On the WAY to Emmaus

My journey to Emmaus started in a small town and it would take me to places that I could never had imagined as a child. I loved my careers in both health fitness and information technology, and I was blessed with a wonderful family. Early in life I thought I knew what I wanted, and I went for it with gusto, and nothing was going to stop me.

It wasn’t until struggling and coping with severe physical pain, cancer and family challenges that I found myself walking deep down in the valley of darkness. The grief of my theologian mom and my traditional dad dying and then finding out that my child was transgender all changed the course of my life in a way I could have never imagined or planned for.

Just like the two disciples Cleopas and Mary his wife(?) on their way to Emmaus I found myself on that same dusty road in pain with a down cast face, lost and overwhelmed with a cloud of death hanging over my head not able to recognize Jesus.

And Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

But still they didn’t recognize who Jesus was even when He spoke of the scriptures. For me it was in the valley on the road to Emmaus I found comfort within my mother’s favorite verse Psalms - 23, and that’s where my story begins. I needed a way to make sense of my crazy life as I faced my pain and grief head-on. I started a daily devotional, studied daily, attended both Church and bible study, journaled, and even painted while questioning what my legacy would be.

I found that painting quickly became my favorite time with Jesus. Learning to paint was the very cure I needed. It is an accumulation of all my paintings that helped me open my eyes a little bit wider as I looked back to see what I have learned from Jesus over my lifetime. It was an opportunity to be closer to Him. To be His best friend-forever.

That’s when I started to use my paintings as a way to connect to God and that’s where we would have deep heart felt conversations. The first time I painted using scripture as my guide was my painting of a transparent Jesus. Truly not one of my best paintings. I never did set out to be a world-famous artist, I just wanted something tangible that I could leave my children and then their children.

Then something happened as I painted. It challenged me go deeper into the Word. To experience what it might have been like for the disciples as they made their way to Emmaus. When they finally recognize Jesus at dinner it’s after He breaks and shares gluten free bread. (I just found out that I’m gluten intolerant) Then He reveals that they have eternal life in communion with Him.

Then they ask, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:13-35 I see my marriage resembling that of Cleopas and his wife Mary who invited a stranger to their Little Red Inn (my family restaurant) for dinner and He revels Himself as the living Christ, it’s then that they returned to Jerusalem going the very next day.

Once there they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Notice what happens after the couple know that it’s truly Jesus. Their faces are filled with joy. I started to see not only my face in my paintings, but I also started to see all the faces of my family and friends at Church. All of them deep rooted in scripture and shaping the kingdom of God in the hearts of His children.

The WAY? “Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 It’s here where I found that “the way” doesn’t just mean the “only way to get to heaven.” It also means the way that Jesus wants us to go with truth and life. He is the only one that knows the way! For me the meaning of way starts with how and where Jesus wants me to go and then the “only way” will take care of itself because the way to heaven is simply by the way I do life, it’s through my actions of grace, acceptance, forgiveness, authority, service and the living the fruit of the spirit especially love.

My painting titled “On the WAY to Emmaus” was inspired by my church Pastor Mac in his blog post “Why the WAY Matters More Than the What? As he put it the way is really important to get right, because it can be the difference between doing “good” things in our own strength and really joining God in what he’s already doing. It allows God to lead and guide but surrenders the very outcome to him. If I’m not careful, Pastor Mac tells me my strategic plans can get in the way of God. I want God to bless my plan rather than discovering God’s plan for me. It's how I have been praying for years asking God for rather then listening to.

The Way the Risen Jesus appears and who He appears to at the time is essential to my walk with Jesus. When I see the Risen Jesus, I see Him with His Word in His hand and His hand on His heart. I find it interesting that the first person to see Him after He rose was Mary Magdalene and the other disciples who saw him were not chosen because of their gender, race, ethnicity, disability, economic and community status or if they were doubters of His resurrection. Your social or religious status will not necessarily get you an audience with Jesus, it’s what’s in your heart that will.

The question now was would I continue to live for myself, or would I learn from my experiences and be a disciple, a true follower of Jesus just like the saints before me? Would I recognize the risen Jesus if I met Him on the road today? Does my heart burn with His love? Or do I try to do life on my own SHAPEING it to what I want?

I dove even deeper into the Word as I listened quietly to the Holy Spirit while all the time discerning what Jesus wanted me to do. I started to listen as He opened His Sacred Heart to offer His love and grace and that’s when St. Matthew inspired me to paint. I truly believe that Jesus offered me a NEW WAY, a way of following Him that I never knew about, a way that comes only through His Word, Heart and Holy Spirit.

But why did it take so long for someone in The Church to help me open my eyes? A person to love me and to show me, teach me, correct me, equip me and then send me as a true disciple of Jesus, a modern-day disciple in a fallen world. Rather I was sent without any training as an evangelist on a street corner. Why was it that the people I met in the church throughout my life had a methodology of leadership and teaching different than that of Jesus? Until now!

I thank God He still has apostles similar to St. Paul walking this earth today and my family has a Church with unwavering leadership and a community where we follow Jesus’s ultimate model for leadership— it called discipleship. Where Jesus is not only my close friend, but He is also my role model, and ultimately my modern-day Rabbi. And my church is His Kingdom, and it is up to me to follow Him no matter where He goes. Or what Church I think He attends.

My paintings opened my eyes as a visual story guide for me each day to find and follow Jesus in His ways. A guide that made it natural and even easy for me to share who Jesus is with my family and friends of family for generations to come. It’s painting that guide me to open my eyes to the way Scriptures can ignite my heart, stirring the Holy Spirit within me. Knowing one day the legacy of Jesus will be my legacy!

Out of it all, I created the “Tell Your Story” and then “Deep Roots” websites, a culmination of the idea that not only for the artist but for the viewer art and its stories can be a great instrument for going deeper into scripture, to be able to learn more each and every day walking with Jesus and my personal guide His Holy Spirit while sharing what I’m learning with family and friends.

It’s a creative learning process I call scripture–based art inspired by Jesus Himself that is encouraging and therapeutic that leads me, my family and friends to follow Jesus for not only the rest of our lives but into eternity. That’s why the WAY I paint matters more than WHAT I paint!

Sincerely,

Paul German 2021

P.S. I want to dedicate my painting “The Way to Emmaus” to my mom and dad.