About The Book

A picture is worth a thousand words

Prior to the modern era, churches used vivid imagery, including stained glass windows and paintings, to tell the story of God and our relationship with him. Most people could not read or write so they relied on pictures and religious interpreters to understand the Bible. For many of us, pictures are still a powerful way to share stories and understand biblical context. The illustrations in this book represent stories and ideas from the Bible using pictures to focus on Discipleship as a way of teaching what God has been trying to share with us all along. The illustrations are layered and linked so that a child can see things on one level, while an adult seeking greater understanding can be led into a deeper and larger view of the Creator. Often seeing things from a different point of view, such as through these illustrations, can give us insight and shed new light on God's plan for our world and our lives. These stories of the ancient world come alive in pictures and show all of us why God's word is still important and relevant today.

Two years ago I purchased an illustrated book by Travis Hanson on living your dreams. I really connected with the artist's vision and drawings. Two weeks later I literally dreamed Travis' art style into several biblical pictures. Not knowing Travis personally, I reached out to various artists I knew to recreate my vision, but nothing happened. Fast forward two years...I searched for bike trails on my computer. For seven years I had no idea that a bike trail through the woods was just around the corner from my home. I started riding my bike once again, my energy returned, and I felt really great for the first time in years. Then while looking at a post from Travis' on Face Book, I saw that he was looking for creative projects, so I emailed him and he called me back. During that conversation I could feel the energy and connection, and knew that Travis was the artist for my vision. He too was a lifelong active Christian. I told him that I only had a few pictures developed, but Travis suggested we needed about thirty images!

What happened next was uncanny. People said I was on fire! For the next three weeks I woke up almost every night writing my dreams in a book by my bedside. Then on my bike rides I continued to daydream and develop these visions. Everything connected. Suddenly, within a month I had all the pictures and concepts for a book on discipleship. Then I received a call from someone telling me she had been praying for me, that the Holy Spirit would guide me, and that I would have the strength to do God's will. She did not know about the journey I was on, which made the timing amazing. I called Travis to tell him what had transpired, and that we needed to accelerate development of the book. I still was not sure how to finance it, but with God all things are possible. Thankfully, my wife, bless her, unconditionally supported this daunting undertaking. And God continued sending the help that I really needed. A friend who is a webmaster came to my aid. Then I met with a fellow deacon and his wife for lunch and during our conversation brought up the book and all of the coincidences that have surrounded this effort. His wife looked me in the eyes and asked if I knew what they did for a living - they market Christian books. We have a saying at our church: God is good, all the time! Travis' tagline at his site is "This is your story, your dream, your adventure. Let's bring it to life!" Well to be honest, this book was a more like an inspired vision than a dream and this story really isn't mine, it's ours...and the rest as they say is "His Story!"

I would like to invite you to take this visual journey, so that you might explore and discover what it means to be connected to the Creator and one another. My hope is that you begin to see things in a new and relevant way for your life - to see things in a new light - with the heart of a disciple. Jesus knows that if you allow God to change your heart, you can change the world. Jesus wants us to shift our perception and see the world the way God sees it: connected and sacred. The Kingdom of God will be revealed in our midst right here and right now by following the two Great Commandments: loving God and loving one another, and by undertaking Jesus' great commission to go and make disciples of all. Come follow Jesus and re-connect with one another and with the living God.

About The Book

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