we can't help but love them.

* * *

My son is three. And he's discovering drawing. He's actually starting to draw recognizable shapes.

And it's beautiful.

I came home from work one afternoon to find a picture he had colored. He had spent all day trying to color it and stay in the lines. He chose the perfect colors and worked very hard, my wife told me.

If anyone were to look at it, they would see uneven scribbles and swathes of color that leap over the lines, in spite of the time and trouble that he put into that drawing. He just plain doesn't have the fine motor control to keep his pencil within the lines. And the color palette, quite simply, clashes. If anyone were to look at it, they would see the many imperfections. They would say, "It looks like a child drew this."

And I would say, "Yes. MY child."

* * *

King David has been called the "apple of God's eye".

Interesting title for a man who committed adultery, killed one of his best friends to cover it up, refused to punish his son for violating his daughter, then avoided punishing another son for killing the first son . . . and made some other pretty bad decisions.

But through it all, David humbled himself before God. He sought God's face and God's forgiveness.

And he wrote some of the greatest poetry the world has ever known, exposing his bare heart to God and everyone.

The Psalms.

I love the Psalms. Especially Psalm 40. That Psalm became my heart's cry recently when I found myself in a situation where I could not provide for my family. Where, in spite of my successes, I had nothing to show for it. Where I was cut off from my friends and found that some people who called themselves friends revealed their true colors.
I had an idea in the midst of this. To challenge Christian comic artists to illustrate a Psalm. I thought it would be cool for the Christian comics community to come together in a corporate act of worship by illustrating their favorite Psalm. I thought it was a neat idea.

I was re-reading Psalm 40 in the midst of this. I decided to illustrate Psalm 40 myself. Of course, there is a reason that when you see one of my books listed in a catalogue that my name is under "written by" and not "drawn by". Someday, you may see this reason.

Anyway, I set myself to work. I read the Psalm over and over as I drew.

"I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand . . ."*

The result? Well, some day, when you see the illustrations I'll let you judge for yourself.

But beyond that, I found myself claiming that Psalm as a prophecy. The mud and mire are temporary. I will be lifted out of this, one way or another.

And I experienced worship in a way I'd never experienced before. Could the scribblings of a complete and utter non-artist be worship?

I think so.

In the same way that I can look at the drawing my son worked so hard on and accept it as perfection.

The thing is, I knew the truth. I knew that God loved me. I knew things were temporary, even if that meant temporary in the way this world is temporary. I chose the mud and mire, in a way. Not the circumstances (although I chose some of them, too), but the way I viewed the circumstances. I knew God loved me, but I chose to feel unloved when my friends were distanced from me or distanced themselves from me.

We humans can be pretty stupid sometimes.

* * *

God loves us.

As stupid as we are . . .

As unlovable as we feel . . .

As sinful as we act . . .

As undeserving as we may be . . .

God loves us.

To him, we're like my baby. As disgusting as she can get, I'll still love her. Standing over her, gagging because I have a hair-trigger gag-reflex that gets set off by the slightest whiff of that newborn poo, trying to clean up the mess . . . I still love her.

But moreso, with God. For his is a perfect love.

* * *

The inside of my wedding band has an inscription. My wife had it put there as a reminder.

Psalm 34:3.

"Come let us worship the Lord together."

It's a reminder for our marriage.

It's a reminder for life.

* * *

God loves us.

Worship is acknowledging that love.

Worship is being thankful for that love.

Worship is recognizing the actions of that love.

Worship is proclaiming the results of that love.

I mentioned the Psalms challenge above. It is something that Community Comics will be launching very soon. Something that will be open to everyone (even artists as bad as me!).

It's called SELAH: The Psalms Project. It is a challenge to the Christian comics art community to illustrate a Psalm. To take David's words (or whatever other Psalmist is may have been) and illuminate them with your images (sequential, single panel, painting, cartoon, whatever). Be thinking about it, we'll come back to you soon with more information and details.

One of Community Comics's goals is to encourage the integration of faith and art. This is one way we're encouraging it.

It is a way to encourage Christian artists to "come, let us worship the Lord together".

God so loves it when we worship him.

Even when we accidentally go outside the lines . . .

~ Ben

(Want to be involved in SELAH? E-mail me at Ben @ communitycomics.com -- WITHOUT the spaces -- for more information.)

Past Ben's Pen articles:
The Ten Best Christian Comics You've Never Read, pt. 1
The Ten Best Christian Comics You've Never Read, pt. 2

* Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (North American Edition). Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.