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Bringing a Child's Imagination to Life with Joe Hox
459 Plays10 months ago
In this episode of Straight to the Heart, our host Rush Witt, talks with Joe Hox, the talented illustrator behind the Good News for Little Hearts series. They discuss the struggle to find our worth in Christ, moving forward in usefulness to the Lord when the path is unclear, and how artistic world-building brings imaginations to life.
JOE HOX ONLINE
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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Good News for Little Hearts Series
Who is Jesus? by Kate Hox (Illustrated by Joe Hox)
Learn more about the podcast here.
Timestamps:
1:40 - Intro
3:22 - Were you artistic as a child?
10:30 - Joe starts painting murals
14:00 - How were you shaped by a struggle to find your worth
18:36 - What was your breakout moment into successful illustrating
24:14 - The joy of working with NGP and the Good News for Little Hearts series
26:00 - A powerful perspective on finding worth in Christ
32:54 - Advice to aspiring artists and illustrators
34:36 - What's your process for building an imaginative world?
40:48 - Joe's joy of creating with his wife Kate
47:08 - Farewell
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Straight to the Heart'
00:00:00
Speaker
And the cool thing is, you know, during those low points, I really realized that it's just not me. I don't have to prove a thing. Christ already showed my worth when he died on the cross for me.
00:00:17
Speaker
I'm Rush Witt, and you're listening to Straight to the Heart, a podcast from New Growth Press. Each episode includes thought-provoking conversations with leading Christian writers and thinkers. We hear who they are, what they believe, how they approach their work in ministry, and the moments in people who have changed their lives. In Straight to the Heart, we go beyond the books to connect with the remarkable people behind them.
Meet Joe Hawks
00:00:42
Speaker
In this bonus episode of season 2, I talk with Joe Hawks, the illustrator behind the incredible books you know as the Good News for Little Hearts series. Of course you know about these books, like Buster's Ears Trip Him Up, Zoey's Hiding Place, Tori Comes Out of Her Shell, and others.
00:00:58
Speaker
They're full of biblical wisdom for problems kids feel, the same problems adults feel too. Today, Joe tells me his personal story of hardship and perseverance, and the Lord's providence to reach his dream of using his gift of illustration. And I cannot overstate how wildly talented Joe actually is.
00:01:17
Speaker
You can see his work right now on his Instagram account at Joe Hawks. While you hear our rich and encouraging conversation, if you, like us, feel the struggle to understand your worth to the Lord, and you feel a strong desire to be used by him, but aren't sure how it will all work out, this one's for you. This is Straight to the Heart.
00:01:40
Speaker
Let me tell you, I really enjoy talking to people who are creative. And I, it's not hard for me to see when someone's creative, especially when it's someone like you, because it's just, that's just who you are, you know? And it really is such an intriguing thing, you know, because of the Good News for Little Heart series. And I follow you on Instagram and see your illustrations on there, which are amazing.
00:02:08
Speaker
But just tell me a little bit about your life and family, where you are, and what life is like for you. The basics.
Family Life and Dutch Heritage
00:02:18
Speaker
My wife and I met at Dorp College, at Christian College in Sioux Center, Iowa, and we are
00:02:28
Speaker
raising four beautiful kids together here in a small Iowa town called Pella. Pella is known for its Dutch heritage and we happen to be both of Dutch ancestry and
00:02:44
Speaker
And so we don our wooden shoes and Dutch costumes every spring. God's been good to us. He took a girl from the suburbs of Chicago and a boy from the sticks and was able to make something work.
00:03:03
Speaker
where we bounce each other out a lot. So, yeah. Opposites, they always say opposites attract. I guess there's some truth there. I'm an example of that. She was on math team in high school and I was as far from on math team as one could possibly be.
00:03:21
Speaker
What was your experience growing up in terms of becoming or growing into your artistic gifting and illustrating when you were a kid and then forward, you know, into adulthood?
