A New Day with Janie T. (#04b)

 

From Heaven Or Earth?
There’s A Little More To The Story

 After arriving home from Canada in early October, and once again back home from Boise Idaho, filming TV programs, another most interesting episode occurred.

 My brother and sister-in-law, Rod and Jo, had brought down a gift and left it at my sister’s house for me to pick up. Three weeks had passed before I could go and get the gift. Coming home with this large box (wrapped in beautiful blue foil with blue and silver ribbon) my anticipation was about to run away with me. It wasn’t my birthday. It wasn’t Christmas. It wasn’t any holiday that I could expect a gift, so, what in the world could be in there?

 The minute I got through the front door, I ripped it open. To my absolute amazement, there before my eyes, was an artist’s conception of a most famous face so exquisitely penciled and framed. The face looked so familiar. Why did this rendition of Christ bring to my mind the thought, “where have I seen this person before?” Was this really a face that I had seen somewhere else perhaps?

 It didn’t take me long to pick just the right place on the wall for this stunning portrait. As I am writing about this incidence I tried to find just the right word that would adequately describe what I was seeing in the eyes of this famous one portrayed in this lovely picture. Stunning, beautiful, striking, awesome, awe-inspiring, breath taking, are a few words that would come close to describing what this young man, suffering from an injury, lying in a hospital bed, had indeed, penciled on a piece of paper that day.

 The image, the (face of Jesus) he saw and drew that day, had to have come from his own personal encounter with the Holy One, called, “The Christ.” No artist could depict such divine love in those eyes with a pencil without seeing it in person for himself. 

 As I stood there with my mouth open and my heart palpitating, I nearly fainted. Those eyes! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Were these eyes, those I had seen before, or some that just looked like them? Was the hair, beard, high cheekbones those that I had just seen a few weeks before beneath that hooded jacket, or was it all a figment of my imagination?  Could it really be that someone could sketch a picture that actually looked like a stranger whom I was privileged to meet beneath the Big Sky Country?

 At any rate, I can’t look at this extraordinary picture without seeing the young man whom I had an encounter with on a trip back from Canada. The mysterious young man looked so much like the man that I was now seeing in this incredible drawing.

 I will always be grateful to the Lord for that moment somewhere in the Big Sky Country when and where I looked into the face of some mom’s son, or one sent by God himself to test my faithfulness that looked so much life the image in front of me. It is a mystery at this time. Was he from Heaven or was he from earth? I don’t know. But this one thing I do know is that I can’t look at this picture hanging on my wall without saying, “Jesus, if he is some mom and dad’s earthly son, please protect him while he is trying so hard to find himself. And put a knowing in those parents’ hearts that some stranger out there is praying for their son. And Lord Jesus, if he was from Heaven, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART for that awesome experience.”

Perhaps you may be a bit sceptical reading or hearing of an account such as this. If you are, I can surely understand. For there was a time, many years in fact, that I too would have trouble believing a tale like this. I can think of some accounts in the Bible that people had a little problem with believing in the supernatural too.

One in particular stands out. It is the humorous account of Balaam, a prophet in which King Balak of Moab was going to try to bribe. Balaam’s donkey reminded me of a Shetland pony I once had. The donkey lay down in the path, rubbed up against the wall and hurt Balak’s foot. The donkey got a few beatings and finally the Lord spoke through the donkey causing quite a stir to Balak’s poor mind. God did get his point across. Read the entire story in Numbers 22. It’s humorous but also gives a vital lesson for us to learn.

Enjoy unusual happenings. It may just be a “God Thing.”

Janie T.