Parable Arrows

Do you live in or near Milwaukee? Well, come check us out at Eastbrook Church where we will have the same panel offered in Madison but in a new location! This event is FREE and we encourage anyone who wants to come to come! Take advantage of this fun opportunity that won't take your whole day but will give you a lot of wisdom and guidance!! In this panel we will talk about how to sift through media without fear. Hope to see you there!

Come listen and discuss with us in our first in-person panel and session at High Point Church in Madison Wisconsin!!! It is FREE and we will discuss how to consume modern media without fear of what can be out there. Will we be seeing you there?!?

Happy Valentine's Day ❤️💞❤️

Buckle up 90s kids, we're taking a swim in the nostalgia tank! In Free W***y, a film where Jesse, a young boy, befriends W***y, a performing killer whale, the story revolves around seeing the good in others. The film explores how encouraging others and building up the good in them can help them reach new heights. In this episode, Femi and Josh discuss the age old adage "It takes a village to raise a child," what caused Jesse's change of heart, and how we can draw from our own experiences to be compassionate.



Supporting Scripture:

John 15:9-17 / Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 / Luke 15:11-32 / The Friendship of David and Jonathan

Website: https://www.parablearrows.com/

Store: https://parablearrows.store/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parablearrows

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parablearrows

This is our first gritty fiction about two friends in a dangerous city trying to turn it around for the better.

Reader discretion advised: Contains explicit language, references to sexual assault, and violence

Specs and Razor Inc. [Explicit] - Chapter 1 of the Cyberpunk Anthology [Reader Discretion Advised: Contains explicit language, references to sexual assault, and violence] Angeldown was not a city for tourists. Not even a city for business. It was a spider web–silky strands stretched across a beachside waterfront by the rich. The web was now full of struggling flies t...

Our fundraiser for our first video production is LIVE! Recording begins this July and the series will air on YouTube Easter 2023.

The Sabbath of Sorrow: An Easter Video Series Many witnessed Jesus' crucifixion. The day after, what was on the minds of certain characters? | Check out 'The Sabbath of Sorrow: An Easter Video Series' on Indiegogo.

Episode 12 is out on all your favorite podcast platforms!

Remember, remember, the 5th of November! The 2005 film starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman shows the dangers of fear to a society. Whether in the mind of the average citizen or a deranged dictator, fear drives us to selfishness and forgetfulness of the humanity in others. In this episode, Femi and Josh discuss the importance of Jesus as a real person rather than just an idea, how to balance sympathy and accountability for people's genuine fears, and how Christians should approach conspiracy theories.

Story of Moses (Exodus) / Romans 12:19 / Book of Jeremiah / 1 Samuel 8 / Romans 12-14

Website: https://www.parablearrows.com/

Store: https://parablearrows.store/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parablearrows

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parablearrows

Episode 11 is live!

Encanto took the world by storm with its catchy soundtrack and lovable characters. Underneath its approachable exterior, Encanto addresses important issues like social pressure and exclusion when we don't measure up. In this episode, Femi and Josh discuss the film's themes of family, expectations, and generational healing.

Supporting Scripture:

Genesis 12:1-3 / Romans 12:3-8 / Galatians 6:2-6 / Ephesians 1:18-19 / James 2:1-13 / 1 Timothy 4:11-16 / 1 Timothy 5:1-2 / 1 Peter 5:5

Website: https://www.parablearrows.com/

Store: https://parablearrows.store/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parablearrows

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parablearrows

Podcast Episode 9! (On all your favorite podcasting platforms) Shout out to .muse for the post production!

Book of Eli is a film full of interesting themes about faith and power. Femi and Josh discuss how Book of Eli uses the Bible as a key player in one man's journey to selflessly preserve the sacred text and another's obsessive grasping for absolute power. Supporting Scripture:

Acts 28:3-6 / James 5:17 / Daniel 1-6 / Hebrews 4:12 / 2 Timothy 4

Website: https://www.parablearrows.com/

Store: https://parablearrows.store/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parablearrows

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parablearrows

"I began to lose consciousness. Disoriented, I tried to call my Maker, but I couldn’t. Then He came, rolling like thunder, and ripped the creature from my bark. I do not know who he was speaking to, but I heard a word I didn’t know–death."