Farm Crisis and Personal Challenges
00:03:34
Speaker
So I grew up on a farm and this was in the midst of the farm crisis of the eighties and nineties. Many farms were going bankrupt all over. And so it was actually,
00:03:48
Speaker
fairly high stress environment, certainly for my parents. And my parents protected, I have a brother and sister and myself, they protected us from a lot of the stress that was going on. But there was this constant danger that the farm was going to be snatched up. And in that environment, dad responded to that by
00:04:17
Speaker
trying to outwork the pressure. And so he was a very, very hard worker.
00:04:27
Speaker
And I don't know how he was able to sustain that level of hard work, 16 hour days for years. He ended up getting a job in the factory, but he was also still continuing to farm full time. And so you plunk a kid who is just
00:04:53
Speaker
innately creative and a dreamer into that situation. And it was hard. I had another family member who I won't name, but someone who'd come out every so often and they saw how hard my dad was working.
00:05:16
Speaker
and the rest of the family. And I was just a little kid at this time, but this family members saw how little I was contributing to the farm and how little urgency I seem to be living with. And he had a nickname for me and that nickname was worthless. And in fact, to this day, I don't think I've heard that person call me by name. It was always worthless. And he said it in a joking way,
00:05:47
Speaker
But man, oh man, that hit me hard. And I really kind of felt that way. I felt like I wasn't contributing to the farm. I would do my chores and I would help out. Like a clumsy little kid would help out. But I would also make a lot of mistakes. Like when I was a little bit older, I would do things like drive the tractor into the side of the barn.
00:06:17
Speaker
I put the skid steer into the ditch. My hay rows were always crooked. Honestly, in terms of monetary value as worthless a farm kid as you could have, I wasn't a good return on investment. I really struggled early on with
00:06:47
Speaker
identity and worth. I had this ultra hard working dad. Fortunately, my parents made it very clear that they loved me and cared for me, even with my peculiarities. And I had a place there, but that title of worthless really haunted me.
00:07:10
Speaker
And I went into school even as early as like first or second grade, I was already thinking, am I worthless? And so it put me on the search for something that would prove to myself, to my family, to the world that I have some sort of worth. I became pretty fixated on that. And unfortunately,
00:07:38
Speaker
there are great opportunities in school to kind of test different things out. And one of those things that came along, took the form of a Native American village, diorama.
Discovering a Passion for Art
00:07:53
Speaker
I was assigned to the Sioux tribe. And so I looked around and I noticed my classmates were all making little
00:08:05
Speaker
little villages that were populated with pipe cleaner people or kind of stick figures cut out of construction paper. And then I looked at my own village and it had really dramatic imagery with natives working in the village and they had wind-swept raven black hair and intricate beadwork.
00:08:35
Speaker
and moccasins. And I noticed that maybe, I don't think at this point talent was what differentiated me, but it was certainly just love, love of visuals and attention to detail. And that was the spark, that silly little Native American diorama that my partner ended up taking home.
00:09:05
Speaker
I don't have it. But that was what lit a fire and kind of showed me, oh man, maybe you do have something of value here that you can offer the world. And really through many of my grade school years, even though I was raised in the church and went to Christian school, my identity was wrapped up in kind of this idea of proving to the world that
00:09:33
Speaker
I am a great artist, which became kind of an idol, honestly. But God can use even our misplaced priorities, I think, to lead us into his path. And so I had this plan. I was going to go to college and
00:10:02
Speaker
learn all the tricks I needed to become a great artist. And then life would be simple. I would be victorious. The New York Times would call me up and interview me for these great things that I did. And that's not remotely how it turned out. And I think that was, it was all part of God's plan.
00:10:31
Speaker
really appreciate the grasp that you have on your story because as you tell your own story you tell it with a lot of insight into the things that were going on in your heart and that really helps to clarify sort of how God developed you over those years and it really does make for a great story. So after you
00:10:51
Speaker
you hatch this college plan, you're going to get out into the world and start using your gifts. Then what happened? The New York Times didn't call. And so what did you do? So we graduated from college. We got married right after college. And I really. Oh, my goodness, Rush, I was so naive. I really thought that. I expected it to be easy.
