TITLE: The Seeker (Study)
SIZE: 8x10
MEDIUM: Acrylic on Canvas
CIRCA: 2021

Do you have a favorite place you often long to return? We do! Glenn and I love spending time in Jekyll Island. With its large trees and low hanging moss swaying softly in the salty winds, this island off the coast of Georgia is a very special place for the two of us. We enjoy long walks and riding our bikes for miles underneath the canopy of those large trees. And on the days we need to feel the sand in between our toes, we visit driftwood beach. A shoreline filled with oversized driftwood. To this day it is one of the most amazing phenomena of nature we have experienced together. And then there’s our favorite place to grab dinner. What could be any better than having chips and homemade guacamole while listening to the ocean waves crash in the background, right? But of all these wonderful aspects of the island my favorite is hands down the sea turtle rescue center. One year we just so happened to be visiting the center when they brought in a large turtle who was wounded and pretty sick from an infection. The crowd watched intently through the looking glass as the staff assessed the situation. For hours we walked between the two buildings - operating room and the restoration tank center - a place for her long term stay. Eventually the sea turtle made her way out from the operating room to her new holding tank and we made our way back to the camp ground. I couldn’t help but think of how that one day on the calendar was such a huge investment of both time and money for the injured sea turtle. She was worth saving. And while there are many hospitals and staffers investing in our physical well-being when we or our beloved animals are sick or injured there is only ONE who is invested in our spiritual well-being. His name is Jesus and he paid a very high cost to save both you and me. Why? While we are not deserving - to Him, we are worth it.

In the book of Hosea, the prophet tells us about the consequences and later the restoration of Israel. God’s people have wandered from him and living in the consequences of their deliberate disobedience. Yet God, rich in mercy, desires to restore his relationship with them. I believe He has the same desire for us today.

Sin and disobedience always separate us from God, and yet his love navigates him to find whatever it takes to get back into relationship with us. But this pattern of sin/consequence/repentance/restoration
culminates in Jesus. It is through him and in him and by him our relationship with God is permanently restored. The elaborate systems of sacrifice instituted throughout the Old Testament are rendered obsolete by the one sacrifice that swallows them all: the death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus, the Lamb of God, offers himself as a sacrifice so that our relationship with God can be restored. We deserve punishment, but Jesus pays the price for our sins on the cross. His death and resurrection conquer and offer us a pathway to restoration in our relationship with God - he is the “the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Jesus - the seeker of our soul.

Heather Lamp, 2021