Dear Friends of Pacificministries,
I believe we take ourselves, and even the Lord, much too seriously. Graham Cooke said recently: "... the Lord loves to laugh with us, and sometimes he laughs at us. Because we are funny."
A little over a week ago, a team of friends visited Sacred Ground Foursquare Church in Seletz, Oregon. We have a five-year relationship with the leaders of this First Nations Church, and we worshipped together and celebrated their purchase of property. On our way to Seletz, we passed through Newport, Oregon. Carlene and I lived in Newport some 20 years ago, and we love it's breathtakingly beautiful coastland.
For the last several months, I have had a curious and uncharacteristic desire to paint. If you know, my artistic ability at all... it is embarrassing. I have great admiration and appreciation for those of you who can take a paint brush and create beautiful renditions of scenery or people. But I have learned to obey these impressions, and felt as if the Lord said: just do it.
So a few weeks ago, I went to the art store and bought my first junior watercolor set. Typical of my approach to anything artistic, I never bothered to read the little instructional book that came with my watercolor painting set... I just wanted to start painting, so thought I'd start with an Oregon Coast scene.
Unfortunately, as we approached Newport, the weather turned ugly, and we experienced a massive coastal downpour. Not the best time to paint. But I was determined. We parked our car along the highway at a viewpoint just north of the Yaquina Bay lighthouse, turned on the windshield wipers and the heater, got out our paper, and began to paint.
It was pretty funny. We kept on spilling the watercolors and messed up the console of our Honda... but we had fun. After an hour or so, we revealed our masterpieces to each other, laughed, and continued on our way. I still want to paint, and surprisingly, our first attempts weren’t nearly as disastrous as expected.
Last Sunday, just a week later, Carlene and I were speaking in a small Mexican church in Cabo Mexico. We had a wonderful time with these brothers and sisters, and celebrated Jesus with them. Imagine my surprise when I noticed the large banner logo for this fellowship. It matched our paintings, almost perfectly:
I invite you to look for the supernatural and humorous ways in which the Holy Spirit enjoys us... and I encourage you to welcome him into the ordinary and insignificant areas of your life. And if He tells you to pick up the piano or the guitar or a watercolor paint set, I have three words of advice: Just Do It.
See all of you creative people at Worship at the River this Sunday, May 13th in Troutdale Oregon.
Darrell and Carlene
PS.. Some of our wonderful friends in Cabo San Jose Mexico....
