My Veronica moment- 29^th April 2012

There lies on my office desk a black and white sketch of a young and strong man , aged 33 and a smile that expresses warmth; hugging a young girl around age 8 with such a fatherly affectionate embrace. Personally I hate forwards and find them being not just more than foolish chains that clout your mailbox. Well I happened to open this one to find different sketches of the one that resembles the model of Christianity, Jesus Christ and one of the drawings in the attachment instantly provoked feelings of comfort. Among the various pin ups of a to do list, a  magnetic souvenir of goa, a framed photograph, a sunflower to brighten my day, I pinned this A4 size in the perfect line of sight at a 90 degree angle. It’s been out there for around three or so years .

 Every now and then when life seems to tirelessly drag on, my questions not met with any answers and dreams that may appear to be fading away; I just seem to stop for a moment and glance at the drawing with a feeling of trust. It speaks no words nor does it give me some magical insight on what should I do next  but just a  hopeful reliance that there is a God up there who is alive and watching. My heart seems to then hum to the tune of the baptismal hymnal, “I surrender All”. Little did Judson De Venter, the author of this hymn realize that it would be sung in Churches all around the world and will still be used as a pivotal Gospel worship song even when Hillsong Music tries to reach out to as many youth through their voices.

As if by some divine ordinance every new visitor or passer by at my desk seems to resound the word of “comfort” when it comes to the description of this sketch that catches their eye. As always I do begin my day on reading the scriptures, mostly it’s the Psalms, in no particular order but this Sunday 29^th April was no ordinary personal prayer time. I started as usual with my pleadings and asking for a few of my desires to be met from the Lord and then went on to the latter portion of the Psalms which I find solace in. I closed my eyes and meditated on those scriptures trying to listen to the voice of God tell me something. Only if could see him…..I began to feel tears roll down my cheeks   and just couldn’t pull myself apart from stopping them. In an unexpected way I connected to the drawing that was on my office desk. It was so alive that I could feel myself being hugged by Jesus. I lay there in his arms, not wanting to leave his embrace and remained in that moment. There may be many great moments in world history but for me this was my “Veronica moment” as when she had the face of Jesus imprinted on her handkerchief. I just couldn’t let this day pass by without this recording. For surely, my personal favorite does not lie in just that magnetic souvenir of Goa or that sunflower but in this sketch which seems to say “ I am there with you all the way”.

And tomorrow when I go back to my busy Monday, every glint at this drawing will remind me of my “Veronica moment”