Treasure in Earthen Vessels

     I worked really hard on this painting for my first competition at the L2L Convention last year.  

 At first, I was terrible at painting. 

 I liked to sketch, and do that a lot, but not paint. 

One of my first sketches
practicing perspective

    So I took lessons from an Artist friend, and watched many Youtube videos on Watercoloring before I even tried to paint my picture.  

Another practice sketch

We were reading Revelation when I got to the day when I was ready to start my watercolor project, so I decided to paint the Lord of all lords coming back for His people.  

The horse was the hardest part

I finally got the horse right,
then it was time to
start painting

I did the sky first, but I had to do many practice
paintings before I was ready for the final one
Watercolor is hard, because there are many layers.

I was really surprised
when they said I won
First Place!

During this time when I was painting, one of my Memory verses was this one: 


"But we have this treasure 
in earthen vessels,
that the excellence 
of the power may be 
of God 
and 
not of us."

2 Corinthians 4:7


I know God helped me with this project.  It was really a tough one. 
 Sometimes I wanted to give up.  My Dad said that it was like the earthen vessels.  They crack and are sometimes broken or decayed or rotten, with holes all in them.

But if we hold on tight to God, He will fill them 
with His Light and 
that Light will shine out through the cracks.
That is what happened with my Watercolor Project. 

There were LOTS of cracks, like the 
sketches you can see in these pictures.  

But each time, the cracks got better, 
and in the end, the Light of 
Jesus was able to Shine out of the holes.

The shiny-est time was when they 
called me up to the stage at the Convention. 
That was Great! 

It was a LOT of HARD work, but it was worth it in the end

Sketching a
Self Portrait in my Art Class

A Man Named Jack

     Today I decided to write

my Home School English essay

on Dr. Jack Zorn.

Source:  L2L.com

      Dr. Jack Zorn was born on November 8, 1934, on a farm in Geneva County, Alabama.  His family worked as sharecroppers.   His father drank a lot of alcohol, but his mother was a very strong Christian lady, and she tried to make sure her children had God's values in them.

     We watched a DVD about Dr. Zorn at Church.  That is where I learned that he stuttered, and was not really a great student at school.  He was always helping his mom and working on the farm, so he couldn't focus on his schoolwork as much.  This is terrible, but Dr. Zorn actually quit school and started to work a job instead of finishing High School.

Dr. Zorn, the founder of L2L with his wife, Frances

     Dr. Zorn met a man named Bill Hatcher, and they studied the Bible, and he got baptized.  Even though he had not finished High School, Jack Zorn started to study at Alabama Christian College.  He somehow finished High School in Alabama, and started college there, too.  He met his wife there at that college.  

 After he got done at Alabama Christian College, Jack Zorn went to Harding, where both of my parents went to college.  That's where my parents met each other.  Then Jack Zorn went to the International Bible Institute for his Doctorate.  So he was a Doctor, but not the kind that gives you shots.  He was a Doctor of Religion.  That means he learned a ton about the Bible and God.  



Source:  L2L.com

   

Dr. Zorn really liked kids.  He thought they were the future of the church.  He taught some boys in Georgia how to preach and lead songs.  He was a really good teacher.  That was when he started Lads to Leaders.  It was a training program, and now it is HUGE. 

Source:  L2L.com

      Dr. Zorn is pretty old now, and he is retired.

  I wrote him a letter last week after I saw his DVD because I wanted to thank him for caring about God, about the Church, and about kids.   

He made it fun for young people like me to preach and lead.  I am really glad he did.