October 14, 2021

Way-Makers are always survived by unfinished work. This is why heroes are always conquered by a monster. Why authors have posthumously published work. Why artists have models and half-sculpted forms in their empty workshops. If they were not in the middle of creating that change, of forging that way, when death came upon them, they would have ceased to be a way-maker long before their heart ceased to beat. These things do not exist because they are failures, but because they are successes. Beowulf’s death is not a defeat, but a victory!

August 17, 2021

If Not You… Who?

“Before you were born, I dedicated you.”

Do you know what the basis is behind all conspiracy theories?

• Is it that someone controls all our tech?

• That someone controls all our minds?

• That someone has put chips inside all the bananas, so now we have chips inside us, that are telling someone, somewhere, the blood pressure levels of every person on earth so that they can put this information to dastardly purposes! *gasp here for dramatic effect*

No.

…Well, sort of.

The basis behind every conspiracy theory is the idea that somebody, somewhere, knows all the secrets about life.

This person is a danger to us because none of us have a clue about life. The idea that somebody out there actually knows the secret to life, and isn’t telling us… Well, that sounds like a pretty powerful, pretty evil person.

I’m not an evil mastermind, and I don’t have all the secrets to life… but I do have one. And it’s kind of THE one. In fact, it’s very existence destroys any basis for wild, overblown conspiracy theories…

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength;” and “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)

I used to play the comparison game constantly, and I didn’t even realize it was happening. I thought others could do anything I tried to do better than me. I thought if I didn’t evangelize, someone else would. I thought if I didn’t defend Christ, someone else would. I decided it was enough to just feel love for God - I had abandoned Him in my mind, and thus, I did so with my actions. I had failed to love Him with my whole strength. The love in my heart wasn’t true love.

If you truly love God in your heart, you love Him in every thought. And if you truly love Him in every thought, You love Him with your every action.

The Lord has dedicated you to a unique, unrepeatable life. No matter if you don’t have life figured out. No matter if you’re not as good at something as the next person. No matter if you don’t want to do it.

NOBODY has it figured out. NOBODY wants to do the hard stuff. NOBODY is as good as God, and yet, He chose you to do His work. Your imperfect attempts please Him more than if He did it Himself.

So if He’s called you, are you going to listen?

July 18, 2021

Heart Ridge is not my home. But it IS my current sphere of activity.

Right now, I am like Ruth, working in the fields, gathering the sheaves that are dropped by the workers. But one day, I will marry Boaz and be mistress of all.

I am called to learn here, and grow. I am called to discover what it means to “gather sheaves,” not in an impoverished way, but in a way of learning how the Lord provides, the kindness of others, and the growth of my own heart.

I will be stretched here.

I already have been.

The beauty of this place captivates me, and it’s potential excites me… Meanwhile, what am I called to do?

July 15, 2021

What’s your route this time?

It’s more up in the air than before. I headed out from Springfield to Shawnee National Forest (southern tip of Illinois. I could see Kentucky across the Ohio River from my campsite.) on the 9th of July, and expected to stay 1 day, but stayed 4. Then I drove to Chattanooga Tennessee for one overnight stop, and then to my friends’ house in South Carolina. Now I’m headed to a Catholic retreat center an hour and a half away, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to stay for an indeterminate amount of time, and help them out. I’m also working to get an event set up in Nashville Tennessee, and potentially Louisiana. So we’ll see where God takes me in August. 🥰

July 12, 2021

St. Joseph, I am your biggest fan!

I am listening to a talk, I forget by what speaker, about St. Theresa of Avila, and he is proclaiming your manliness, your willingness to adventure, your sturdiness! And I am literally cheering aloud. No one can acclaim you loud enough to please me. He referenced a painting about you leading the Holy Family into Egypt, and I cannot but wonder whether it is my painting - the one I love. For you are manly in this story. A leader, a sturdy protector - an adventurer going out into the unknown. How I love you!

Oh silent protector. Walk beside me everywhere I go. I will cling to your hand, a willing little child, following wherever you lead.

Father, my heart is so full of love and joy. I do not want to cease speaking to you. I do not want to go to sleep. You have sat down beside my bed, allowing me to prattle on a little longer about my love for you, rather than admonishing me to close my eyes. Where are we going next? Oh, papa, do more work in my soul. It is so gentle, so kind, so loving. How nurturing a presence you are!

I cannot imagine you in any perplexity or difficulty! How did you not know you must take Mary into your home? You know everything, oh good father, you must have known that.

You are so far above me that I am like a little child looking upon her wise father, thinking that he could not - oh no, never he - have ever been a child like me!

