Jesus Painter

Last night I had one of those moments that stopped me in my tracks and made me get my attitude in check.  I'm always thankful for them after the fact, but it's what leads up to it that really isn't pretty.  I wasn't in the best mood and couldn't have been more huffy and puffy as I hurried to get the girls ready for church.  Wednesday afternoons are hectic after school with dance and getting everyone fed and dressed before church.  Rushing around makes me a crazy person.  The kids were running around like maniacs totally ignoring the fact that I had a class to teach and we were going to be late for it.  It's never good for the teacher to be late.  And my children couldn't have cared less.  I'm being totally honest here.  You probably don't have ugly moments like this, but we certainly do.  I was two seconds away from either leaving them at home (not alone, of course) or saying, "forget it, we're not going."  They got it together and we managed to get there with three minutes to spare.  As I walked into the preschool area where I teach Cate's missions class every Wednesday night I found that there wasn't a soul there and all the lights were off.  That's funny.  I knew I was supposed to be there.  Then it hit me that everyone was in the sanctuary for the Jesus Painter event.  How could I have forgotten that?  Cate's definitely not the night owl and was ready for bed right then and there (at 6 p.m.) so she was begging for us to go back home.  I didn't want to fight it for an hour in a "sermon with no words" which is what we were having in church.  I had my hand on the door ready to leave, and something made me turn around and march us all into the sanctuary.  Towns wanted to stay, Cate didn't.  And she planned to let everyone know it.  But for whatever reason, something changed and I had a feeling it just might be alright.  We walked in, sat on the back pew, and were totally amazed for the next hour.  Do you know about the Jesus Painter?  I didn't before last night.  It was pretty unbelievable and was just what I needed to make me check my attitude at the door and prepare my heart for the rest of this week leading up to Resurrection Day.  I'm ashamed that it hadn't happened before last night, to tell you the truth.  I'd gotten so caught up in making sure we have hair bows to match dresses and enough fun treats to fill a few Easter baskets.  As I type that out, it sounds just as ridiculous as it feels.  Easter is by far my favorite reason to celebrate over any day of the year.  Christmas is wonderful, don't get me wrong.  But Easter?  God sent His only Son to die on the cross for me?  And then three days later rose from the grave?  Wow.  And sinful ol' me put more emphasis on an Easter basket full of candy and colorful goodies than taking time to reflect on all of this.  Really seeing to it that our children realize why we celebrate.  Of course they do, and they've known the story.  But it's not just a story.  It's what I should be living every day but fail miserably at.  I'm so thankful that I didn't walk out those double doors last night and instead stayed to get it all put back into perspective for me.  We watched as this guy from Cincinnati (who claims he's not an artist, but someone God chose to use) paint the face of Jesus on massive canvases.  No words, only music.  He started this one with "all my sin" painted at the very top and after ten minutes, it looked like this...

And then there was this one...

This next one was our favorite.  He first painted a man kneeling at the cross and then turned it into this...

The eyes are what gets me.  Towns was so taken by it she asked if we could buy it before we left.  We did go down front to ask about it, but I wasn't about to make such a large purchase without my right hand man there to approve it!  She overheard someone saying you can order the paintings online so she wasn't too terribly upset we walked away empty handed.  It made me happy that she appreciated it enough to want it.  If you have a free minute or two, pick a video to watch on the website.  I promise you won't be disappointed!