00:11:22
Speaker
But I didn't have a great portfolio yet. It had a lot of different art projects that I'd made in art college. And I didn't have anything that I could show agents or publishers yet. It wasn't tightened up. And so I thought I would buy myself some time and start a mural painting business.
00:11:42
Speaker
Actually, surprisingly, that was working out pretty well. My wife was a substitute teacher. We moved back. We lived on the back on the farm. Actually, there was a little house that my grandma had once lived in. We lived back on the farm and I started painting murals in homes and businesses and word got out and
00:12:05
Speaker
And it was actually a pretty decent work. And it was fulfilling artistically while also affording me time in the evenings to develop my portfolio. And what year was this? This was 2005. Okay. But I,
00:12:34
Speaker
couldn't put in as long hours as I once could. My hands would kind of cramp up and it became harder and harder to climb ladders. I was getting very slowly and gradually sicker.
Health Struggles and Recovery
00:12:51
Speaker
And I didn't know what was going on. And it came on so gradually that I didn't realize how bad it was getting to the point that I would
00:13:02
Speaker
Um, my body would just be, it'd be, it came to the point where my body was just desperate for sleep. And, um, I would go to bed at 10 o'clock, sleep a full night, and then my body would want to sleep till 11 in the morning. And that's, that's no way to run a business. Um, and.
00:13:25
Speaker
I just didn't know like, what, what is going on with me? And am I just, am I lazy? Am I, is this like an ADD thing? You know, I had no idea what was going on. Just that something was off and I was getting more and more forgetful. For example, I would leave
00:13:48
Speaker
I left my car in drive one time instead of park and I got out of the car and the car rolled away. I'm driving up into our porch and I spent a lot of time looking for stuff, misplacing things. Um, I was getting pretty sick and, uh, and over the course of a few months, um, I, um,
00:14:15
Speaker
realized, okay, this is something that it's not like just a mono or a cold or something, something is really up. And so we started going to different doctors and that was a whole story. I won't go into that, but eventually we did find a doctor who ran some tests and found that I had Lyme disease.
00:14:42
Speaker
And likely it was Lyme disease that I had acquired as a kid and just kind of stayed dormant in my system and then came out in adulthood. So I never had the bull's eye rash or anything, but the blood work did eventually prove that I had Lyme disease. And it was, for whatever reason, very, very, very hard to treat. We had to do a lot of different
00:15:11
Speaker
trials of different drugs, heavy antibiotics, but the symptoms weren't going away. And we decided that there was no way, as long as I felt this way, old and achy and tired all the time and somewhat confused, there was no way that I could sustain mural painting, let alone
00:15:40
Speaker
and illustration career, which is what my heart had been set on for so long. And so I went back to school. Fortunately, my college was incredibly gracious in allowing me to kind of tailor make an education degree and do it via correspondence. In fact, a professor came out of retirement to be my advisor and kind of help me cobble this degree together.
00:16:10
Speaker
And so I ended up with an art education degree because I loved art and I can talk about art all day long, even if my body is failing. And so we set that course and it was good to know that we still had this plan B, but it was also
00:16:41
Speaker
utterly, it felt like a real defeat. It felt like I was taking my dream, my hope for how I was going to prove to the world that I had worth, and I was just going to light it on fire. Oh man, Katie and I both mourned that because we both knew how much this
00:17:07
Speaker
this goal of being an artist meant to me. And the crazy thing is God still, even in spite of that attitude going into teaching, God still used that. And it just shows how great he is. He can take someone with such a bad attitude.
00:17:39
Speaker
Are you looking for engaging and insightful children's books that tackle the ups and downs of their little lives with a biblical perspective? Then you should know about the Good News for Little Hearts series, a collection of honest and engaging stories which help children ages four through seven.
00:17:57
Speaker
navigate various emotions and challenges through the lens of Scripture. Troubles like anxiety, anger, failure, loneliness, ruling desires, feeling shy, wanting to hide, and more. Each book is edited by biblical counselors connected to the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation and illustrated by Joe Hawks. This means each book addresses these topics with clear and compassionate care for the souls of children.
