The Boat

The boat in Renouf's painting appears to be a character in the depiction itself. Ordinary, rough, and fairly confining, it possesses a life of its own and grounds the painting. For me it represents the idea of a believer’s journey.

The Christian life, by nature, is a dynamic, purposeful movement. It is never stagnant even when it may, discouragingly, seem so. The journey is a precise design and is the object on which God acts to draw the Christian towards him. The migration takes many forms as it, by instinct, presses towards the Father’s house. The path can be pleasant, monotonous, or more than flesh and blood can bear.

When I was first offered the words tumor, cancer, metastasis, I fled, in my mind, to the sanctuary of the 23^rd Psalm. Its verses have always exerted a power over my heart, mind and soul. But it was not until I lay in bed, fully terrified, trying to recite it, that I came to this notion that the psalm itself is the image of a pilgrimage. The words represent an odyssey of states of being or locations conducted by the Lord, who is the end of the passage itself.

At this point in my life I am painfully aware of traveling through a shadowland and it is hard not to give in to the fear of its awful presence. So, here I sit in this small confining space with a depth beneath me and a distance to go. As I am able, I hope to formulate my thoughts about my traveling companion.