The Rescue: Cindy Lee's Story
It was an ordinary day just a few short months ago when the picture came to my minds eye. The hand of God or Christ reaching down from above to grasp the wrist of someone too weak to hold on to him. Something inside told me this was bigger than anything else I'd worked on. It would be a project of personal spiritual significance and expression. I hoped this was God’s plan to use the ability He has given me to show other people how beautiful and merciful He is.
Over the next few months, I continued to wrestle with the urges to start sketching, but for some reason it needed to sit inside for a while. It was like I had this beautiful song to sing and was waiting for the words to come.
After a few days of studying a sketching manual of hands and arms, and using my
husband and son as models, I began to experiment with my vision.
September
8th, 2001
The
more I sketched, the more exciting the results were.
This day, I started and finished the preliminary
sketch for my painting which I titled, “The Rescue”.
It would symbolize Christ’s love for us and His willingness to reach
down in the middle of the darkness and chaos of this world to free us.
The telephone rings, I open my eyes and my husband answers it. I hear him say, “Thanks for calling” and he hangs up. He turns to me and tells me we have to turn on the news. Upstairs, we turn it on but it seems more like a nightmare than reality. We stand staring, not believing our eyes as we watched both of the World Trade Center towers burning after being hit by airliners, then just minutes later implode on themselves. Two days later, it still doesn’t seem real.
“The Rescue” has now taken on far greater meaning to me than even my artistic dreams dared to give it. Strength and weakness, captivity and freedom, love and hate, good and evil, war and peace are all wrapped up in this image. It is profound in it’s simplicity. I am dedicating “The Rescue” to the lost and to those who search for survivors.
My prayer is that everyone in every occupation and walk of life, especially those in our government, will once again acknowledge and honor God. And that we will all allow our hands to be the extensions of our soul, and that our souls will collaborate with the heart of God.