Silence: Images of Christ - Alligators

This image is the closest one I could find to the image I will be referring to in my description. My father drew a detailed sketch similar to this one when he was a young boy. He gave the image away to an elderly lady at a yard sale and later, the painting survived a terrible house fire. The lady brought the drawing back to my father and told him the story. It is now framed and back in my father's possession. This story simply amazed me as a child and still does to this day because of it's journey. I had always heard that a Bible would not burn, but I found it especially intriguing that my father's sketch of Jesus on the cross did not catch fire. Coincidence? I think not!

This image represents my childhood awe of seeing Jesus in beautiful stained glass windows of my church. I was always moved by how beautiful they were when the light would shine through the bright colors of glass. To me, Jesus is light and it gave my heart and spirit peace to feel His presence in that light.

I wanted to include an image of Jesus that was not "typical" to me. When I was very young, I had a children's book type image of a 'white' Jesus with long hair. While in my grandmother's house, I came across a statue of a 'black' Jesus which puzzled my rudimentary mind. This statue has never left my thoughts because it always made me think deeply about how selfish it was for me to assume what Jesus truly looked like. It was not my fault that I had only created this image based off of what I had been shown. In reality, we do not know the specifics of Jesus' physical appearance and I have grown to believe that this is because what is important is what He did, not what He looked like.

This photograph was taken by my father on our cattle farm. It has always made me feel happy and safe because it reminds me of God's promise to never flood Earth again. It also reminds me that even through the rain and storms of my life, Jesus is with me. To me, a rainbow is Jesus.

This is a recently trending image of a cross in the sky. This cross was not deliberately placed by man, but seemed to be a symbol of/from Jesus. Many interpret this image in his or her own way. To me, it is a comforting sign from Jesus that He is still with us. I included this image because I see Jesus both in a cross and in nature. Here, it just so happens to be together!

This is currently my favorite twist on the typical image of Jesus being born in a manger. In most pictures, baby Jesus is swaddled in the arms of Mary, in a crib of straw, etc. and there is no blood. Everything appears to be perfect and painless. This makes us assume that Jesus just kind of appeared in His perfect presence. We do not know what happened; however, I really appreciate this realistic photography reenacting what His birth was probably like... pain, blood, and all!