00:18:25
Speaker
You can learn more about the Good News for Little Hearts series by visiting NewGrowthPress.com. What were the big moments of success that came along eventually where you could see making progress again or where your your dream of illustration has come together? So really,
00:18:56
Speaker
About eight or nine years into teaching, I started to finally turn the corner. We found a doctor in Kansas City who really helped. He was tenacious in trying out lots of different things and finding just the right cocktail of interventions and drugs that helped me, supplements that helped me make improvements. And so I started
00:19:27
Speaker
I started drawing again. And it was almost like that moment when it mentions in the Bible, Samson's hair started growing back. He was all defeated. But then there's that little glimmer of hope. And for me, that was sketching. And every day, I would sketch a little bit. Even if I had a busy grading schedule, I'd try to sketch in the evenings. And I started posting those to Instagram.
00:19:58
Speaker
built a little bit of a following there and was getting encouragement there. And then let's see, a local author said, Hey, do you want to try illustrating this book for me? And it, it was wonderful because it gave me the experience to learn the whole process. It was a small project. And so
00:20:27
Speaker
you know, a lot of the stuff that usually gets pushed off to other people fell on my shoulders. Like these days I illustrate a book and I'm just making the pictures and somebody else does all the design and the text and sometimes even the cover. But in this case, my wife and I kind of wore all of the hats for this project. And so it was a great introduction to, and so the book was,
00:20:55
Speaker
A Chris Moose Mystery, and it's about a little stuffed moose that come alive in a flower shop here in Pella. It was a really safe way to get my feet wet in this. Of course, the author was so sweet to take a chance on somebody with no experience who
Career Breakthrough
00:21:16
Speaker
also was a little bit sick.
00:21:23
Speaker
that kind of gave me the confidence to put myself out there more. My wife is a writer and so she was doing, she wrote some kids books, some pieces of manuscripts that maybe we could submit together to publishers to try to get my name out and also hers. And so we submitted together to a few publishers
00:21:52
Speaker
and got a lot of no's and maybes and some interest. But finally, it was New Growth Press that came back and said, hey, we like the manuscript that Katie wrote, that Kate wrote, but maybe let's table that for now. But does this artist do any animal characters?
00:22:17
Speaker
And of course my Instagram was jam packed with animal characters that I'd been doing for years. And so, um, that, that was kind of the, the real opening to something that was more of a legit gig. And so my first, my first book to a wider audience was through new growth press. It was Zoe's hiding place. And, oh, it, it was just.
00:22:46
Speaker
truly a dream come true. And I didn't care how many people would read it. I was just so excited to finally have this opportunity to do something. And even better, it was this confluence of my faith and my artistry. So I had many reasons to
00:23:14
Speaker
to think this was a really special project. Wow, I don't know this story till now. I have not heard this story and I really love it because I think a lot of people don't understand the just enormous challenge it is in terms of writing or illustrating and even just making the right connection.
00:23:36
Speaker
Yeah with someone there are so many aspiring writers or illustrators out in the world And they are doing what you're doing. They have certain outlets through social media but to find the right connection is And i'm just i'm putting myself in your you know story and thinking about you know what that's uh, some of those little moments for me my little moments have been like and just the the thrill of finally
00:24:05
Speaker
having some kind of break is just enormous. What was it like in your house when you finally realized that this is a big traction point? This is the traction point that I've been looking for. What was it like for the two of you? Yeah, it was absolutely the two of us. My wife has been an amazing, amazing partner through all this.
00:24:34
Speaker
uh, always so supportive and, uh, and we were utterly thrilled. We were thrilled. Um, and so in order to maybe the listeners don't know the whole process, but oftentimes in order to get an illustration job, they'll ask for a sample if you're not a known entity. And I certainly wasn't at that point. And so they asked for a sample and
00:25:05
Speaker
I worked my tail off on it and I submitted it and waited and they came back with, oh, it's indoors. Can you try outdoors? And so I submitted another sample. It's outdoors, but it feels a little dull or not saturated enough. And so I made another, and ended up making four samples before I finally got the job.
