Sunrise at Ocean City, MD
Mt. Sinai "The Burning Bush"
"The Legend of the Dogwood Tree"

Since the last newsletter I have done one prophetic painting that was an
inspiration from God, "The Burning Bush".

The scripture for this painting is:

Exodus 3:2 "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him (Moses) in a
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and behold, the
bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed."

"The Legend of the Dogwood Tree"
Two thousand years ago, few trees in the Middle East were big enough to
construct anything. However, one tree was valued above the others for
its thick trunk and fine, strong wood.

When the Romans came to rule over Jerusalem, their government used this
same timber to build the crosses for executing criminals. A group of
workers were assigned to gather wood for the crosses. Before long,
every Roman offical knew the best wood came from these gatherers of
execution wood, so those workers became popular.

One day, the wood gatherers received a special request. An officer of
the Roman court came and said, "The King of the Jews is to be put to
death. Deliver an extra-large cross made from the finest wood." So, a
fresh tree was cut from the forest of the trees with thick trunks and
fine, strong wood. An extra-tall (and extra-heavy) cross was quickly
made and delivered.

When Christ was on earth, the Dogwood grew
To a towering size with a lovely hue
Its branches were strong and interwoven
For the cross of Christ its timbers were chosen
Being distressed at the use of the wood
Christ made a promise that still holds good
"Never again shall the Dogwood grow
Large enough to be used so slender and twisted,
It shall be with blossoms like the cross for all to see
As blood stains the petals marked in brown
The blossom's center wears a thorny crown
All who see it will remember me
Crucified on the cross from the Dogwood tree
Cherished and protected this tree shall be
A reminder to all of my agony."

The background of this painting has red which represents the blood of
Jesus that died for the sins of the world. The color of blue signifies
the Word of God, the purple for royalty of our Lord and white for the
Lord's purity.

My art is also on www.RuthHousleyblogspot.com/ or
www.RuthHousley@FineArtAmerica.com. You can look on these sites as well as
www.RuthHousley.com which is my website. I also put scriptures on each
painting that I complete.