Sunday, December 31, 2006
Brought In
Revelation 1 (Prologue)
By Ramone - December 30, 2006
This picture came as Yoko and I were talking about the prologue to the book of Revelation. I had begun writing something about it on the FAF forum and suddenly noticed that all of the Trinity was mentioned in the prologue, and that this "Revelation" came from the heart of the Father, was given to the Son, and then through the Spirit was passed to us. God was giving us His heart! Yoko rightly said that Father God is happy when we seek His heart and understand that He's given us His heart, and take it into our hearts.
I wrote more here: Revelation 1 (Prologue)
*****
See also: "Call and I Will Answer" (at Weeping Jeremiahs)
Luke 22:15
By Ramone - September 24, 2006
This was part of a series of pictures that came back in June last year, when I was kind of blown away by God's heart for us and how He longs for us to seek His heart.
I had seen a work of digital art by Richard Lyall called "The Lover's Knock" which spoke profoundly of how much God longs to "eat" with us, to be with us and share Himself with us. Richard had used the verse I put on this picture for the title of his post.
Some time earlier I had thought of the Passover ceremony... how God had longed all of those years for that night when He would explain what it meant to His children. I thought of the excitement that the disciples must've had as they introduced the meaning of the Passover's wine & unleavened bread to new believers. The book of Acts says that they "broke bread" in their homes daily! How excited they must've been to share... "Let's sit down -- I'll show you what He showed us, what it means!"
And those words spoken by Jesus, "I have longed to eat this meal with you..." It's so incredible I can't begin to get my mind around it, Lord. You wanted to share Yourself with us, and You longed to do this! You long to share Yourself with us! You long to give us Your body & blood, Your righteousness, Your love! Thank You!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Gabriel
By Ramone - December 14, 2006 (I think)
Gabriel was the angel who announced the birth of Christ (the Messiah) to just about everyone involved. He was a messenger, bringing the news of peace from God to mankind:
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!" (Luke 2:14)
Christ came "to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the path of peace" (Luke 1:79) and was born to bring healing, reconciliation and life to its fullest.
"Jesus" was the news that Gabriel brought that day. Before Christ was born, from one generation after another, from one family to another, mankind had been hurting, killing and wounding each other with no end in sight. We had been at war with each other and within ourselves. But when Christ came and died, the curse was broken, and healing could begin working for all through Him, the Second Adam. Through His wounds there is healing, reconciliation for generations and families, and more things yet to come, welling up to the final end.
*****
"Gabriel" is also my brother's name, my father's name, and my late-grandfather's name. But having grown up with an older brother, well you know, you "draw a line" down the middle of the car backseat in order to protect your territory from his protruding limbs! If he liked Sci-Fi, I kind of had to not like Sci-Fi, etc. And his name... well, I never gave it much thought at all. But some year or two ago, I began realizing I'd never appreciated his name, and I wanted to change that. I asked God to help me see him (and his name) with love, respect and appreciation.
Then this year in November when Yoko & I were praying for & thinking of names for our boy (due in March 2007), I looked up the meaning on a website, and found that it was Hebrew for "Strong Man of God" (written in Japanese in the picture). At that time, we were sitting at "Mister Donut" looking through a book of Japanese characters for names, and we thought of naming him "Gabriel" in Japanese. I drew this sketch there:
The Japanese word for "strong" is "tsuyoi", but it's actually too strong of a character to use in a name. However, we found another character we could use that sounded the same, but that story will be for another picture someday... Suffice to say, we translated "Gabriel" and have happily passed on the name in Japanese to our son as Tsuyoshi. (^_^)
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Jesus Loves China
By Ramone - September, 2006
I drew this on the back of the menu at a Chinese "okayu" restaurant in Umeda. It was sometime in early September, I think, and I was with my wife and maybe also with her sister. I'd brought the brown brush-pen with me and wanted to use it. In the background they were playing Chen-Min's popular CD of "kokkyu" (or "nikko") music. I love the beautiful, peaceful sound, and I just wanted to be filled with God's heart for China. God is Chinese. He's Japanese. He's American. He's Arabian. He loves us all, and He plays our music better than we do. I want to hear them music of His heart and see peoples through His eyes of love for them, for who they are--beautiful in His sight--and for how much they mean to Him.
One Thing
By Ramone - September 24, 2006
I'd like to do a bigger color version of this someday, I think. Around this time I was in another heavy theological with some friends online, and it was pretty heavy. Sometimes the thoughts just don't go away. The "questions" (or rather the answers that people offer as the only two options) were hard to forget, and clouded so much it was hard to concentrate. At that time I just kind of spiritually wanted to remember that there is One thing!
And Jesus answered and said unto her, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
(Luke 10:41-42)
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord...
(Psalm 27:4)
Lots of things are important, and lots of things are maybe necessary. But in the end as well as the beginning, there is One thing -- falling down at the feet of Jesus and adoring Him, listening to Him, learning from Him and waiting on Him. Dropping yourself there at His feet in the most personal, deep relationship of openness. Often we try to figure things out in order to approach Him correctly, and we really get busy going back and forth learning this and that "on His behalf". And we forget to sit at His feet. Time spent with Him is blessed and more valuable than things done for Him or things learned from having gone back and forth.