In honor of Easter weekend, here is a short fiction piece capturing the experience of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.

The Sapling's Testimony I began to lose consciousness. Disoriented, I tried to call my Maker, but I couldn’t.

Be Prepared to Make a Defense

1 Peter 3:15-16 says in the NIV “...But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”

What does that look like practically? Here’s an example that is not prescriptive, but may help answer part of the question.

In our personal lives, we all have someone who comes to mind for us or someone else as a “difficult” person. Usually that person is someone who doesn’t see eye to eye with another. They have conflict usually because of the stories in their heads. The stories can be the exact same as the stories each student believed about each other. Ethereal assumptions causing real divisions.

When we realize our story is different from someone else we may have to apologize, from the Greek apologia - or provide a defense. Let’s dig into that. Most of the time we say sorry we mean one of two things in modern day: 1) a sign of compassion or empathy “sorry for your loss”, not implying guilt but a sad feeling for what the person we’re speaking to must be going through or 2) an acquiescence or acknowledgement of an action we took and the wrong it caused “sorry, I hit you”, this implying that we did something we knew would have a certain impact negatively on another person that we now regret.

A third apology which is closer to the intent of the word is one where a defense for the thought process and subsequent action is made, not to say I’m guilty of causing you harm or even I’m sad for your feelings. It’s an attempt to explain for a narrow purpose - if I tell you what was going on in my head, you’ll realize the negative results were not something I can own, however I see that the two are connected sequentially. Using the Greek background, I think we get a better way for us to apologize and a really great use case for stories.

One of my favorite movies is the 80s hit The Breakfast Club. It’s not the best example of this, but bear with me. There are a bunch of people who love this movie specifically for the confession circle scene. In it, all of the students in detention discuss why they’re in detention on a Saturday - isolation, for bullying another kid, for bringing a gun to school that they wanted to use on themselves, for being the “bad” kid, etc. All of them have explanations - not justifications - for why they’re there. It’s really novel for a high school movie. It’d be great if kids could be their own therapists and be so open. As they explain things, they realize more about each other and what they have in common as struggles. It’s not a kid friendly movie for the record, but it shows that these kids from the same area have so much more to learn about each other.

The beautiful thing is that these explanations are also a type of apology they make in their realizations. They acknowledge what is true in their story and bring that to the fore in their conversations with the people they’ve wronged or impacted without saying it’s okay or that people should get over it.

How does this relate to our defense as believers?

Well our humility should help us both with our patience and explaining our view without making people feel attacked or make us feel like being questioned is unwarranted. If someone doesn’t like the common Christian stances, we don’t have to be defensive as much as apologetic - for instance “I’m sorry that I may have miscommunicated. I don’t stand on the outcomes or behaviors of faith as proof of faith. If that seems to be the watermark I’m communicating, then I have misspoken. I think that Jesus died because I didn’t and don’t meet any qualifications for whatever anyone would call holy. I try, but I don’t. Because of his sacrifice and my new community of servant kings and queens, I was trying to serve in a way that was helpful to me - outlining rules. That’s not necessarily kind because you don’t agree to the same rules. As a matter of fact what I think are the rules may change slightly in how I think of them. The ultimate reason for any of them is that I look more like Jesus in love. Some things I say are to separate one thing from another - what I think is clearly not Jesus activity from Jesus activity, but I’m not Him. Humbly, I’m trying and I’m sorry. If you’d like to share in temporarily picking my premise to work off of, maybe we can study together how his life and story are supposed to offer a new community of freedom and what that may lead us to choose instead of some controlling sense of rules and regulations with points, green checks, and red x-es.”

Now will you get all of that out? Probably not in our world of short attention span, but maybe.

What are the elements of this apology? - compassion, background, perspective, invitation, firmness, unwavering intention.