The speaker continues on, speaking of Theresa, but I am only half-listening. My mind has switched track to you. Please guide me as you guided her. She began this devotion to you. Allow me to carry on this tradition, please. Oh please, allow me to spread devotion to you. May our relationship extend to others. May I teach others how to speak to you, how to listen to you. This is not a mere year of St. Joseph, is it? Please, allow it to be a lifetime! How easy to come to Jesus and Mary, when we come to them through you! You wish everything for their best. You guard them unlike any other protector. You guide them into the very best ports. You turn even a stable into a palace.

Show me, please, how to love them as you loved them. Thank you for including me into their inner circle, for I know that you have veto power to send me away. But no. You choose to let me be a fourth wheel in your perfect family structure. I, who am so much more a sinner than yourself, you have allowed me to be with Mary and Jesus, those sinless two, who put even you to shame. Oh papa, thank you! In their presence, I receive such love to give to others. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Your home is here, in Carl [my van]. I have come to be your servant. If I must give my life and blood for you, I will give it willingly. Lead me to the persons and places you wish me to bring you. Thank you. Amen.

Please, stay with me until I fall asleep. I must clean my car, take and apply my medicine, and do my story. But I do not want you to go. Stay, until I fall asleep. You sit in a corner of my nursery, in a rocking chair made by your hands, and quietly read your book. I understand from this action that I am free to do whatever I wish, but you will be watching over me. Thank you for your paternal protection. Amen.

July 10, 2021

There is an intense thunderstorm raging outside. I cannot sleep through the noise, and I am worried, because an electronic transfer that I put through 2 days ago has yet to appear in my account. My cell signal is spotty.

And yet…

I am physically safe. St. Joseph has assured me that I am operating on a budget - when I get money, it’s time to move on, and when I don’t, I stay. I do not need to worry about having too little. I am concerned about my next stop: I will probably drive through rain tomorrow, if I receive the funds for gas, and the camping spot is a little difficult to reach. Will it be too dangerous, with all the rain? And if I cannot move on, will I spend another night in rain? I don’t know how well I will sleep, or if I will have the battery life to last that long, without running my car. But maybe, I just need to read during the day, and pray at night, if battery power runs low.

The final thing is that I left the tent uncovered last night, with a few items inside. A water bottle - no problem there. A bag of food - soggy, but should be mostly ok. And my journal + Count of Monte Cristo. They will probably be unusable now, which makes me sad. I love my journal from Emily, and I hope it’s ok… but I don’t see how.

Morning after…

The sun sure does shine brighter in the morning, and that’s not just a figure of speech!

My journal is salvageable. My tent is drying. The transfer hasn’t gone through, and now it’s the weekend, so guess I’m hanging here for a few days. All God’s timing. I feel safe, secure, and even though I had a scare with the brake light on the dashboard, nothing feels wrong with the brakes, so I’m just going to drive over to Elizabethtown to purchase some brake fluid this evening, and see if that solves the problem. I currently have $19.36 in my account. Enough to buy fluid, ice bag for the cooler, and $10 worth of gas. Oh yeah. Living free, and on a budget!

This is what happens when launching a full time business from nothing, but it’s NOT gonna happen much longer! I’m signing 6 students for my Catholic Creators Course this month. With the first release discount, that is $4200 income for this month. All students are paying in full - some are on payment plans.

I am speaking into this with trust, with thanksgiving, and with joy. I know God has given me this knowledge and talent to share with others. So I trust Him to send me the clients who need this. Thank you Lord Jesus that I am forming creative leaders for your kingdom!

Ooh… random thought. God gave me male friends to teach me how to coach occasional male students. With all the conversations Christian and Isaac and I have, plus my experiences (good and growth) with my brothers.

July 5, 2021

Notes for My First Talk

Who Am I and Why Am I Talking to You Today?

Build my business

Surrender

Inspire

I can inspire you, not by sharing all the bad things in my own life, but rather, but encouraging you to do what I have done. Rather than focusing and narrowing in on all the ways God hasn’t shown up for you the way you want him to, instead, praise Him for his blessings.

Write 10 gratitudes in the morning.

Notice 3 things at night that He showed up for you during the day:

1. I wonder what wonders God has in store for my life?

2. I wonder how God worked that out?

3. Look for God, Open yourself to gratitude, and to Trust in God

   Trusting in God

Place to place, person to person

• It’s not about the numbers, its about the quality of the interaction

Men and Women Profit differently

Men: Push forward to create. “By the sweat of their brow” they earn their daily bread, and the daily bread of their family

Women: Surrender themselves to the providing of others, in particular God, from whom they receive everything.

Quote: From “For Women Only” about St. Paul’s evaluation of men loving and women surrendering.

Women do not naturally surrender: it is a trait we develop, and when we engage in surrender, we are far more fulfilled than any success we gain on our own

If you find yourself pushing, you are banging your head against a brick wall. God is your lover, and he wants to give you everything you need.

