Discovery

 Isn't it weird how sometimes you hold a few pieces of a puzzle in your hand but you don't see the picture for a while?  Today various pieces of something came together and made me smile.   Let me tell you the story.......

A couple of years ago ( maybe more ) I was asked to speak at a church service and, for some reason which now escapes me, I decided I wanted a visual representation of the story of the prodigal son.  I went online to search for something suitable and I found this image



It suited the talk I was giving perfectly and I thought it was rather a beautiful and profound image, but I didnt look into it any further.  I just borrowed it to illustrate a point.

 Some time later I was looking for a present for a friend and , wandering through a bookshop, my eye landed on 'The boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse' by Charlie Maksey.  I didnt read it, I merely browsed the pages - but there was something about it which drew me to buy it. This is very unusual for me.  I usually only give presents of books I have actually read and enjoyed myself.  And I really don't enjoy the new agey 'feelgood' meme-type things which hand out dollops of happiness in trite phrases. And I wasnt totally sure that this book wasnt one of those.  But I decided to go for it and sent it to my friend who loved it.  I thought to myself ' I should really read that .'  ( I still haven't)   

Last week Keith came in with a book which he had ordered online for one of the boys for Christmas.  It is a daily bible reading book by Bear Grylls.  I went to wrap it up today, still not quite sure which boy was going to get it.  I thought I'd read the introduction.  And in the introduction Bear thanks various people who have had a big influence on his Christian life.  One person he mentioned was Charlie Macksey.   I recognised the name as being the author of the book so I went to look him up online.

Charlie's Wikipedia page doesnt contain much information - but what it does say is this    He is a former atheist who has found Jesus and sees his work as a way to "introduce God to the people he loves."[ Many of his paintings have a religious theme.


This made me smile.  And of course I went on to look at some of his paintings, only to discover that the image of the father and the prodigal son which I had discovered a few years ago was by him.  And as I was browsing through his paintings I also recognised this image which someone had sent me on a card a while ago and which I also really loved.  Today all the threads came together and I realised that something in me had been drawing me to Charlie Macksey - and I believe that thing was the spirit of God in me alerting me to a fellow spirit, a brother , a creative who wants to express the heart of God through his art and his words.

So what's the point of me telling you all this then?   Well.......Im not sure :)  Maybe someone reading this needs to go and investigate Charlie Macksey and read his wonderfully illustrated book.  Maybe you have been wondering why you have kept coming across someone or something in different contexts for a while and perhaps its because God is trying to get your attention.   Perhaps its just that God wants to remind us all that He holds all the threads and loves weaving them in and out of our lives in mysterious and intriguing ways.  Im not sure if its just how He speaks to me, but quite often theres a puzzle to solve, some research to do and some information to find before I get the full weight of what God is on about ! Proverbs 25.2 says 

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.  

I think I shall use my Christmas money to buy the book and read it during the next lockdown. 😊🕮

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