This is what that scene in the movie captures so well. There is a brutal honesty about how the students feel, but this openness to being wrong in their confusion and navigation of the social landscape. It’s not only that parents and adults should be careful about the pressure they put on kids. We only have clarity about our intention. We don’t have any about our control or…anything else. When the students of the breakfast club acknowledge the difference in their stories and their interpretations they can react. I can’t condone a rude letter, but in it, we see something. We see a group of people who understand that the labels they originally used were poor. They won’t force people to change their minds, but they are admitting the selfishness of their story in search of a better one, a real one, and one they can really live with after they leave.

Is every Christian making a proper apology for the Christian ethic rooted in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus? No. However, if we humble ourselves, we can see philosophers, scientists, scholars, business people, family members trying to pinpoint what they think is the most convincing argument for people they do not know.

In our counter culture attitudes, like Christ, we should care about being offensive – not to take on the guilt of someone’s offense, but because most of the time people are being honest in their ignorance of the arguments we’re making. More to the point, we adopt poor cultural terms, and don’t start our arguments well. This takes time, energy, patience and it’s just easier to develop my own echo chambers or grow in one. We should try and be willing to confess what we may have believed in the story we were telling, confront it, and make sure the story we’re walking away with is more true, one we can live with when we walk away.

Some questions as you reflect on your defenses might come off as attacks, but we promise they are for you to answer and share once you’ve made peace with who you are and figure out what you want to do with that.

Read John 4 focusing on the woman at the well and especially v39-41.

Have you ever had a “Breakfast Club” conversation?
Why do you refuse to move towards reconciliation with your difficult person?
Why do you apologize too much and/or too little?
Do your apologies feel like you’re admitting guilt? In light of Christ, why is that scary?
What are you really guilty of?
How can you make your apologies bold and diffusing without having to affirm something you don’t want to affirm?

Podcast Episode 9! (On all your favorite podcasting platforms)

The 2017 thriller Get Out took the film world by storm. Written and directed by Jordan Peele, Femi and Josh discuss how Get Out explores themes of knowing your traumas, the consequences of shallow relationships, and why vulnerability in interpersonal connections is important. Supporting Scripture:

Genesis 39 / Judges 16 / Genesis 25-27 / Romans 10 / John 4 / Luke 10:25-37

Website: https://www.parablearrows.com/

Store: https://parablearrows.store/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parablearrows

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parablearrows

Hey everyone! Here is video detailing some cool stuff Femi Sokoya and I have in the works for 2022-2023! I'm excited to share more insights into a video trilogy we will be making this summer that explores some characters in the Gospels the Saturday after Jesus' crucifixion. We hope you enjoy this "behind the scenes" look into our projects and process!

Parable Arrows: Founder's Update February 2022 Archers! This is Josh. I am excited to share with you in more detail some of the things Femi and I are working on and a sneak peak into the creative inspirat...

Podcast Episode 8! (On all your favorite podcasting platforms)

Toy Story follows Buzz and Woody, two, well, toys, who are dragged into a dangerous adventure out of jealousy, insecurity, and an inability to tell reality from imagination. In this episode, Josh and Femi discuss how we can challenge our perception of how the world "should" be, so in a healthy way we can embrace how it "is."

Supporting Scripture:

1 Samuel 15-18 / The Book of Job / 2 Samuel 11-12 / Genesis 20 / Luke 22:24-30 / 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

Website: https://www.parablearrows.com/

Store: https://parablearrows.store/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/parablearrows

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/parablearrows

PARABLE ARROWS DEVOTIONAL

'What's happened happened. Which is an expression of faith in the mechanics of the world. It's not an excuse to do nothing.' - Neil [TENET]

If you haven’t yet watched TENET, the Parable Arrows team highly recommends it. Though, maybe not on a sleepy Friday night after a long week of work, given all of its profound complexity.

Amidst all the time travel antics, exciting action, and subtle visual clues to explain its winding story, one theme comes to mind. It’s a theme I think we could all spend some time thinking about: trying.

“Trying” does have a scolding ring to it. When I reflect on who told me to “try” growing up, it was almost always authority figures in my life. What they were telling me to “try” was something they believed was for my good: a gross looking healthy food, a creative outlet I had no interest in (sorry piano, we weren’t fated to play together…), an academic path that seemed difficult–anything of the sort.

