Good morning…
You may remember this cool painting from last month’s post entitled Steve’s Birthday Surprise.
On a whim, to benefit Blue Skies Ministries, I bought a fun mixed-media painting by Christy Holmes at my friend’s pop-up Christmas shop, a surprise birthday purchase for my husband to honor Steve’s call from God twenty-six years ago to minister to this hustling and bustling Atlanta community. After a sleepless night, tossing and turning, worrying I may have made an impulse decision, I felt compelled to ruin my surprise, showing Steve his gift first thing that morning. Together we decided to shift from my private, spur-of-the-moment choice to a renewed commitment to share in big decisions together as a couple. After much discussion, we decided to return the painting to the artist. Graciously, generously Christy received the painting back that afternoon. Her grace. Her generosity. The character of this stranger-to-me was astounding. In deep gratitude I posted about the humbling experience, sending subscribers to Christy’s whimsical website, christyholmes.art.
We all thought this was the end of the story.
“Sue, it’s Christy Holmes here,” I got a surprise text on Christmas Eve, Steve’s actual birthday. “I have some wonderful news to share with you…the Christmas wishes just keep on coming. An anonymous, special supporter of Blue Skies Ministries just purchased this painting for you and Steve. Merry Merry Christmas! You both have clearly touched the lives of many in our community, and I’m thrilled this painting will be hanging in your home.”
A few days later, Christy and I met in the parking lot of O.K. Cafe and she gave me back the meaning-filled painting.
We thought that would be the end of the story.
Not so. In yesterday’s post entitled Dream Big, when I shared with you the incredible 2021 Julie’s Dream video, one image was illuminated for me, grabbing my full attention. I was energized by the image of the highway running due south from our Vinings home straight into the heart of the most vulnerable families in our downtown community. Through my friend Julie Harlan’s dream, God is paving a complex, multi-laned pathway down which we all can travel. The “rich” are sharing life with the “poor.” The “haves” are joining together with the “have-nots.” The “us” and “them” lines are gradually eroding into a sense of shared community.
Living above the hearth in our light-filled living room, this painting of interstate 75, which runs right through the heart of the city of Atlanta, is a gift given by a generous donor, a treasured gift which keeps on giving to me this important reminder, “Steve is not the only one God called into vibrant ministry with this Atlanta community twenty-six years ago. We are planted here as a couple to minister together, for God’s life-giving purposes.” Honing our shared decision-making skills this Christmas season will allow the grace and generosity of God to expand in and through us in increasing measure.
Now join me as we watch together the Julie’s Dream video from 2020 (see below) and notice with me the image of the busy highway connecting creative compassion all over our city. May this visual serve as a reminder to each of us: “God is building an intricate, healing web within us, among us, and through us each day.”
This is the God who made the universe and all it contains, the God who is the King of all heaven and all earth. It would be illogical to assume that a God of this magnitude could possibly be contained in any man-made structure, no matter how majestic. Nor would it be logical to think that this God would need human beings to provide Him with food and shelter—after all, He Himself would have given to humans everything they need—life, breath, food, shelter, and so on.
This God made us in all our diversity from one original person, allowing each culture to have its own time to develop, giving each its own place to live and thrive in its distinct ways. His purpose in all this was that people of every culture and religion would search for this ultimate God, grope for Him in the darkness, as it were, hoping to find Him. Yet, in truth, God is not far from any of us. For you know the saying, “We live in God; we move in God; we exist in God.” And still another said, “We are indeed God’s children” (Acts 17:24-28, VOICE).
How grateful I am to live in God, to move in God, to exist in God, woven into the web of God’s generous children.
Now, empowered with gifts that keep on giving, how might we each travel into deeper, more life-giving community right where God has planted us?
…Sue…