Men do not naturally work: it is a trait you develop, and when you work, you gain far more satisfaction through that activity than if someone just gave you something.

Now, quick caveat: these are the deep needs of men and women, but we are all human. Men still desire and delight in gifts, and women still desire and delight in work. But those activities should be supplementary to our deep, made-for activities.

June 1, 2021

Why a Renewal of Our Dying World?

The Problem

Do you see depression and sadness everywhere you turn? Whether from family death and fear of illness, the toll of remaining solitary and indoors for over a year, or deeper roots that stem from far beyond any 2020 pain... whether from abortion, contraception, human trafficking, or fear of your business being sued... whether from churches closing their doors, sacraments taken away from the faithful, or constant growing scandal within our hierarchy...

These, and many others, are real and ever present sorrows, and they lead us to question, ‘what if...?’

• What if the ones I love die from illness?

• What if I act uncharitably?

• What if the world turns into a living hell?

• What if the Catholic church falls apart?

• What if I can no longer gain access to Christ?

And for creators, Satan is able to twist those ‘what if’s’ into even more specific lies...

• What if my talents aren’t something others can appreciate?

• What if my gifts aren’t enough to save the world?

• What if no one buys the things I make?

• What if I can’t pierce the darkness with my light?

When we live in ‘what if’s,’ we live in doubt. When we live in doubt, we live in inaction. When we live in inaction, we do not live at all.

The Solution

Turn those ‘what if’s’ into ‘I wonder how’s’...

When we wonder how, we change doubt into awe; we open the door in the windows of our souls for God’s solutions to flood in.

When we wonder how, we make room for miracles.

This was the difference between Zachariah and Mary. If you doubt, turn to the opening chapters of Luke’s Gospel. When Gabriel proclaimed the good news, Mary asked how, and Zachariah asked ‘Are you crazy?’

We all know what happened to each of them.

• I wonder how God will provide

• I wonder how I can be charitable

• I wonder how God will save the world

• I wonder how God will save the Church

• I wonder how Christ will make himself available to me

Do you see??? The light these questions bring! It is empowering, because we are no longer relying on our own strength, our own understanding. As James admonishes in the first chapter of his Letter, we are immersing ourselves in the strength of God’s solutions.

For artists, ask these questions instead when you become plagued with ‘What if’s’:

• I wonder how my talents can serve others

• I wonder how my gifts will contribute to the salvation of the world

• I wonder how the Lord will reveal to me my audience and market

• I wonder how my work will pierce the darkness with light

The solution is Christ. The solution is trusting that he gave us talents, gifts, and creativity for a reason, and it is not for us to question the gift, but rather, how we use it. Not whether we should, but how we should. 

We are created to believe that God has already saved the world. We are created to hope for His solutions. We are created to contribute our gifts to the world.

We are created with three little words in mind: Faith, Hope, and Love.

May 14, 2021

Hello beautiful friends, family, and world!

If you like to travel, or know a young woman who does, please keep reading.

I am looking for a traveling buddy for a US roadtrip I want to take this year, from July 1st to Aug 31st. I’m looking for someone who would be a good fit with me temperamentally, and would LOVE the adventure of loosely planning the trip, but also totally open to spontaneous side trips and occasional rough living. We would be reveling in beauty, hiking through mountains, and maybe Kayaking, maybe not. (I mean, I would love to Kayak, but this is my first road trip, so I’m also interested in safety, and only taking on what we can swallow. So maybe as extreme as Kayaking, maybe not! :D)

I’ll be starting near Springfield IL, and venturing out probably East first, then tackling the great Midwest and West.

But there’s more to this than just a road trip.... If you are a Catholic creator and love the way of beauty, or know a young woman who is yearning for these things, please keep reading.

I am the founder of the Flight House, a company dedicated to providing support and collaboration with Catholic artists across the English Speaking world, especially those who’s work is not necessarily Catholic at first glance.

As part of this mission, I am taking my work on the road to connect in-person with Catholic artists in the US. My goal is to stop near certain cities to bring Catholics together into a meeting that combines intellectual pursuit, creative enterprise, networking, and probably some ultimate frisbee. :D

I will be documenting this trip through Instagram and Youtube Videos, and I am inviting you to be a part of that online presence. My #1 goal this trip is to inspire Catholic creators, fill them with joy, and break down the idea that we are in this alone.

Often, we must be alone to create. But we don’t need to stay alone. We create in order to unite: to connect with others, to find someone who proclaims, in the words of C.S. Lewis, "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .” ― (his definition of friendship in The Four Loves)

I can’t pay you. We would split all travel costs 60/40 (gas, camping sites, motel rooms). And you would be responsible for your own food. By joining me on this trip, you are not becoming an employee or affiliate of the Flight House, though I’ll be honest, it would be awesome if this was a segway into that next step!