When we were young, the things to try were, I would argue, of little consequence. As we get older though, the word “try” carries more weight because, I believe, there are more consequential things to try. As adults, we are asked to try new foods and new personal responsibilities. Try managing your finances to reach personal goals on your own. Try parenting a child to be a healthy contributor to the world. Try staying off of social media so you don’t start fights over your personal beliefs. That last one’s especially hard.

Then, as a follower of Jesus, the bar for “trying” is raised even higher. Now, in addition to all the things earlier, I have to try to give away my possessions to a point of discomfort. I have to try to see the needs of others before my own. I have to try to love my enemy.

We would think that after the age of five, most human beings would understand “trying” is not just cliché adult advice, but an encouragement to discover. Why did our parents tell us to try so many things? To learn about ourselves, our world, and where God may have designed us to fit into it. Same truth applies to the things we try as adults and as followers of Jesus: There is revealed, previously unknown information we gain from the things we try.

However, and I don’t know who to blame for this, “trying” became a scary word. This makes “trying” difficult. It’s not a word encouraging exploration and self-discovery, but a word synonymous with fear of waste, fear of discomfort, and fear of making a mistake.

To summarize: Fear of the unknown.

Sure, I can try to be kind to my neighbor, but what happens if they treat me poorly? I can try tithing more money to my local church, but what if the head pastor turns out to be skimming money from the top? And to return to the plot of TENET, I can try to save the world from the nuclear apocalypse, but what if I die trying? No success, no victory lap, no celebration of how brave of me it was to try…what happens if my trying leads to…*gulp*...nowhere?

“It’s not an excuse to do nothing.” - Neil

In our TENET podcast, we talked about something that has refused to leave my mind: There is human flourishing in trying.

“Wait, you mean my life could be better if I try and fail?”

I truly believe yes. Here is why:

Trying is an act of faith - If you only did the things that you knew would end a certain way, you would spend a lot of your life consuming. Why consume? Because you know what you’re getting–An hour of entertainment, a tasty dessert, whatever. You are getting something that you believe will lead to a specific, known outcome, and mostly likely an outcome you’ve already experienced turning to that outlet.

Trying is an act of courage - When a new opportunity to practice the commands of Jesus arises and you say no because you don’t know what will happen, that is fear. However, if you try, “Fear is not your guide.” (Ryan Clark, Demon Hunter) So even if your first time shoveling your neighbor’s driveway goes wrong and they yell at you (I don’t know why, but they did), you tried to love them. Bravo.

Trying is an act of love - CS Lewis is one of the most impactful writers in history. In his writings, he tried to capture the transforming change Christ made in his life so that people could learn from his experience. He acted out of love for generations he would never meet, risking his pride through his authentic words, to teach us how to hope, think, and know God. Lewis didn’t allow fear of judgment to dissuade him from penning his God inspired thoughts.

Neil’s quote from TENET is a declaration of truth: No one knows what’s going to happen. That absence of knowledge shouldn’t justify the fears that paralyze you. Instead, not knowing should inspire you to try and find out.

We are a few weeks into the new year and maybe you have some hopes for yourself–spiritual, relational, financial, etc. Maybe you hope this year is the one you pay off a debt, defeat an addiction, or reach a sustainable, healthy routine. But, the path that would make those hopes reality is dark and untried. You don’t know if you can do it. You don’t know if all the sacrifices or uncomfortable decisions you’ll make will be worth it. You want your life in some way to be different, but fear has a death grip around your wrist and it’s holding you back.

But here is the hope! We serve a great God that showers us in grace and acceptance whether we succeed or fail. Break away from fear’s grasp and embrace the truth that no matter what, our Lord honors “tries” made with godly intent and will work out all things for those who love him. (Romans 8:28) So step forth! Try. It is the first act of faith, the first act of courage, the first act of love.

Below are a few Bible chapters to meditate on as you pray over your life, the life of your loved ones, and the lives of others you may meet.

