"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."
Mother Teresa

The human touch. What is it that makes it so very valuable? As I was thinking about this a drawing I had done several years ago came to mind. It was of Mother Teresa and I remembered how her life touched mine simply because she gave her life away all for love’s sake. Yet, what is it about the condition of men’s hearts that cause’s them at times to be so callus or just plain evil. The Scriptures themselves speak of this heart condition in much simplier terms.

Pro 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

Jer 17:9 The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?

In Proverbs 28: 26, we see that men who walk wisely can overcome a wicked heart. We are not to rely on our own feelings for comfort nor look at the circumstances that surround us to judge the state we are in. This is especially so for Christian believer’s. The human touch is so precious because it is bigger than circumstance or the condition of the heart itself.

Recently, I attended a conference and was blessed by the fellowship and the sharing with others. In all this fellowship there was one moment that really stood out to me. I was in the elevator at the hotel and a man and his wife got on at the next floor. This man whom I only met once, looked at me and spoke only a few words. Yet it wasn’t the volume of words he spoke, it was their meaning that shaped the rest of my day. He said, "I was just praying for you and your family just ten minutes ago. And now here you are on the elevator with us this morning." Do you know what it is like to know a relative stranger is declaring your name in the courtyards and throne room of Almighty God? For me, it is humbling. Again, listen to the wisdom of the tiny saint from Calcutta India.

"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless"

On Monday, April 16th , thirty-three individuals lost their lives in another senseless tragedy at Virginia Tech university. It seems a lone gunman decided life wasn’t so precious anymore. I can’t help but wonder if someone had said they were praying for this young man if that wouldn’t have prevented this terrible tragedy? Can it be this simple, I don’t really know? What I do know is Godly love, Godly relationship’s, and Godly dream’s, only come into being when we lay down our own agenda’s and see them with our spiritual eye’s of faith. Faith helps us press on through our circumstance. Love motivate’s us to bring other people with us.

To feel all alone on a planet that has more than six billion people is the true tragedy. Brother’s and sister’s never give up your birthright of companionship. I realize every individual circumstance is different yet even in your darkest, loneliest times there is still hope. How can I possibly know this? It is because I have been there at the edge of all hope and looked over into the abyss of death and darkness and mercy permitted me to turn back. There is hope because a new day will dawn tomorrow with the hope of unconditional love because of the darkest day the world ever witnessed at Calvary.

Country singer Martina McBride recently wrote a song that penetrates to the heart of the human condition. A song of love, a song about hope titled, "Anyway." Read its word’s below and never quit pressing into the hope that comes with the very breath you breath each day. I would also like to add one more quote from Mother Teresa. Although this women was one of the smallest of God’s creatures, she was God’s biggest vessel’s of pure unadulturated love. She say’s, "We are all pencils in the hand of God." As an artist, how can I not help but love and admire her. How can I not but love and encourage you this day also?

James Robert Kessler

Because of Him Art Minister 2007

"ANYWAY"