If you’re ok with the above, and with living on a budget for 2 months, I can guarantee you that this is going to be an adventure! If you have any ideas, suggestions, exciting thoughts around what else we can do on this trip, I want to hear them! I want to make this a true collaboration.

Let’s meet over Zoom, and see if we would be a good fit together. Please email me at ElizabethBernadetteRussell@gmail.com. If you’re reading this and you already know me, give me a call!

Simple Breakdown:

You’re a perfect fit if...

1. You’re a young, single Catholic woman

2. You like adventures in the great outdoors!

3. You like roadtrips and camping

4. You like connecting with Catholic creators and thinkers

5. You like collaborating over ideas and thinking outside the box

6. You’re looking for something different, creative, brave, and exciting!

7. You want to make a difference in the Catholic world

8. You love Jesus above all else, and want to visit Cathedrals, shrines, grottos, etc

9. You’re not camera shy, podcast shy, or SM shy (or at least, not too shy to do it!)

May 14, 2021

The Flight House Management is Changing

Hello friends! We’ve been doing some shuffling over here at the Flight House lately: encountering deeper discernment and direction.

Tim has discerned to step down as Co-Founder. Realizing that his heart abides more in the creative pursuits, and not in the administerial work, he will be moving on to other activities. I’m sad to see him go, but know that the Lord is moving through all of this, and bringing great fruit into this next stage in both our lives. Thank you Lord Jesus for the new and exciting things that are right around the corner!

I’ll be keeping you apprised of new developments, but rest assured the Flight House is still moving and grooving. I’ve been taking active steps to complete the course, and you can actually hear more about that in the latest podcast episode. If you only have a short amount of time, I HIGHLY recommend listening to the first ten minutes. It’s a deep dive into where the Flight House is already helping others, and what we will continue to bring to you as we move forward.

Please keep us in your prayers - and keep an eye out for an exciting update tomorrow!!!

February 15, 2021

What is Art?

Etienne Gilson once said that ‘Art is Making.’

A character, Eliot Spencer, from the TV Show “Leverage” says this, ‘It’s not just food. Alright, some people could look at it and see just food, but not me. I see art. When I’m in the kitchen I’m creating something out of nothing, you know what I mean, and sometimes I crush it, sometimes its crap, but either way, it makes me feel something.... This is my art.... It’s like letting a stranger in your head, just for a second, and you allow them to feel what you’re feeling.”

Craft

In both these contexts, Eliot and Etienne are speaking of creating as a ‘craft.’ I have no desire to minimize the importance of craft - it is a beautiful and necessary practice. But the question arises whether there is a distinction between ‘craft’ and ‘art’, in a real and tangible sense.

We can craft many things: couches, food, clothing, etc - which are both practical and beautiful. And then we have art which is not practical: paintings, novels, film, theatre, etc. And these things are sometimes beautiful, sometimes terrifying, and yet, can all be called art.

vs. Art

What distinguishes art from craft, other than the fact that it is impractical, and how can we clarify that distinction?

This is the question that arose in a conversation I was having lately with one of our patrons. We both attended the same small Liberal Arts college, and read The Art of the Beautiful, by Etienne Gilson, and as an artist herself, she said his definition of art never truly satisfied her.

The deeper we delved into the topic, the more we realized that art is what ‘cannot be fully captured in any other way; it is indefinable; beyond what we can capture.”

Let me explain.

The Meaning of Life

Catholicism inevitably entered into our conversation at this point, and for good reason. As Catholics, we are fortunate that we can sometimes take short cuts in these types of conversations.

Instead of trying to work our way solely from the bottom of the argument: art, to the top of it: the reason for art, we can sometimes jump to the reason and work our way back, encountering the fullness of the question somewhere in the middle.

Because we know that the ultimate aim of anything on earth is a deeper union with God. That’s the easy answer, the cheating answer, in a sense, to anything we ask. So sometimes, if we get stuck, we can jump there and ask, “How does art pursue and bring us deeper into God?”

As creators, we were then able to apply our own experience to this question. When creating art, we are trying to meet ourselves and God within the work. Art combines the human experience with the Great Mysteries.

By Great Mysteries, I mean questions such as:

• How can God allow Suffering?

• Who is God?

• What is the Incarnation, and why was it necessary?

• Why did God create me?

These are questions to which we can apply Catechism answers, but unless we know our infinite God in His totality, then we can never fully understand them.

Not only does art ask these questions, it seeks to answer them. On some fundamental level, since we are created in God’s image, we can answer them, and often the answer is not something we can put into words or a direct image translation. The artist is hinting at a reality she herself does not understand.