Ask God:
Is my fear of the unknown keeping me from trying something new or journeying into something new that you are calling me to?

As my loving and perfect Father, what are my “vegetables”? What are some things I am childishly refusing to try?

Which of your commands have I only tried once? What commands can I try more to see their fruit?

How can I refine my desire to try? How can I grow from wanting to try for self-glorification and instead for the sake of loving You and loving others?

Bible Passages:
Joshua 1:9 [Be Strong and Courageous]
Daniel 1 [Daniel and Friends Offer Something New]
Matthew 24:14-30 [The Parable of the Talents]
Mark 2:1-12 [Friends Try to Bring Paralyzed Man to Jesus]
Luke 19:1-10 [Zacchaeus Tries to See Jesus]
Hebrews 11 [Faith in Action]

Hey friends! Josh here. A little under a year ago, I nervously sent you an invite to this page. Parable Arrows was going to be a small "branded blog" website that I was simply going to post my weekly short fiction to that I figured no one would read.

Fast forward to June 2021 and my good friend Femi Sokoya and I are sitting at his kitchen table moments from recording a follow up podcast to a video we created about Juneteenth in 2020. Femi starts to tell me how he feels a need to take his media consumption habits and use them for something more than escapism. He wanted to talk about the themes of the movies he was watching, analyze their conclusions about the world, and see if there were biblical life lessons viewers could learn.

I can only attribute this to God, but in the moment, I had this thought: What if Parable Arrows was more than just a blog? What if it could be a multimedia content platform? What if, what if, what if?

From day one, floating in the back of my mind, I had always hoped Parable Arrows would become "something bigger," ideally a production company making movies/shows/cartoons/anime/whatever, but not for a long, long time, if ever. In my heart, I had settled it would be the my creative dumping ground.

Then Femi and I talked about visions we had for media, for our love of pop culture, and our hope to impact the art world in some way. So, I asked him:

"Wanna, I don't know, come on board this Parable Arrows thing?"

That podcast following up on our Juneteenth 2020 video became our first Parable Arrows podcast. Over the past year, we set out to do 6 more episodes (we did 7!!!) and write more fiction before the end of the year. (Whiiiiich we fell a little short on...)

And now, after podcasts, Zoom calls, phone calls, texts back and worth, business plans passed around over Google Docs, we have plans. Big, BIG plans. Podcasts, devotionals, novels, video essays, short films, cinematic films, the works. We are on it.

At this time in our journey, being fully honest, we know we don’t offer a lot of value. We’re writing when we can (often on days after teaching for me or late at night waiting for young children to sleep), recording podcasts when we can, and all in an effort to improve our craft and reach the point where we are consistently offering value for people’s spiritual growth and imagination.

Right now, Femi and I have three requests:

If you know someone who might be interested in the content we’re making, share it with them! Telling someone about our website or podcast would mean a lot and help us build our audience.

Offer us feedback! We are stepping into a lot of territory both known and unknown, so any external thoughts on what we are doing well or could improve is invaluable.

Last, if you happen to know us personally or you are right there with us in what Parable Arrows could be, we launched our Patreon in December. Right now, a dream would be covering our hosting fees and podcasting platform: https://www.patreon.com/parablearrows

Femi and I are excited and hopeful for the future of this page. If you have questions or want to share in our excitement, message us here or at any of our other social media accounts!

God Bless,

Josh and Femi

Parable Arrows is creating Bible study content and original fiction. | Patreon Become a patron of Parable Arrows today: Get access to exclusive content and experiences on the world’s largest membership platform for artists and creators.

Does God care about stories? Why are they important? with Justin Khoe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-KI7BooYI

Ep 7: Why Stories Matter with Justin Khoe @jkhoe Justin Khoe (pronounced ku) is a Digital Missionary across YouTube and social media. In this episode, he and Josh discuss the importance stories play in our ...

When you can't know the future, how do you put your chips down?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMCjrnNOBFo

Parable Arrows Ep 6: Never Ceasing to Do Good and TENET TENET, the most recent Christopher Nolan film, may seem like a confusing time romp. But, below the surface of time pincer movements and fights played in reve...

