Christian Visual Stuff: July 2009

Do You See Jesus?

A photographer for a major worldwide news service had seen everything. He had traveled the globe to many crisis situations of war, civil uprisings, plane crashes, natural disasters, every form of human suffering. He had developed a very callous nature toward the many upsetting events which he was assigned to photograph.
Throughout much of his early life, this man had no desire to even consider there being a God, much less any wish to know about Jesus Christ, a reported Son of God. If there was a God, how could He allow all the things this man had witnessed? The world was in such a mess, it was inconceivable that a “good” God has created it.
But still - as he grew older, deep within his being, he felt a drawing, a calling, toward an understanding of God. He could not shake the feeling that there was a higher purpose for man than what he had seen. He hesitantly began to look in the Bible. He studied what was written about the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ for all mankind. He began to consider that what he was reading might be true.
But how could he know? This business of “faith” seemed beyond him. He believed in what he could see, hear, taste, feel and touch. He was an educated, scientific minded man who had a problem with “spiritual” concepts. How could he really know the existence of God? He needed some proof of the Jesus Christ saga of the Bible.
As he wrestled in his mind about God, he decided on a solution. He wanted a SIGN! After all, if God really existed and wanted to show Himself, then God should give some physical sign. He reasoned that something obviously of God that he could contact with the senses would convince him.
About that time, world events began to demand more of his time and he traveled extensively in his picture-taking assignments. God ideas kind of got put on the back-burner in the heat of his work.
Then a very severe earthquake took place in Alaska. There was much damage and loss of life, and he was assigned to cover the story in pictures.
On the last leg of his flight into Anchorage, Alaska, he was looking out the plane window at the frozen terrain below. There were patches of snow and areas of exposed dark ground. Nothing spectacular, he was thinking.Suddenly, a message flashed into his mind
“Take a picture! Take a picture!”
He heard the words so clearly that it was as if someone right beside him had said it. He looked down again, but the scenery had not changed. All he saw was just light and dark patches - no people, no buildings, nothing exciting - just snow and earth.
“Why take a picture?” he thought. “Nothing here.” But the message had been so clear and insistent, that he got out his camera and snapped what he could see out the window.
He flew into Anchorage and took many pictures of the destruction. Again, God was far from his mind.
After he returned to his home office, all of the rolls of film were developed and returned to him. He had so many pictures to sort through that he had forgotten about that single picture from the plane.
And then it happened! He came to that picture, and stopped in his tracks. What he saw in the picture immediately reminded him of his request that God show him a sign. There, in the black and white of the landscape, was the FACE OF CHRIST! It was unmistakable to him. As he fell on his knees, he heard and recognized that same voice which had said to take a picture speaking again:
“You have certainly been a hard nut to crack. I have been dealing with you all of your life, but you have been anchored to the world tighter than most. For some people, subtle hints of Me do the trick. For others, it takes a steady revelation by Me to gain their understanding. But for the stubborn like you, sometimes the only thing that works is a SIGN! I am not really into physical signs, but I love you so much that I‘ll do ‘whatever turns you on!’
Accept My Son, Jesus Christ, that you see in the snow. Know Him as your Savior and pledge to make Him the Lord of your life. And with this, I will give you a new birth as a child in My Family.
Jesus said, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are they that have not seen, AND YET HAVE BELIEVED.’ (John 20:29)