Then God

For Christmas service at our church I was asked to create a painting that showed God's light.  Not an easy task, and one which caused me to do much pondering.  In Revelations it is written that His face shines like the very Sun.  In Genesis God spoke light into existence in four words.  Moses was hidden in the cleft of a rock before he could catch a mere glimpse of God from the back.  God's light can not be dulled, extinguished, or diverted.  God's light is powerful, wild, joyful, and tender all at once.  As I prayed about the project I realized quickly that I could not recreate God's light, so I set out to create a painting that began in darkness and moved toward God's light. See time-lapse of painting below.   In life I often start haphazardly, leap before I look, step into it.  It is often in those moments that I have a "Then God moment".  The aha where I realize that I got ahead of God's plan once again.  It is my prayer today that I would bathe in God's light and that I would walk only where that light shines.

Isaiah 60:1-3

60 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
² See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
³ Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

cloud of fire

The sunset the other night reminded me of the below verse.  I am continually blown away by Gods beauty that surrounds us.

Numbers 9:15-17

The Cloud Above the Tabernacle

¹⁵ On the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. ¹⁶ That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.

Moments captured

Moment in time can be archived in our memory banks, but they are never as precious as the instant they actually happen.  Last night my wife and I sat down with our boys to do our nightly advent reading and activity.  Our activity was to flip through the pages of the Worldvision gift catalog and select items that we wanted to purchase for those in need.  This is the third year that we have done this, and each year gets better.  After we all made our selections we prayed that God would bless the individuals that would receive the livestock, bibles, mosquito nets and soccer balls we had selected.  Ben, my 9 year old, was still looking at the magazine.  He turned to my wife and I and read "When children can't get warm, death can come in many forms. Your gift multiplies 10 times to send life-saving clothes to children around the world."  Ben then went to his wallet and pulled out $52 and said that he would like to put that toward clothing for kids in need.  He did the math and said that is a $520 value.  Our hearts melted in that moment.  Our son is learning the value of giving and loving others.  Ben sacrificed 70% of his money.  This is a precious moment that I would love to be able to play back over and over.

Hebrews 13:15-17

¹⁵ Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. ¹⁶ And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
I am working on a new Painting and thought I would capture a time lapse video along the way.