My Early Morning

A FEW YEARS AGO

I arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel, with a group of people from the church in Dublin, California, where I served as senior pastor. Everyone was excited to get started - except me. I was not feeling well. While I stayed back that evening, Dixie agreed to lead those who wanted to stroll the art shops of Jaffa.

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She returned to our room late that evening and unrolled this picture on our bed, saying, “It made me think of you and what you want to do. Do you like it?” Each early morning since then, I begin my day by treasuring the love of my wife, who thought to purchase this picture, and the creativity of the artist who painted it. In the lower right is his name, Nissan.

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NISSAN ENGEL ?

is an Israeli artist born in 1931 in Haifa, Israel, and best known for his mixed-media paintings and works on paper. I know little about the skills required in Engel’s artistic craft, but I do know this. He was serious about their development.

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He studied at the Beaux-Arts Bezalel in Jerusalem and theater design at the Centre Dramatique del’Est in Strasbourg, France, then lived in Paris in the 1950s before moving to New York in 1965. Here he befriended and was influenced by Abstract Expressionist painters. Today, Engel’s works are in the collections of the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, the Detroit Institute of Arts, The Jewish Museum in New York, and the Bridgestone Museum in Tokyo, among others. He lived and worked in Paris, France, dying in 2016.

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THIS MAN I NEVER KNEW

inspires and influences my life each early morning with just this one painting out of the many works he has done. The path he chose, the effort he made, the skills he learned from others, and the passion he shared through the work he left behind. A reminder each day for a writer/pastor of what God expects from me and anyone who answers his call, walks the path, makes the effort, learns from others, and serves passionately.

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The result of lives well lived as followers of Jesus can be ‘living paintings’ in the ‘inner office’ of another person’s life, encouraging him or her to keep the faith in hard times and to do the work required to move the needle in who and where they are and what they do from good to great.

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“Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”

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“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

IT’S MY EARLY MORNING AGAIN

and I’m thinking of and praying for you as I write. I hope you are fortunate to have someone who inspires and influences you as you begin each day. Maybe like the man I never knew. Maybe like someone close whom you know so well. And maybe you will be that person for someone else.

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May Jesus keep us close.