If you stopped any one of us in the street you would soon find out that we all have our own personal and private dramas. Within every phase of life there are always uncertainties and we all have to get up every morning to face the unknown. Because of this we might at times just find ourselves asking:
How does Jesus provide the answers to all our problems?
Can he give us the security we need to press onward?
As I approached the writing of my second book I could see that God allowed me to walk through difficulties as an important part of my transformation process and I knew this project would be no exception. The desire that pushed me onward, however, was a hope that further meditations on the adult life of Jesus would be a sort of “field guide” for someone longing for a deeper connection to God through developing an intimate picture of Christ.
So how do we get from a picture of Jesus as a child, innocent and playful, to an image of Jesus, the full-grown man?
Further, how do we imagine him as someone who lived as the Son of God, and died so that he might give us life?
Rather than thinking of Jesus as someone who answered all my questions, it became fascinating to me to notice how Jesus allowed his disciples to continually ask him questions. And so the premise for each chapter in The Joyful Sound, will be to center our thoughts around the questions that are found in the stories on the Life of Christ.
Through my exploration I began to understand how these are the universal questions that we all ask as we grow in our spiritual formation and by doing so we nurture our relationship in Christ.
Where Are you? (Genesis 3:9)
How Will This Be? (Luke 1:34)
Why Have You Treated Us Like This? (Luke 2:48)
What Kind of Man is This? (Matthew 8:27)
Lord, Don’t You Care? (Luke 10:40)
Do You Understand What I Have Done? (John 13:12)
What is Truth? (John 18:38)
Why Are you Downcast, O My Soul? (Psalm 42:5)
Do You Believe This? (John 11:26)
It is in these times of our personal dramas that we can find our deepest connection to God if we remember to turn and really look at the wholeness of Jesus’ life and ministry and find our voice among the disciples asking questions.
The Joyful Sound will seek to bring these events into closer perspective by using paintings and music as our source of inspiration…
Coming later this month…
God Thru the Arts 