00:25:36
Speaker
And so it, every single time it just kind of built up, it was, you know, like that, that hill that you go up before that, that first roller coaster drop. Um, so when, when they finally said, okay, we, we can, we can work with this. Oh, it was just incredible. Yeah. Yeah. So good. Good for you. Good for you. I'm really happy to hear your story.
00:26:05
Speaker
Thank you. It makes me think of a question. So as you were growing up with this feeling or this question of worth and worthlessness and now fast forward and you're really enjoying a lot of success and fruit to your waiting and working, are there still challenges that you feel maybe on a regular basis of
00:26:33
Speaker
feeling the need to prove yourself still or are there certain obstacles in your heart or mind that might hold you back? Do you have things like that still kind of going on or do you feel like you've kind of broken through? That's a good question. I would say my experience as a teacher and as, and I think between Lyme disease and teaching,
00:27:04
Speaker
That whole passage of time was kind of a crucible that I had to go through in order to completely change my perspective. So whereas before I really wanted to prove something, I really thought that I didn't have any worth unless I could show the world something amazing.
00:27:33
Speaker
A lot of insecurity and kind of messed up pride, self-focus in that. So through those 12 years, I spent, so there was a passage of time where I was so sick that any moment that I wasn't teaching, I was wrapped up in a blanket.
00:28:00
Speaker
that I would wrap myself up real tight like a mummy. And I would lay on the floor because the hard pressure of the floor would help ease my aches. And I would be, my kids would play cars on their kind of dead looking dad. And it was just so pathetic. But through that time, I realized
00:28:31
Speaker
There is no way that I can find my worth in artistry because it's very likely that this dream won't be realized. In fact, there was a time where, and you've done counseling, right?
00:29:01
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. So there was a time when the only passage of the Bible that really gave me comfort was Psalm 88, which is the most depressing, hopeless Psalm. But that Psalm, I clung to that because that told me other people have been through this level of hopelessness.
00:29:30
Speaker
feeling zero hope, zero, but God has had people there and he still used them. And so that really kind of burned off that sense that I needed to prove something. And so it made me search for, okay, if my contribution is very, very tiny,
00:30:02
Speaker
Can God still use it? So as a dad, I can't be a soccer coach, but I sure can sit there and look at a book with a kid and have my arm wrapped around them. And they'll have more memories associated with books because we sit there and read a book together. As a teacher, I might not be able to walk around the classroom certain days,
00:30:31
Speaker
But I can still have positive interactions with kids. I can still encourage the ones who are gifted and help grow ones that need growth in one way or another. I can still use my words. And so it was a real shift for me. And the cool thing is, during those low points, I really realized that
00:30:59
Speaker
It's just not me. I don't have to prove a thing. Christ already showed my worth when he died on the cross for me. And it's written right there that he sees us even when we're just a tiny, tiny little thing inside our mama's tummies. And so, yeah, that experience I think was necessary
00:31:26
Speaker
so hard, but so necessary for me to grow in my faith and get a sense of perspective. I still have moments where the feelings of worthlessness haunt me. But that passage of time really burned off a lot of that.
00:31:51
Speaker
How do you help a child get to know someone they can't see and hear? In Who Is Jesus? author Kate Hawks and illustrator Joe Hawks, my guest today, bring 40-word pictures of Jesus to life so children can get to know Jesus better. The Bible is filled with stories and symbols that point us to Jesus as the Savior, the only one who can bring us back to God.
00:32:14
Speaker
In Who Is Jesus? Joe and Cade Hawks combine illustrations and deep thoughts simply shared to guide family devotions and encourage rich conversations about who Jesus is, why he came to Earth, and how we can get to know him now.
00:32:30
Speaker
In this book, families will explore together the rich imagery of the Bible and learn about God's great love for his people through Jesus Christ, his son. Is your family looking for a book to enjoy together? Consider who is Jesus 40 pictures to share with your family. You can learn more about this book and many more by visiting NewGrowthPress.com.
00:32:55
Speaker
such a powerful perspective and immensely helpful to us. And your experience is, I'm sure, uniquely helpful to others who are struggling to find their way into and through their own sense of gifting. And when it comes to your maybe investment or advice to other illustrators,
00:33:20
Speaker
what advice do you give to them or what advice would you give to yourself if you went back in a time machine to those early days of just kind of uncertainty and trying to find your way in your illustrative gift? What advice would I give?