So, what's the plan?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqVgDx7TDw4

Parable Arrows Podcast Ep 5: The Consequences of No Plan in Parasite Parasite is an Academy Award winning film by director B**g Joon-ho that says a lot about social structures, inequality, and the consequences of both the poor...

Is what I'm saying making sense?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTrOpoMAB28&t=2055s

Parable Arrows Podcast Ep 4: Arrival and the Importance of Communication Language and communication: we all know we use both to ask people where the bathroom is, what someone's name is, or how they are doing. But, language and com...

Is what you're passionate about the purpose of your life? Come swim in the ocean with us...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilG_9qAdEQY

Parable Arrows Podcast Ep 3: Pixar's Soul and Defining Meaning Pixar's Soul departs from the studio's past works by telling a story that is whimsical to kids and deeply real for adults. Known most for fantastical tales a...

It's harder and harder for us to be united on things. Raya and the Last Dragon tried to explore why...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clsqyT3DT2Q

Parable Arrows Podcast Ep 2: How Raya and the Last Dragon Explore Unity 2020 and 2021 were years that will sadly be categorized by hate, division, and distrust. In Disney's 2021 fantasy movie Raya and the Last Dragon, the creativ...

Why did we do this?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GZJ8NaImeM&t=69s

Parable Arrows Podcast Ep 0: The Parable Arrows Mission Parable Arrows is an online collective of artists and deep thinkers using their love of creativity and Pop Culture to make better stories, analyze and dissec...

Parable Arrows updated their website address.

In our second "post devotional", we'll point to the real life figure of Nelson Mandela. Why Mandela? Well Mandela is one of the few people who lived up to a challenge we hope all of us would live up to. He was imprisoned for 27 years. Then he became a President and DIDN'T take revenge on his captors or those who he could have abused with the power of his office.

Mandela isn't someone we should all copy or hope to be. That's not the point. The big point is that 27 years of a man's life, productivity, value in a sense, voice, ability to enjoy the limited life we have was taken away. He didn't, in a very Jesus way, abuse the power he got.

There are many people freed by the Innocence Project and we should hope that all people imprisoned find true hope and success in re-entry to society as a people of faith and regeneration. However do we all have patience to be faithful, to wait for our advocate?

Mandela waited for 27 years - 27 years. Not everyone has the patience of 4 years of an administration or CEO they don't like, while they are NOT imprisoned. On top of that, more and more things around us are trying to speed things up and become instant which impact our ability to wait.

Jesus was a gift for which we had to wait. Hundreds of years. Collectively we wait. We also wait for His return and reign. We wait.

In this Advent season have you asked yourself about the quality of your waiting?

Read Psalm 13

1. What are you having trouble with while you wait in this season? (COVID-19 is easy, so try to think, but that is still valid.)
2. What is the quality of your waiting? Steadfast, white-knuckle, gritting, peaceful, clear, angry, sad, fruitful? What can you do to draw out a better quality of your waiting?
3. Like Mandela, you can't be certain of a future you can become a world leader. However, unlike Mandela, you can be certain of God's promises as a Christian. How can his promises prepare you for situations where you have to wait in the future?

Hey everyone!

We haven't been really active on this page, because we've been getting things together for our community plans and content releases. We're excited about the coming year, but also really nervous. In this season of Advent, known for waiting for some portion of the fulfilled promises, it makes sense for us to put out our first group devotion post.

Handel's Messiah is a classic at Christmas. This guy read parts of Isaiah and put them to music to celebrate the PROMISE of the Messiah, the Anointed One, Christ. Promises are hard to trust, but it helps when you can trust the person making the promise.

Isaiah 40 is a key piece. In it, there is a reflection and call for the comfort of people, the exultation of God, the reminder for humility and more. It packs quite a punch.

Read Isaiah 40:
In this season, what does Isaiah 40 make you think of?
What are you waiting for, living in the hope of?
How can God's consistency give you comfort?
How can our smallness compared to God give you peace?
For fun - what's a cool thing you found looking up the passage?