(Click on the pictures for the full image)

The sketches above are by a young woman named Becky. Alexis and I met her a few weekends ago when we were up at Monadnock, where my buddy John was speaking at a youth conference. At the end of one session, as Alexis and I made our way to the exit among the jumble of teens headed off to lunch, I caught a snippet of conversation - one of the volunteers had been sketching some art in her sketchbook, and the person next to her was expressing shock at the striking nature of the sketch.

I took an interest at this point - I guess because I love things that shock others - and glanced at the shocking sketch as all of us walked slowly toward the exit. I found myself quite entranced by the sketch - it was shocking, yes, but very resonant. I found myself identifying with the turmoil and conflict expressed in the sketch.

We introduced ourselves to the artist, Becky, and I let her know how I thought it was particularly meaningful - a surprise to her given her friend’s shock! I asked Becky if she would send it to me by email once she was done with it, and earlier this week she sent me two files, one of the original sketch and one with some nifty coloring effects that gave it a nice dark touch.

Before I give my take on it, here’s the artist’s own words about this piece:

in the pictures i was trying to express all the mixed emotions of the walk with Christ. how everything can be overwhelming and u can lose sight of ur path. also how after the first initial step off your path it starts to consume you and can lead to even more problems. without Christ you are just a lost soul.

Indeed!! In fact, that’s what resonated deeply with me about the sketch - the conflict and turmoil that comes with walking with Christ. I think people put so much pressure on themselves to FEEL the “peace that transcends understanding”, as if the Christian life is supposed to be all happy-happy peacy-calm in the midst of all kinds of struggles. I think we become quite fake when we try so hard to maintain a “Christian” calm exterior when on the inside we battle, oftentimes quite alone, with our inner raging turmoil.

In these sketches I find that conflict beautifully expressed, and I hope Becky and artists like her continue to draw the “realness” of the Christian journey! Yes, it’s disturbing and shocking, but you know what, it’s REAL - and I find hope too, a hope that Christ doesn’t buy the carefully churched exterior I like to present to the world (”pshaw, I ain’t shaken by dat, I’m a Kristian!”) but a hope that comes from knowing that Christ sees the full depths of the turmoil and conflict and tossing waves and stormy lightning in my heart. A hope that comes from knowing that He sees all the dangers in my own heart that lie in wait to trip me up on the journey, and from knowing that He thinks I really can do it by simply having faith in Him. A hope that He actually LOVES being in the midst of that turmoil and conflict, because the Way leads right through it and He beckons me onto it with the peace of knowing I am walking with HIM. A hope that He actually has power over whatever I encounter.

On this Christian journey there is much danger and conflict all around the path, often times even obscuring the path, precisely BECAUSE the path leads through such danger, not because the path is supposed to be a short-cut around turmoil.

This Christian journey is not safe, because Christ is not a tame god who builds well-engineered highways around dangerous rivers, because Christ is dangerous and because this Christian journey is built around following Him through the heart of darkness to victory. Because Christ is a fierce, passionate, glorious Hero-God worthy of following even through the most dangerous and treacherous things the path weaves through.

Because the path weaves His story.