I think anointing someone with oil is very Biblical and very much a part of worship. Growing up in church though, sometimes there was a person who it seemed was getting anointed every week. I don’t know if that person just wrote a big check each week or what the reasoning was, but it always intrigued me that someone would go up there every week and ask to have oil poured on their head. It’s a humbling experience and not one that I’d want to exploit for personal attention. Anyway, I’ve always imagined a pastor getting fed up with that person and dumping something else on their head instead.
I feel like there is a Jesus image that we lift up for each generation. It’s rather strange to think that this timeless Gospel must be re-branded every few years to “relate” to our culture. Our culture is going downhill rather fast. Shouldn’t we be lifting up the timeless truth of the Gospel rather than the latest rendition?
This is an image I took on Saturday when I was at a men’s retreat with my church. It was quite an amazing time. I’d say more but I don’t want to devalue the experience through the retelling. I will say that it was incredible and it was good to hang out with the other guys from the church in a relaxed setting while we were challenged to be the men that God has called us to be.
This skull was on the wall in the bathroom of the lodge we stayed at. The wood panel walls really seemed to set it off. I think the only thing that worried me was if I were to sit on the toilet, it would freak me out if it fell. Imagine sitting on the toilet and trying to do your business when this thing falls on your head or in your lap!
Sickness has been being passed back and forth around the Lehman household the last few day. I am thinking the homes affected by the water line break a few days ago may have been a little wider than previously thought. I can’t verify it, but it seems to correlate with the onset of this stomach ailment that we all ended up having at the same time.
I’ve been looking at doing more oil paintings in the near future and getting some more representational artwork out into the open. It is absolutely the opposite of the abstract stuff that I’ve produced over the last four years. In particular, I am being drawn back to landscape painting and classical still life paintings.
I think this has been a revelation that has happened in two parts.
Read More Post a comment (0)I’ve been working on a new piece called “Basic Principles & History”. I am still not sure that it is finished yet. This is a mixed media painting utilizing collage, fumage, acrylic, ink and other paper staining processes. You can’t quite see it here but there is also a crackle glaze over much of the image as well. It is 30″ x 40″ on canvas.
I am still debating if the painting is finished or not.
Read More Post a comment (2)All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3
Godlessness in the Last Days
1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.
6They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth. 8Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth—men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
Paul’s Charge to Timothy
10You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, 11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. 12In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it,15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
I am thinking about making some business cards with the above image on them. I think the term “Christian” has become so diluted with wannabes that it’s hard to find the authentic ones in the metaphorical barrel. So I am starting this little series of business cards for Christians called “Full Disclosure” Each one has a different theme that will be explored in post on it’s own and made into a message as well.
Praying for You
Often, I pray for friends, family and people I meet. I think that some people perceive this as some kind of hidden motive if I tell someone I am praying for them. There is no hidden objective and no agenda behind it. It’s just a part of who I am in Christ. Other people influence me and I would be naive to think that I don’t influence them, so when I talk with God, yes I pray for those people. I also pray for things I write; that people’s hearts would be moved by God rather than by my own attempts. There really is no need to tell someone you are praying for them, but often when they know that you are, they mention specific ways that you can pray for them. Often for me, this also leads into a deeper and more open and meaningful relationship too.
