Station 11: Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross

When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-one on his right, the other on his left. - Luke 23:33 (NIV)

Water
Have you ever stood in shower for a long time letting the water pour over you just waiting to feel "clean" again? Waiting for pain or hurt to wash away? Somewhere in that place, our brokeness cries out to be made whole again - to be restored to life.

Water, Blood & Grace
In the story of our redemption, blood and water are significant elements in atonement and purification. We find it in the rituals of the Old Testament and we find it in the sacraments of the New. We are baptised into into His death and through this baptism, raised to life in Him. There is a mingling of the two. Water representing blood, blood playing the role of the water.

"This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." [1]

"Since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water." [2]

Are we willing, as we continue on this journey to accept the grace that we are offered? It is offered freely to us but it was not without cost. It is the costliest gift ever and this is the price that was paid for it.

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." [3]

There is a sketch pad and a charcoal pencil as part of this piece. You can trace the outline of your hand on a sheet from the pad and then push it on the nail above the pad. It is a way for us to, perhaps, count ourselves among one of those for whose transgressions He was pierced. An acknowledgement of the great cost that was the price of this grace. My prayer is that in this outward act, we accept inside of us this grace and that it brings purity, peace and healing into our lives in a new way.

Notes:
1. Matthew 26:28
2. Hebrews 10:21-22
3. Isaiah 53:5

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The photo above is a composite of the prints in my installation, along with the Artist's Statement that is displayed with the piece. A photo of the actual installation is shown below.

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Some places in Houston that help the homeless, if you'd like to lend a hand:
* Bread of Life - breadoflifeinc.org
* Star of Hope Mission - www.sohmission.org
* Coalition for the Homeless, Houston - www.homelesshouston.org

For those of you not in Houston, I'm sure you can find places in your city as well.

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Here's wishing you a 2009 that is filled with beautiful surprises & blessings in unexpected places!

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Haven't been able to write much lately but hoping that I'll get back to doing so again soon. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Grace & peace,

Deji.

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At The Beach III

I just might make this a tradition :-) See the photo from last year here

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Another MS 150 come and gone. Felt like the road just kept coming though, especially with the wind hitting us head on for most of the ride. Somehow I finished though and I definitely felt the need to get an official certificate for this one (6th in a row) :-)

Thanks to everyone that has donated so far. You guys rock!! You can still donate in support of my ride to find a cure for MS at www.ms150.org/edon.cfm?id=220443 (I'm keeping a tally on my other site - deji.osinulu.org )

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Wishing you a year filled with grace, love, peace, beauty & God's presence. May all your wishes come true and may your cup be filled & overflow with blessing.

Grace & peace,

Deji.

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Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Blessings,
Deji.

[Photo taken at the Christmas Eve candlelight service - First Methodist, Houston.]

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You are invited to the opening reception for "600 sq mi: Photos from Houston" which is going to be held next week Saturday (Sept. 8) at MSquared Gallery in the Heights (325 W. 19th Street, Houston, TX 77008) from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

"600 sq mi" is a juried exhibition of photographs from Houston and I am thrilled to say that one of my entries was selected by the jury to be a part of the show. The show, organized by " Houstonist" runs from Sept. 5 through Oct. 7, 2007.

I am really excited at this first of, hopefully, many more good things things to come with photography and all the other stuff if find myself in. I hope you can make it to the opening reception, according to Houstonist - "we've put together a kickass reception for you guys". So come down, enjoy the art, hang out with some really cool people ... and all that good stuff :-)

Show related links:
http://www.600sqmi.com/
http://www.m2-houston.com/
http://houstonist.com/

Have a wonderful weekend and see you soon.

Grace & peace,
Deji.

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As promised, some additional photos from the Galveston reunion :-)

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Was in Galveston this past weekend for a sorely needed time to unplug. We had a reunion of a bunch of us that had gotten to know each other via the CrossTrainers Sunday School at FUMC. Somehow, I managed to get up just barely in time to catch the sunrise and then did my Saturday long run on the beach - which was a totally different experience.

All in all it was a blast! Great weather, wonderful friends & plenty of food :-) I'll have more photos in the next couple of days.

Blessings, grace & peace,
Deji.

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Wow! July went by very, very quickly!! It has been rather busy around here with stuff all over the place. It seems like we just got into July not too long ago and the next thing I know, it is August.

Let's see ... what has been going on? Some photography stuff - got one of my entries picked for a photo show (600 sq mi: Photos from Houston) that opens in September (more on that later). Took up a bit of running and now it seems like I might give the Houston 1/2 Marathon a shot (quick note on this - I thought since I do a bit of cycling this should not be a big deal and boy was I wrong ... it is harder than it looks). What else ... teaching the CrossTrainers Sunday School class at First Methodist again (3rd week on a series on David this Sunday). Of course there has been work stuff which takes up most of the daylight hours (and some night time too).

Anyway, just wanted to post something and say "hola!", hoping to resume posting on a more regular basis again.

Gotta sign-off now ... have a run rather early tomorrow morning, and combine that with being a Sat. morning and that is way early for me!! :-)

Blessings, grace & peace,
Deji.

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Photo made on the 19th of May, 2007.

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Photo made on the 8th of May, 2007.

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"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Luke 2:14

Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas! Here's wishing you and yours the very best in the New Year.

Grace, peace, hope & joy,
Deji.

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Felt like posting something and thought I'd put up a photo ... or two

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It has been a while since my last post. Life, it seems, got a bit crowded with things calling for attention here and there, so much so that it felt that there were not enough hours in the day. That, or it could have been that I just got caught up in the noise and distractions of life and had neglected to give attention to the more important matters of faith and grace and peace and God�??s presence & voice.

I just got back this past weekend from a personal retreat (along with some friends) in the Texas Hill Country and given the state of affairs that I just described above, I was really looking forward to getting unplugged for a couple of days.

It was beautiful! To get up and hear nothing but the hum of the refrigerator and the birds chirping outside. To walk out and splash down the riverbed (on the side where there was still some water flowing), to see the sun rise, feel the breeze rush past you and through the trees while you hear the rustlings of some yet unrevealed critter in the underbrush. To sit under the shade of a tree and spend time in God�??s word and with God, letting go of requests and questions for a while to just hang-out and be still.

Leaving on Sunday to come back home was a bit difficult, realizing that all the noise was going to come rushing back in and that all the distractions will still be there. Looking down that riverbed one last time though, there was also a sense of blessing. A sense that it was good to have had time to be still with God and the knowledge that He is never absent, even in our noise. In that moment, I was reminded that part of what He purposes for me and for each of us is not that we remove ourselves from the craziness of our world but that we influence it. That while we do need to retreat from it every now and then so that we can "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10), we are supposed to go back into the world with gusto but not forgetting whom and whose we are.

The reality we live in will still be noisy, crazy and distracting but God has promised that �??My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.�?� (Ex. 33:14) So that is where we are at this moment as we read this �?? surrounded by the noise and distraction but with the knowledge that as the river of life rushes past us, we have a rock on which to stand which can affect the course of the river, slow it down or make music of it.

A thought - How can God work through you to bring His reality into your world today?

Grace & peace,
Deji.

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"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. "

Isaiah 55:1-2

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Thought it might be nice to add a splash of color to the site :-) Enjoy ....

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