But the artist feels that reality, and seeks to encounter it through the greatest act of a human being: creating. The act of creating is part of this question and answer process, just as much as the final artistic work.

And after the work is created, we can, as Eliot said, let ‘a stranger in your head, just for a second, and you allow them to feel what you’re feeling’. And this feeling, for an artist of impractical artwork, is awe, confusion, joy, passion, and succor.

February 2, 2021

Hope in a World Torn Apart

“As far as building creative careers, those are over. The market is crashing all around, and careers and options are in the can.”

This is what one lady told me when I told her what I do. She went on to say that “You can’t coach someone to succeed in a game when the rules are changing constantly.” And then she laid out a game plan for how I could shift my entire career path toward teaching kids just coming out of Highschool on how to get successful, traditional, safe jobs.

It’s tempting to agree with her. A creative career is a gamble, and maybe it’s not worth it. She concluded with these words, “You need to be more self-disciplined and less hopeful if you want stuff to work.”

I am a creative career coach, and I coach women through the process of building a lucrative creative career. This job goes hand-in-hand with the entrepreneurial position I have undertaken - alongside my brother - of building a company dedicated to supporting Catholic artists.

My heart hurt after she said these things, but only for a moment. I turned to prayer, and immediately found solace in my heavenly Father, as He assured me, “I have not led you this far down this path for nothing. Believe in me.”

I do not believe creative careers are over. If we have been created with the drive to imitate our creator, and create in his image, as He did for us, then why would He snatch that opportunity away? Despite what many seem to believe, ours is not a vindictive God. He plants desires in our hearts because He plans to bring them to fruition. The Lord has called those of us who are artists to be creative. To ignore that call would be to stifle and kill something Godlike, and Godgiven, within us.

The Despair

Fundamentally, I am a voice against all those who would say we can no longer create; who would hold up any excuse to get out of rebuilding our world. And believe me, we can find many excuses: the world’s economy, depravity, or enjoyment in the ugly and deformed; the belief in man’s inability to rise above his circumstances: “we must play the hand we’re dealt, and hope for heaven;” or even the belief that SOME people are creative enough to make it, but not me: I just dabble: I could never be a second Michelangelo.

With attitudes like that, who needs the devil to destroy art? He’s off somewhere else, toppling the statues and art of the old world; burning Notre Dame and looting churches, while we bury ourselves in a world that sees no hope for rebuilding culture.

The Hope

But is hope merely dead weight?

In JPII’s letter to artists, he lays out the philosophy that we are not only created to ‘dominate the earth’, but that artists have a unique connection to God that allows them to communicate him to the world.

“Through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image of God”, and he accomplishes this task above all in shaping the wondrous “material” of his own humanity and then exercising creative dominion over the universe which surrounds him.... as Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa made clear: “Creative art, which it is the soul's good fortune to entertain, is not to be identified with that essential art which is God himself, but is only a communication of it and a share in it”. That is why artists, the more conscious they are of their “gift”, are led all the more to see themselves and the whole of creation with eyes able to contemplate and give thanks, and to raise to God a hymn of praise. This is the only way for them to come to a full understanding of themselves, their vocation and their mission.”

“You need to be more self-disciplined and less hopeful if you want stuff to work.” The same lady quoted above said this to me as well.

God bless her, she fears for mine, and every artists’, future. She has seen me start projects, and then drop them, as I built myself up in discipline, health, and direction, and now she fears, not only that I will not follow through with my call from the Lord, but that the Lord is not calling me at all. Not to this task. This task, she says, ‘is over’.

If the task of rebuilding culture, of teaching others how to create and share that work with others, of teaching them how to do this full-time, so that we can move away both from the ‘starving artists’ mentality, and the mentality of ‘dabbling’ in an etsy shop... if this task is dead, then I must believe that God has given up on us all.

Truly, right before World War II, in Warsaw Poland, a little priest began a monthly paper entitled Knight of the Immaculate. He circulated it on a shoe-string budget, and brought many hearts and minds into the faith, and into a sincere devotion to Mary.

And in another part of Poland, at the same time, a seminarian was doing impromptu theatre with his friends in outdoor corners of the country.

Who are we to say that God only called Maximilian and Karol Wojtyla? Who are we to tell Him that He can’t call us, too? We can stand at the brink of the end and say, “What use is it to call me to build culture? Don’t you see it crumbling? Come on God, stop being so dang hopeful all the time. People are going around wearing masks and shutting down churches, for crying out loud! They’re looting churches and killing priests. God, why don’t you bother more with the big stuff? Stop calling me to the impossible.”