Advice for Aspiring Illustrators
00:33:41
Speaker
In the New Testament when
00:33:44
Speaker
their instructions for elders, they need to get their house in order first before they can minister to a wider audience. I think that applies here. As much as we have these dreams of doing these big things, that's all really good. But if we've alienated the people that we would celebrate milestones with, then it's of no use.
00:34:14
Speaker
And so I would tell any young illustrator, get your house in order first. Make sure that you are loving people well. Don't make it all about you. Learn how to manage your time and your gift well. That's good. I would say that. Yeah, that's good.
00:34:39
Speaker
I'm really a process thinker, I've been told. So I like to think about the process of things and I'm sure other people do as well. And it's something that not many people have a chance to look into in terms of the process of an illustrator like you. And so I wonder if you could briefly describe what your process is like. What's a day like for you or what's, you know, how do you go about fulfilling a project or plan? What's your creative process? Creative process.
00:35:09
Speaker
I see sketching as a lifestyle, so that's kind of how I process the world. Wherever I go, I'm sketching. In church, when we have intermission during our kids' plays, I'm sketching. So my sketchbooks are just big catalogs of observations.
00:35:34
Speaker
And it's always been that way ever since that diorama. So when initially a publisher or a self-published author will furnish me with a
00:35:56
Speaker
manuscript and I'll read through the manuscript and just dream and that's my favorite part is just kind of imagine it just it feels like a superpower to be able to create something just from your mind's eye it is so empowering
00:36:19
Speaker
to craft a world. And that's my favorite part of it. So I'll start with a whole bunch of sketches and identify those moments that are especially evocative in the manuscript. And I'll sketch a lot of those out and eventually work toward making a dummy that I'll send to the client
00:36:45
Speaker
for feedback. Is this the right direction? Are these visuals the right visuals to tell the story the best way? Then it's a lot of back and forth through the process. After they send me their feedback, I make more finished-looking illustrations and back and forth. That's been one of the most delightful parts of it is having that synergy of
00:37:16
Speaker
other people's creative input on the project. It always ends up better when it's a collaboration. And so, yeah, that's been one of the kind of the hidden things that I didn't anticipate was just how much joy I would find in collaboration. Yeah. When you have a dream of, you know, you're dreaming up a world or an illustration for a book,
00:37:44
Speaker
in the end, how much, maybe a percentage, how much is the final result the same as your initial dream? Is it a big change to the end? Or do you tend to really stick to that picture and you find what's in your mind becomes really close to verbatim out in the finished work? That's a really good question.
00:38:14
Speaker
I would say 90% is the same. Wow. Yeah. Wow. But I don't, I don't, it's weird. I don't, uh, I don't see the picture perfectly in my head, but I just have this feeling that this sounds so hokey, but it's just the truth. It feels like love, like infatuation, like,
00:38:44
Speaker
Um, so as, as I'm working on an illustration, I kind of follow that, like that feeling of, of this, this feels right. I'm in love with this story.
00:39:10
Speaker
That makes sense. It doesn't sound dumb at all. It makes a lot of sense. I've had some moments, I'm not an illustrator, but I've had some moments where you just, you just know, I don't know, other people might say it's a gut sense or you just have this instinct of, oh, I'm on to something. Oh, this is, this is, this is going to work. And then it fuels your,
00:39:37
Speaker
fuels your creative juices. So I understand what you mean. Yeah, thanks for describing that. I'm really intrigued by how that works. And I'm really intrigued by how you think about illustrating and what that process is like, so. There's a potter down in Memphis named Eddie Afa who, I listened to him speak at an event for Christian creatives one time, and he talked about how whenever he throws a pot,
00:40:08
Speaker
on the wheel, he's thinking about the people that will use that and he's praying for them and just kind of thinking that he is serving them up something beautiful. And man, I just, I love that posture of the artist isn't some brilliant genius
00:40:37
Speaker
The artist is a servant caring for people with his own gifts. What a, what a healthy posture. Yeah. So a good question here. It's unique that as an illustrator, you have such a wonderful opportunity to work with your wife and really collaborate. And I wonder what that collaboration is like in, uh, in, let me say it a different way.
