Whale of a Gift

Isn't this incredible? This is part of the several gifts the cast and crew of Jonah presented to me for being their "Dictator" for the play. It was commissioned to be done by the award winning wildlife artist Mike McKelvey. It's a wood carving, in case you couldn't tell because of the colors, and it's the logo from the play. It just came in last week and Jerry presented it to me before I got up to preach last Sunday. They had told me it was coming back when we had our cast party in June, the week after the play, but I had no idea how what an amazing piece of art it would be. It is so beautiful. This artist has won loads of awards for his carvings of fish, ducks, turkeys, and other critters, but I'll bet this was his first whale. I understand that it was especially hard because the logo was more cartoon oriented rather than real-life, but he did a marvelous job. Needless to say, I am very humbled and thankful. The greatest joy of the whole experience - creating, writing, casting, set design, directing, etc., is just getting to share so much with so many wonderful brothers and sisters. There is nothing like working hard with those you love, on a joint adventure, and seeing it blessed so much by God. I don't know how many of them read my blog, but if you're one of them, thanks again for the beautiful gift, and thanks again for being part of our attempt to share a story from God's Word. Have I said it enough? God is good.