In the beautiful words of JPII, “The artist has a special relationship to beauty. In a very true sense it can be said that beauty is the vocation bestowed on him by the Creator in the gift of “artistic talent”. And, certainly, this too is a talent which ought to be made to bear fruit, in keeping with the sense of the Gospel parable of the talents.”

Is it impossible to constantly see beauty? Is it impossible to rejoice in the talent we have received? If beauty invigorates you, if creating excites you, where are you hiding? Come out, come out to the light, and share your beauty with the world.

Hope is not dead. Hope is the resurrection and the life, which has already conquered death, and led us all into the light of freedom. We are free to create, free to worship, and free to immerse ourselves in the glory of God.

What if I’m Not An Artist?

In the words, again, of JPII, “Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece.”

We are not called to be like those of this world. If the world is cowering in darkness, we are called to smile in the light. If the world is afraid of dying, we are called to die as martyrs. And if the world is destroying art, we are called to create, promote, and support it.

The Flight House, the business my brother and I are launching, is more than a place for artists: it is an opportunity for artists, sponsors, art enthusiasts, business entrepreneurs, and everyday Catholics to connect and support each other. It’s a place to immerse ourselves in beautiful entertainment that does not serve an agenda, but rejoices in the creation and journey of life that we, as Catholics - created in the Image and Likeness of God - have undertaken.

When the World is Against Us

In this past year, God has shown me, time and again, how He operates OUTSIDE the world’s laws. When I began working for Freedom After the Trauma Conference in August of 2020, it was nothing more than an idea in my friend’s head of changing the world’s narrative on trauma, and spreading the belief that ANYONE can heal and live a full life, no matter their trauma. Now, it is an organization, which held an online conference in October, now has a board of directors, and is quickly shaping up to be the most controversial and transformative organization on the planet. All this, because my friend believed what was spoken by God into her heart: that she did not experience trauma for nothing; that she is His beloved, and is called to heal the world.

I saw this with Woman School, which two years ago, was also only an idea centered around human formation, but is now a fast-growing organization of women who are transforming the lives of millions of women across the planet, helping them design beautiful marriages, families, careers, and freindships.

These organizations were successful for one reason, and one reason alone: they believed. And with this belief came the organization, built up with collaboration, skill building, routine, and dreaming.

We only stop creating when we believe it’s impossible. But nothing is impossible with God. If we believe it’s impossible, then we have lost the gift of the Resurrection. My friend was right: we need discipline. Now, more than ever, we must practice the consistent discipline that meets with results. But it is the consistency of belief, practice, creation, and promotion, not the consistency of trying to play the world’s games, and getting dragged into despair. We’re not playing the world’s games: we are embracing that God and His methods are greater. God uses the world’s means, but is not confined to them. If the world changes the game on us, so be it: we’ll be adaptable, indefatigable, and joyful! Because creating in the image of God is a joyful activity!

So, to conclude, I will not be redirecting my career path. To do so is to ignore the call He has placed on my heart, and to doubt the skills He has given me. He has made me a writer, an entrepreneur, a career coach, and only HIS voice will I allow to speak over me! Will you join me? Will you help Christ rebuild a beautiful, life-giving culture?

January 26, 2021

“Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the Child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you.” Mat 1:13

I can’t say it came to me in a dream, but it was that in-between time when you wake with a wonderful problem on your mind, and then suddenly, with a bolt of lightening, you know the answer.

The answer that came to me that morning in early November of 2020, and which sparked everything that has come out of The Flight House since, was the simple idea of a communal crowd-funding platform that brings together 25 Catholic creators, to learn together, grow together, and hold each other accountable.

I was a bit ower-awed by this idea. It so perfectly married two problems I was trying to sort out: whether or not to continue to grow my author crowd-funding platform (which I had just begun earlier that month), and how to raise funds and build a following for the podcast my friend Ina and I were starting.

I came into the living room of our lovable little apartment where my brother sat at the work table, grinding away at the sales job that was slowly sucking away his motivation, and I told him the idea.

Seldom, before, was my brother so receptive to my grand-scheme ideas, but this one made so much sense, it satisfied a creative craving in both our hearts, and promised community, a livable income, and everything else that seemed too good to be true, and yet the solution seemed suddenly so simple and feasible.

BEHIND THE NAME

“And you know what the name is? Flight House!”

Tim smiled. Another piece of the puzzle that made perfect sense. Of course it would be named The Flight House - it was nestling snuggly into the vision we had had for The Flight House from the first.

What is The Flight House?

Back in September of 2020, when I was still living with my parents, I was out driving one day. It was one of the few moments in my life when I was guaranteed to spend time alone. During that drive, I lifted a prayer to St. Joseph. “I want to move out,” I prayed. “I want to flee this position in life that I know is wrong for me. I want to enter into the world and find my place in it - wherever God intends. This is my Flight into Egypt. Please help me to move out, and when I do, I will name my new home, Flight House.”