00:41:06
Speaker
I'll just say the simple way. So I wonder what's that collaboration like between you? So my wife is Kate Hox and she was a teacher.
Creative Collaboration and Faith
00:41:21
Speaker
She didn't really ever set out to be an author. It was kind of funny. She was the one who first put the idea of my being a teacher into my head.
00:41:36
Speaker
And over time, I kind of put the idea of being an author into her head. So we've always just clicked. She is very different from me. She thinks in an organized manner. Does she like math? She loves math. She sees the value of things like boundaries.
00:42:06
Speaker
which often feel kind of alien to me. She is incredibly wise and discerning. And she's often two or three steps ahead of me in the thinking process. I, on the other hand, introduce some degree of chaos and
00:42:32
Speaker
spontaneity into her life, and so we really help each other along in some ways. So when I first wanted, I wanted so badly to get into illustration, and she just saw a solution. Well, I'll just write you a book to illustrate. Simple as that.
00:43:03
Speaker
So she did. She spent some time during nap time when the kids were really, really small writing a book about giants that we haven't yet brought to a publisher. And I illustrated it. And then she got really excited about a Bible book
00:43:34
Speaker
that she could potentially write. And so she wrote a few entries for that, a rhyming chronological book about the Bible. And that's what we submitted to a few publishers originally when I was first getting my start. But yeah, she never
00:43:55
Speaker
She never really started with the idea of being an established author. She started with the idea of helping her husband get his feet under him in his career. And that is so who she is. And I, oh man, I admire that woman so much. She's always been someone who kind of helps lift up. So, yeah.
00:44:25
Speaker
in terms of process day-to-day, she's kind of my in-house art director. She's really good at articulating herself. So she can communicate to me really well what is missing in the illustration, what kids will connect to, what moms will connect to.
00:44:52
Speaker
And I listened to her, I've learned to listen to her. Sometimes my ideas are too far out there that people might not connect to him. And so she's able to kind of gently rein me in a little bit. And then, so right now she's working on another devotional. Our first devotional that we worked on together was, who is Jesus? 40 pictures to share with your family. And it's a devotional for families,
00:45:21
Speaker
biblical theology. So all of these stories from Scripture that point us to Christ. And so that process, she'll write, write, write, research, research, research, and then she'll read her samples to me. And it's just been such a lovely collaboration to be able to
00:45:49
Speaker
go deeper into the word together, to ask questions of each other, to discover the absolute artistry of the Bible and how it's knit together. And it's like an archaeological site, you uncover some treasure and then you move that treasure off to the side and underneath is another treasure. People don't realize how
00:46:19
Speaker
amazing the Word of God is, how interconnected and the way different themes echo over and over and over again and then culminate in Christ. It really does bolster the faith to see how incredibly intricately crafted the Word of God is. And so we've been able to discover that together in this journey and it's brought us closer together.
00:46:49
Speaker
It's boosted our individual faith, but also our faith as a family. So we're able to share these discoveries with our kids that we find in the Word. Collaboration in a marriage toward the Lord is such a good thing. I love it. And you and Katie are such a great match in that way. Thank you.
00:47:15
Speaker
And I have so, so enjoyed our conversation. I am fascinated by people like you in the world who have the gifts you have. And there just are not very many in my view. There are not very many. And so it makes it all the more encouraging and interesting to be able to just hear about what you do. So thanks for spending that time with me. Yeah, it's been a joy.
00:47:45
Speaker
And just like that, this bonus episode closes out season two of Straight to the Heart. Can you believe it? But season three is coming soon, so it's a good time to look back at the first two seasons and click play on any episodes you may have missed or listen again to your favorites.
00:48:02
Speaker
And please continue to like, share, subscribe, and rate the podcast to help us reach more listeners. We appreciate you, our faithful subscribers, and look forward to seeing you in season three. This is Straight to the Heart.