There has always been within me a deep yearning to touch that which was just beyond my reach. The desire to see what lies beyond the horizon or within a cloud; the whispered song in the wind or a stream. And so, here I am, following what author Phillip Yancey refers to simply as "rumors"... "Rumors of Another World"... rumors that there is Someone behind all that we see and don't see!
From my earliest years I remember how much I loved to draw and paint. Trees...farms... birds flying amid sunlit clouds. And as any imaginative boy with pencil or crayon in hand, I'd find myself lost for hours creating highly detailed renderings with sweeping vistas of major and epic battle scenes. I also think about "my woods" just behind our home in Indiana where many of my pictures and imaginings would take form. The woods, with their hidden ponds and paths, were my realm of dreams and wonder--my great world of possibilities. One Christmas my parents had given me a box of pastels, and I remember one of my first pastel paintings was of a scene of a bare tree (like the oaks in my woods) silhouetted by a softly glowing moon...the magic of possibilities!
A dear friend and wonderful artist shared a quote with me in a letter that I find both convicting and challenging regarding the "possibilities" that present themselves in life. The quote was from the renowned theologian, Soren Kierkegaard: "It is very dangerous to go into eternity with possibilities which one has oneself prevented from becoming realities. A possibility is a hint from God. One must follow it. In every man there is latent the highest possibility; one must follow it. If God does not wish it, then let Him prevent it, but one must not hinder oneself. Trusting to God I have dared, but was not successful; in that is to be found peace, calm, and confidence in God. I have not dared: that is a woeful thought, a torment in eternity."
...one must follow it.