After that, St. Joseph worked swiftly. He introduced Tim and I to downtown Lisle, he showed us many apartments, and he opened Tim to the idea of paying rent for both of us right away, until I could contribute to the household expenses as well, and filled out hearts with the desire to fill our home with friends, community, and creativity.

Both in our mid-twenties, we needed to move out of our parent’s home, and St. Joseph was helping to make it happen. But little did we know how obvious he would be about taking credit.

There was one apartment building in downtown Lisle that had open apartments within our price range, but the issue was that they were all one-bedroom. One bedroom? I don’t think so.

But we had resolved to look at a place every week until we found the right spot, so we decided to look at this one. I remember the drive over. Every time we drove to Lisle, it felt like coming home.

We got to the complex and fell in love with our landlady. I had forgotten my mask, but she let that slide, which put us at our ease. And when we saw the apartment...!

It was a large front room, a large bedroom, and a tiny sliver of a fully-furnished kitchen. But the icing on the cake - will you believe it if I tell you that it sat right across the street from a creek called St. Joseph?

And the apartment address itself was St. Joseph Creek Road.

Truly, I say to you, it was so.

We moved in a week and a half later. We divided the bedroom with bookcases, filled the apartment with our books and bookshelves, and hosted our friends so that the large space felt small; and immediately, it became our home.

The Flight House: named for St. Joseph

The dream: to fill our home with community

The vision: to write books, publish podcasts, and discuss beauty... how could we not carry the Flight House name beyond our brief sojourn on St. Joseph Creek road?

This crowdfunding idea was the unifying string that would tie the whole project of moving out and building an intentional life for ourselves together. It carried the beauty of St. Joseph’s patronage forward into our future lives.

FROM THE GROUND UP

That crowdfunding idea is still at the root of the Flight House, but it has also become so much more.

We have added in a course for creators, to teach creation, promotion, and profit.

We have started so many creative ventures: podcasts, videos, books, articles, and more.

We have onboarded Ina Castillo, my friend and podcast companion, as our third member of the Flight House, in our process of slowly building toward 25 members. And the graces that come from her presence have been spilling over into our lives with great abundance! Christ gives us everything we need, and as we encounter each new step in our process of building this from the ground up, we have found that to be true.

The Flight House is fundamentally a training ground. It lays the groundwork to teach how to build community among creatives, develop a devoted following and audience, earn a livable income (even an income capable of supporting a family), and most fundamentally, create quality work on a consistent basis.

Mission Statement:

The Flight House is spearheading the training and promoting of artists for the New Renaissance. At the forefront of Catholic creation, The Flight House is channeling an explosion of Catholic Art.

INVITATION

We would like to invite you to join us in our journey. We have several opportunities for how you can enter with us into this amazing mission.

1. Take our Course

2. Private Coaching

3. Crowdfund us as a Flight House Member

4. Sign up for our email list

January 26, 2021

The Flight House

Mission Statement:

Channeling an explosion of Catholic creativity, The Flight House is spearheading the forefront of training and promoting artists for the New Renaissance.

Structure:

Currently 3 Catholic Creators (eventually will max out at 25) who oversee basic operations of the business, training new creators through the course we are building, engaging with students, and building one another up.

• Elizabeth Russell: Secretary and Co-Founder - Responsible for keeping meeting minutes and itineraries, drafting course, and corresponding with potential students

• Timothy Russell: Treasurer and Co-Founder - Responsible for book-keeping, fine-tuning the course, and keeping track of paperwork.

• Ina Castillo: Content Creator and Marketer - Responsible for instagram marketing, drafting course, and corresponding with potential students

Course:

A three month course to teach creators how to create consistently, promote their work, and profit.

What need do we see?

The world is currently inundated with agenda’d art - art that seeks to convey a message, more than to stand on it’s own two feet. And there are two types of that agenda: Cultural and Christian.

The current culture seeks to teach; and not only to teach, but to indoctrinate the masses into the beliefs that it upholds as most sacred. These three they hold most sacred: the glorification of the individual, subjective sexual morality, and the scientific debunking of religion.

The creation of fine art, film, books, and music all embrace these three sacred social tenants, and sacrifice good story-telling to the justification of those beliefs.

This is a position for which we will not longer stand!

The Christian culture falls into this trap as well, by veering too far to the other extreme. Recognizing the immoral message of the culture, but failing to recognize that art ought not to teach, the Christian world has embraced creation as a medium for spreading its own beliefs. Even though I often happen to agree with those beliefs, I still have difficulty appreciating a work of art that is subjected to an agenda. These people have good hearts and, I have seen with my own eyes, have changed lives. For this, I am grateful to them.

