Painting 2 For Easter : Why they call it "Good Friday"

Sometimes I wonder if I should or should not make statements about things. Someone always is offended or seeks to argue away the point. I have known persecution on a lot of levels. Persecution on how I look, my faith, my race, my denomination, my political views, my economics, my clothing choices, my car, my glasses, my painting of wild horses, even on my language and how I speak...

I live in a free country that protects our right to voice our opinion and protects our right to worship, or expression and our right to associate freely with whom ever we choose.  It does not protect a bully who choses to harm me or anyone financially, physically, or through intimidation or through extortion of my rights in order to  usurp my rights.

Part of my faith is about the fact that forgiveness is real and sacrifice is real and compassion is real. All of these things I believe are what God's purpose for the cross is. With out these three aspects..plus God's own power over death what I believe is just another hollow political religion of conformists trying to out power everyone around them.

Jesus did not die for a denomination. In fact he was the opposite of denomination. He was God made man to show us how to live, show us how to act out our faith and to show us that we can be forgiven anything and everything. He took all the sins of those created, plus even those who had not been born yet, upon himself and took the punishment for us.   His blood was shed to wash away the natural rebellion most of us feel toward God, when we would rather be in control.

Truth is we really have little control over much in this life. If it were not for the fact that God loves us so much and is so patient with us ... that he gives us a life time to figure it all out. That the gift is God and the promise that shall never be broken: He will never leave us or forsake us now in this life or beyond. The only proviso is that we must receive the gift.

The proof that the gift is has been received is a changed heart and mind, the ability to trust God, to recognize his hand in all things, his voice and  we find we have a peace about all those things that we cannot control  because we have no doubt that God himself is in control. We have no doubt that His love for us can reach us where ever we are in the universe.

I cannot imagine what the darkness must have been like for those who had grown to think of Christ as their beloved teacher and family.  How fearful and devastated they must have been to see this person who had healed so many bodies, hearts and minds... in complete humiliation, naked on a cross. His skin stripped from him with a  whip embedded with iron. Some of my friends cannot understand how a loving God would allow his son to die such a horrid death.  We cant imagine it. Cannot fathom it.

Who but a loving God .... and how else could it happen...unless He is a God of no limits, who knew the outcome, that His son would live and not die...and that He Himself was His own son.  It blows our tiny little human minds that there could be any logic in this. But since when is there any human logic in LOVE. Even the kind of God so loved the world ( all the people of the world) that he gave His only begotten son that who so ever believes in Him should have everlasting life... kind of love.

When I painted this painting .. . all I could think was the blood of Jesus ... was not measured in pints and liters. It was poured out in a never ending flood of love... that covered the whole world spiritually.. from the moment the first drop splashed down his face when they pressed the thorn crown to his head and it flows continually around the world bathing everyone who calls upon the name of  the Son of God... this is such a gift.. such an amazing gift to bring life and second chances and  I stand amazed, sit amazed... that God loved me so much that He sent His only son to die for my mistakes, my short comings, all of the silly things that went wrong in my life, even my inability to start out trusting God. 

That is the same love that He has for every single person that has lived or lives on the earth. We can choose or not choose to believe. This is the same love that He has for you.  The love that passes all understanding and all human logic.