Monday, July 21, 2008

Dog Sitting

Last week Karen & I enjoyed dog sitting our friends, Lauren & Jonathan's french bull dog - Mr. Thomas Jefferson. Bosworth & Jefferson enjoyed many walks, laying in the sun, chasing tennis balls, and their favorite - tug of war. Enjoy a couple of highlights from the week.



Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Happy Birthday to John Mark- Almost


John Mark re-read through the Chronicles of Narnia last year, and I remember his child-like excitement as he finished each book and was so eager to begin the next book in the series. I loved to listen to him talk about the books and the image of God C.S. Lewis so thoroughly depicted through Aslan.

I was so very excited to learn about one of my super fly coworkers, Sally Hale, who is not only a great and talented therapist, but come to find out is an awesome and famous artist! She created this picture of Aslan, and gave me a great deal on one of her prints! I gave it to JM for his 30th birthday (early-because I'm not GOOD AT ALL with keeping presents) I'm so excited for this print to be in our home, and I'm more excited to be able to share with people who may not know Jesus why in the world we have a huge painting of a Lion in our living room! And, of course I'm so very excited for my husband's 30th birthday! I love that I have my husband--in all of his wonderful and precious qualities! ~~~ such a wonderful gift from a Gracious and powerful God!

Here is an excerpt from Sally's Homepage Check out her website;she's quite fantastic: This painting is a further exploration of the character Aslan from C.S. Lewis' series "The Chronicles of Narnia", a lion who is an allegorical figure of God. According to Lewis, Aslan is "not safe, but good". This touches on the universal question "how can a completely good and all-powerful God exist with all of the evil and suffering that is in the world?" To express Aslan's un-tame nature, I painted the mane as wildly as I could; throwing paint on the canvas, scraping away parts of it with huge palette knives, etc. The morning after I finished, I took it with me to church and after awhile an acquaintance came up to me and pointed out a lamb in the mane. Once I saw it, it was unmistakable. I was perplexed, and wondered at its meaning. I looked and found in Revelation chapter five that Christ is announced as "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah", but in the next moment appears as a "Lamb that looks as though it had been slain." I believe that the lamb appeared to bring me, and others who would see the painting, comfort and faith. For though the presence of evil still confounds me and many others, the lamb reminds us that despite our lack of understanding, God IS loving. The fact that He was willing to sacrifice his own life to make ours infinitely better proves it.