However, for art to exist in this medium is only a slightly better alternative than the cultural agenda. It is not allowing art to live and breath in its own greatest sphere.

Art as it should be

Art is difficult. I will start by admitting this aloud, and then proceed by explaining myself. Art is difficult.

It is difficult in many ways:

• to explain

• to create

• to understand

• to know completely

and this is as it should be. Walter Blythe, in the seventh novel of the Anne of Green Gables series, declares it best: “That is one reason why I like writing poetry - you can say so many things in it that are true in poetry but wouldn’t be true in prose.”

I have felt this with poetry, with story, with music - these things strike us on a deeper level, and if we can sum them up in one unpoetical phrase, then the artist has failed in their creation. If we can subject Pride and Prejudice to the callous summary that it is a book about a man and a woman who hate each other to begin with, but love each other by the end, then why did Austen write Pride and Prejudice in the first place? She could have saved herself so much trouble.

If we can say of Michaelangelo’s David that it is a representation of a God-fearing young man, then why look at it? He could have been spending his time reading 2nd Samuel.

I cannot define art, but I will venture to go this far: it is a seeking after indefinable truths through the lens of beauty, or the lack thereof.

That is a paltry attempt.

I just looked up Oxford Languages definition, and I think it’s pretty good: “Art: 1.

the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

I like their inclusion of the words ‘imagination,’ ‘beauty,’ and ‘emotional power.’

The term art may be able to be defined (and like I said, I really like Oxford’s), but the application of it is impossible. Because it is relegated to the imagination, it expands beyond creed, doctrine, or social expectation. To confine it to such ideas is to stifle it. It is imagination that shows us that life is so much broader and richer than the boxes into which we put ourselves, and art applies the imagination, taking that boundlessness and confining, capturing it, using structure, medium, and technique. (Incidentally, this is why I enjoy Catholicism. It, too, though on a separate level, constantly challenges our man-made boxes and structures, all while adhering to basic, unflinching principles that keep us ever striding down the untraveled road.)

The Flight House and Art

My brother and I believe, and Ina agrees with us, that as Catholics, we are all called to be saints, and CAN be saints.

Living our best lives, and living them for Christ, is our own personal path to sanctity. When we are doing that, and intentionally building our own moral imaginations, then I believe in cutting loose with creativity. We do not need to make our art mold itself into a specific idea, and fear leading others down the path of perdition.

The Lord of the Rings is a very good example. Written by a devoutly Catholic man, can we say it has ever converted anyone to Catholicism? Perhaps, one in a million, and I’d love to meet that person, but in general, it is no Mere Christianity. And yet, the world it creates paints a picture of a world that captivates, entrants, awakens imagination, and immerses the reader in beauty. This world is Tolkien’s masterpiece.

Now, I will tell you about a sad thing I once came across. Apparently, there is a society in and around Chicago that dresses in Elf (and other LotR costumes) and meets regularly to discuss Tolkien’s world. So far, not a problem. But you see, they have taken the world structure of Middle Earth and made it a religion for themselves. They have woodland dances, moonlit seances, etc. They genuinely believe that Tolkien took an real ancient religion and coded it into his books. It is this religion that they follow.

Could we, from this last example, build an argument around Tolkien’s work and argue that he should never have written it, because it has led to this sin?

Most definitely. We could definitely build that argument. But I don’t think we should.

It’s not that the good outweighs the bad - that’s a whole other argument that I’m not going to get into right now. But rather, that Tolkien did nothing wrong in letting his imagination run free. We was creating.

If we say Tolkien should not have created because it led to sin, then we must say God should never have created, because it led to sin.

No more putting “shoulds” and barriers on Catholic and Christian creation. By creating within the freedoms of who we are striving to be, we can create great work, even if our own lives are not perfect, our skill is not perfect, and our creation is not perfect. Even as we accept that we are limited, we embrace that imagination is not. We are not responsible, in imaginative creation, to convert others. We are only responsible for creating.

In Summary

The Flight House is spearheading this movement away from agenda’d art, and into a New Renaissance of beauty, as an overflow of the moral imagination. I see this overflow happening all around me. In grassroots, devout Catholic circles, Tolkien, Chesterton, George MacDonald, C. S. Lewis, T. S. Eliot, and many more, have fertilized a soil of young people who are yearning for beauty. Not finding it in the culture around them, their own minds have become the gardens in which they are building a new world of richness and depth.

I want to help cultivate that garden. I want to help bring beauty to life: Let’s help these artists’ work reach their audiences, inspire the world, and transform culture!

January 26, 2021

What is my vision for my life this year?

• Learn discipline

• Take risks

• Kneel outside churches

• Pray for the re-prioritization of our country, world, and Church