Born of Wind
Canvas 20” x 34”
Time: Approx. 1.5 hours
Cost: $1,500
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
[Jesus said,] “So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.” John 3:7,8 (The Message Version)
I arrived late to church with my three children. I asked about the topic, and was told “[the sermon] is about the Holy Spirit.” For several days I had already been thinking about the Holy Spirit being like the wind—unpredictable, exhilarating, and mysterious. So, I set up my palette, started praying and this image suddenly came to my mind as whimsically as the wind! I have always been fascinated with kites since I was a boy, I think from reading Winnie the Pooh. (and Jesus did say that we must be like a child to see the Kingdom of God.) So, to show how we relate to The Holy Spirit, this image of a boy being swept off a cliff over the Grand Canyon, oddly, seemed suitable!
Doug spoke about Jesus ascending to Heaven so that the Comforter, The Holy Spirit, could come. That same Comforter empowered Jesus in the Desert. From conception to baptism, from casting out of demons to resurrection from the dead—Jesus, The Last Adam, walked on the Earth in dependence on the Third Person of the Trinity. So now, Christ [as us] continues to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit [in us] to carry out his ministry of reconciliation on Earth. A striking example of this is Pentecost, where all barriers of language, race, class, societal expectations, politics, and religion, were literally blown away by a “violent wind from Heaven” as people from all over the ancient world gathered in one place and saw tongues of fire floating above the heads of the disciples as they spoke foreign languages. Could this very painting be like a tongue of fire speaking a thousand words only you can understand? I certainly didn’t plan on it, but my guess is that the Wind knew...and blew this message to you!