Painting Revelation Blog

Paul and Barnabas part ways

Barnabas—nicknamed Son of Encouragement—is one of the first believers we meet in the Book of Acts. In chapter 4 he sells a field and contributes the proceeds to the needy. In chapter 9 he takes Paul and introduces him to the Apostles in Jerusalem. Later in Antioch, the Holy Spirit commissions Barnabas and Paul to go on the first missionary journey through Asia, which ends when they meet again with the Apostles at the Jerusalem Council.

But Acts 15:36-41 records that Barnabas and Paul had a “sharp disagreement.” Barnabas took his nephew Mark and returned to his home territory on the island of Cyprus. Paul chose Silas to accompany him on his second missionary journey into Europe, taking with them the letter from the council welcoming Gentiles into the church without the need for circumcision. The text hints at personality problems, family relationships, differences of opinion. It doesn’t matter exactly what caused the rift; things like that happen to all of us.

What encourages me is that our early brothers and sisters of faith had problems, figured out solutions, and went about the business of furthering the kingdom of God. When I look at the simple painting of the diverging friends, it helps me accept the inevitable end to some of my relationships. I’m certain that the pain and disappointment—and even anger—that Paul and Barnabas felt did not negate the powerful work and friendship they shared in the beginning of their ministry together.

Jesus asleep in the storm

This image is from my new painting of the Gospel of Mark. Jesus gets into a boat with his disciples and goes to sleep on a cushion in the stern, sleeping through the violent storm that begins swamping the boat. I love Mark’s gospel for its many eyewitness details: the Greek word for cushion is a specialized term and occurs only this once in the New Testament. I know from studying and painting Acts that Mark had a lot of interactions with Peter, who was in the boat with Jesus.

This story—the calming of the storm—has had special meaning for me this summer as a number of personal storms have threatened the little boat of my life. Within two week’s time my husband lost his job, my elderly and difficult parents moved from 5 hours to just 10 minutes away, a publisher rejected (yet again) my novel saying they really liked my story but couldn’t offer it to their audience, and (worst of all for me) I got malignant melanoma. My husband and I were more than swamped. But through it all, Jesus was in the boat with us. My husband has a new job; we hired someone to care for my parents; the editor is taking another look at my work; the cancer—a messenger with a powerful wake-up call—was caught early and is gone. Best of all, the necessitated changes in my lifestyle gave me time and energy to get to my studio and paint the gospel of Mark. I am learning so many crucial lessons as I look deeply at the life of Jesus and try to bring my actions and attitudes in line with his.

Napa Valley

The past three weeks I’ve been struggling with pneumonia, first in an airplane, then a week on the 41st floor of a hotel in New Orleans, finally back home in bed. Many lessons have come to mind as I’ve found myself unable to DO but rather just have to BE. I’ve uncovered some false messages from my childhood that were ingrained deep in my child soul. I’m getting a close up look at how important breath / pneuma / spirit is for our very existence. I’m on the mend.

Today I was looking through a file in my desk labeled prayer. It’s a ragtag assortment. I found a note scribbled on a 3” square of paper and thought it is still worth pondering. This is the first verse of Genesis:

In the beginning     TIME
God                     PERSONALITY
created                   ENERGY
the heavens             SPACE
and the earth         MATTER