Ojalá, Selah, Lateda

Recovery for Christmas

Recovery: Acrylic on Wood, 8.5 x 12 inches

A week and a couple days before I left for Christmas vacation a friend asked me if I would do a painting for her to give as a Christmas present. She wanted a painting to celebrate a friend’s recovery from alcohol addiction. When she first described it to me I imagined one of those pictures where Jesus rides shotgun in a big rig. I tried to explain that no matter the subject matter a painting by me would be in my style, and that I wouldn’t be offended if she wanted to look for an artist better suited to what she was imagining. But I was intrigued and started making sketches. I sent her the sketches and she liked them so with just a week to get it done I accepted the commission. I wasn’t sure if I could get it done with so much else to be done for the holidays but I think the pressure actually worked in my favor. I finished writing part of Psalm 18 around the border just minutes before she came to pick it up, and a few hours later the kids and I left town for a week.

We decided to use the verses from The Message translation. It is very powerful…

 ^16-19 But me he caught—reached all the way
from sky to sea; he pulled me out
Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
the void in which I was drowning.
They hit me when I was down,
but God stuck by me.
He stood me up on a wide-open field;
I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!

^20-24 God made my life complete
when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
he gave me a fresh start.
Now I’m alert to God’s ways;
I don’t take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works;
I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
and I’m watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

-Psalm 18:16-24 (The Message)