Life Lessons from Art

In a recent art class, I picked up techniques to help me draw better. But I also picked up a few life lessons in the process. 

My instructor insisted that his number one challenge in teaching art is getting his students to really see what they are drawing. To observe the visible, tangible item and apply the brain/hand connection on paper.

As a writer of eternal themes, I share a similar challenge, but in reverse: helping readers see the invisible--what God has revealed about Himself through His creation, His Word (the Bible), and His Son (Jesus Christ).

As with drawing, sometimes brain blockers exist, hindering one's ability to see. Really see. Damaged love receptors can distort one's view of who God really is--an eternal being full of love, grace, and truth. 

Yet the physical world around us, the Bible, and Jesus testify to the truth.

For those with spirit eyes to see . . .

Life Lesson 1: My instructor taught me to identify my light source so that I know where to apply specific shading. Jesus is my spiritual Light source. He is truth and the revealer of truth. 

Life Lesson 2: My instructor taught me how to use horizontal/vertical lines to draw a figure. When he stood in the center of the classroom with outstretched arms it reminded me of Christ's death on the cross as payment for my sin and provision for my forgiveness. 

Life Lesson 3: My instructor taught me how to use one/two point perspective. This technique reminded me that Christ and His Word is the reference point which provides proper perspective for shaping my life. 

Life Lesson 4: My instructor taught me how to draw with ink. This reminded me of the old hymn, "The Love of God" penned by Frederick M. Lehman in 1917. 

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

(View the full hymn and story behind the hymn)

I'm amazed, awed really, that no matter the discipline, God is there, revealing Himself--the Designer of all things beautiful, chief of which is a redeemed soul!

Why I Wrote RESTORED HEARTS

My burden in writing Book 2 RESTORED HEARTS in the Born for India trilogy:

1. To present a mix of conviction and compassion, truth and grace. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 reveals both of these aspects when it addresses the issues of homosexuality along with a list of other sins the Corinthian believers had been delivered from.

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Yes, homosexuality is a sin, but it is a sin no worse than any other sin.

2. To show that we are all sinners in need of a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The ground is level at the foot of the Cross. Jesus invites us ALL to come and find cleansing through His shed blood.

3. To show that we can be delivered from all manner of sin through the name of Jesus and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor.6:11).

4. To provoke believers to show compassion to the person who may be sitting right next to them in the church pew and struggling with same-sex attraction, but will not speak up for fear of being pounced upon.

As a Christ-follower, I desire to reach out to people with healing words. Prayerfully those words will always be a mix of biblical truth and grace, welcoming the sinner home into the arms of Jesus.

THE TRUTH PROJECT

How you counter the culture makes a difference in your child’s life.


During a recent camping trip with a few families from our church, I (Eileen) was adding more wood to the fire when I overheard a conversation among three of the boys.


“I wonder if there are any bears around,” Max commented, fear written on his face.


“You know, we’re animals, too,” Bradley said, stirring a stick through the dirt.


Max’s brother, Joey, jumped in, hands on hips, glaring at Bradley, “We are not!”



“Are too!”



Max rallied to his brother’s side, “We are not animals; we’re human beings!”



“Well, in school the teacher said that we are the highest form of animals,” Bradley insisted, to which Joey replied, “Well, this isn’t school, this is Bible land we’re standing on now!”



My Bible rested on the picnic table, so I said, “Well, let’s see what Genesis chapter one has to say. I read through the text detailing God’s creation and landed at verse 26, Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’



The boys listened intently. I had caught them at a teachable moment. Explaining that man was set apart from the animals because he was created in the image of God with intellect, emotion, and will and given rule over the animals, I pointed the boys to God’s Word, the Truth.



I left that encounter more convinced of the need to ground our children in the truth of God’s Word to counter the secular, humanistic culture in which we live. Perhaps, as a Christian parent, you desire to do the same, but just don’t know where to begin.



A good resource is The Truth Project compiled by Focus on the Family and taught by Dr. Del Tackett. A DVD-based curriculum comprised of twelve one-hour lessons, The Truth Project communicates the Christian worldview verses a secular worldview. Carefully researched, biblically sound, and masterfully presented. Every parent should go through this course, then lead their children through it before they leave for college.



Visit www.thetruthproject.org for more information.