Sunday, March 05, 2006

Prodigal

I’ve a very good friend. He has consistently prayed for and with me through many difficult times. He was the first to come when my son died. He took me out for coffee at 3 a.m. when Jeremiah was arrested last June. He has encouraged me so much.

He is also my pastor.

He has had challenges also. And, on occasion, he has permitted me to help.

He promoted a monthly prayer chain, 24 hours once a month, in a room we have set aside for it. And in that room I have enjoyed many blessings. One of which is exploring prayer through my art (which is the subject of an upcoming post).

Out of that exploration my friend invited me to try my hand at painting a prayer during the service on Christmas Morning.

I chose to paint Mary’s song of praise: the Magnificat.

In January this good friend of mine went home to be with his brother who is dying of cancer. There is a powerful story there and I am tempted to tell it. But I want you to hear it from my friend, who gave a message on it today.

But I would like to share this. This man has accepted the Lord, after many years of rejecting faith and family, living homeless.

While my friend was there I prayed for him and his brother, and as I have learned to do, I prayed while doing art.

While sketching out this image I got the news of his change of heart. Here is that picture: “Prodigal”.


A heart of stone has rolled aside to make room for the Lord.

19 comments:

4evergapeach said...

CS, He has truly blessed you with a gift. Your art is beautiful, inspiring, bold, unique. Those are only some of the words that first come to my mind. To be honest though, my first thought at seeing your sketch was that it was an embryo. But of course this is a man and it is in the wrong location. But it is as if something is being born, and I guess his faith is. I'm not a critic though, just what I saw.

As far as post updates go, I have blogrolling and there is an option to have sites on your blog roll show as updated. You can set this to be for different time periods also. Except the update I have for "my other site" I do manually each time I update it. I just add it to the template each time and take it off after a couple of days. But I do like the blogrolling. There are other options also and it makes it easier to add a link. I hope this answers your question.

Keep up the artwork and please continue to share. They are a treasure to the eye and the heart!

jel said...

CS, you have a gift to paint, mighty fine, mighty fine!

and thank the Lord, Tom got saved!
thinks for sharing all of this

have a great week!

God bless

Anonymous said...

thanks will - love it, pt

Lillee said...

That is awesome and I just wrote a post about being a prodigal on my other blog. wow.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work, CS. I can see, even tho' my computer monitor is really bad...about to go on the blink, but I really like your work!
Do know Owen Swain at Luminousmiseries? He's a Protestant minister turned Catholic and also a wonderful artist!
You'd probably like one another very much!

God bless you.

Gordon said...

Wow, this is quite impressive stuff. God has certainly given you a talent.

Sorry to hear about the passing of your friend.

Jim said...

I'm glad you told this.
First, your paintings are good in my book. I don't have one, but sure do like them, of Peter Max's heart paintings. Have your seen these?
Second, you all were praying for God's will to be done. God wanted Tom to come to him.
Isn't it amazing sometimes how we can know that our prayers are being answered even though we aren't where the action is.
..
Tom said in his story,
"6. Dad & Mom’s lost son had been found. My brother Tom had come home. Though he’s dying & will die, he’s living and will be alive forever more."
The rest of his message said that God's lost child had been found. His brother Tom had come home to God.
..

Corry said...

Not only a writer, but an artist as well! The paintings are great.

God has given you many blessings, not just in your abilities but with your friends as well. May He continue to bless y'all.

God's Grace.

David said...

Yes GOD has given you many talents and you use them so well. Both stories brought tears to my eyes. I wish I could reach out to my brother that way but I have been rejected too many times....

Unknown said...

It's as much inspired by and for you as it is for me, my friend.

Pirate said...

The story of the prodigal son has always been my favorite. Have you ever heard the song, "The First time i saw him run"?

Curious Servant said...

THANKS JUSTIN (JUSTICE) (JUST ICE?)



Pirate: Who does it?

Gigi said...

Loved the illustration.....loved and needed it...thanks

owenswain said...

One of my long time favorite verses, long before I became Catholic and have the joy filled permission to read those "extra" books is from Ecclesiasticus 38 in speaking of artists and craftsmen:

"But they keep stable the fabric of the world, and their prayer is in the practice of their trade."

God bless you and your prayer filled art.

{P.S. my art blog is onionboy.ca}

Coco said...

Your paintings are beautiful!!
When I used to paint, I too would pray for the person (and their family) I was giving the painting to- Prayer comes in many forms!!

Blessings.

Renee said...

All three are beautiful but my favorite is the painting of Mary's song of praise. Awesome!

G~ said...

Your paintings are awesome! How blessed you are!

Peace to you.

bornfool said...

Beautiful, CS. I love how the text is interwoven into the painting.

Fox's Mom said...

I get it now, about the "11th hour hire", I really get it. Because he answered the call, no matter how late, and so he too shared in the full day. I always thought it was because the master was generous and no-one had any right to say anything, but it is so much more-because he answered the call. You have an able pastor, CS, please tell him thank-you. And thank-you too, for sharing your beautiful art, especially the Magnificat. I feel your painting expresses perfectly the wonder of that moment.