amokarts

Friday October 15 through Sunday October 17, 2009 Sketching on retreat.

Well the challenge marches on. I made a promise to myself that I was not going to obsess about creating while on retreat and I kept that promise. I did some sketches for an upcoming presentation by my friend and mentor Bob Disalvio from Amwell Church of the Brethren. I don't want to go into too many details about it because it won't be presented for several months, but I will share one graphic from it here in it's completed form. I did four sketches in all and I was pretty happy with them. The rain kept us indoors for most of the retreat so there was lots of reading, praying and some sketching with my wife Dawn and son Chris. All in all it was just what we needed.

The place we went to was called Faith Mountain in Rosedale, WV. This is a ministry that is near and dear to my heart. It's way up in the hills, no TV, no internet and my cell doesn't work there. To me that's paradise. The founders of the ministry, Herb and Kathy Miller built it as a place to minister to ministers. I've been there four times now and each time God has repaired something in me and rejuvenated me for ministry. Herb and Kathy are leaving Faith Mountain soon to follow the call of the Lord and devote their time to another ministry they started called Mountain Re-Source Center, a ministry that connects overstocked building materials manufacturers with under resourced people, to supply the materials to build and repair the homes of the less fortunate. It's an awesome ministry and I wish them well. The other illustration was Sunday's project I created as an idea for a project of theirs. It's a first draft. I may change some things and it may go nowhere, but it was fun and inspired by two people who really inspire me.

It was funny, I sat by the lake they dug in a valley in the mountain looking at the autumn leaves reflecting off the water and I thought about my friends and leaving all this behind to follow the Lord and I wondered if I put that much work and love into something, could I leave it behind? That thought showed me something about the condition of my heart. Everything I have belongs to God and sometimes the real test is can I give it up. With God's help, like my friends, when that day comes I hope I make the same choice.

By the way this is not the end of Faith Mountain. When they first founded this ministry Herb and Kathy had a vision, some of it got completed and some did not. A new family is coming in to run Faith Mountain, the Young's. When they sat down with the Millers to discuss the possibility of taking over Faith Mountain, the Young's shared a vision of what they saw as the next phase. It was nearly verbatim of the Miller's original vision. Because of their willingness to follow the Lord, the Mountain Re-Source Centers ministry will help a lot more people and the original vision will draw closer to fruition. God is good. It reminds me of a favorite verse of mine. "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 God may move us along to other things. He may let us start something for someone else to finish, but God always finishes what He starts. Trust Him! I pray God's richest blessing on the Miller's, the Young's and on YOU! Be faithful and follow!