A Painting Inspired by the Original Red Letter Challenge Book

When I was in 9th or 10th grade, my high school in Houston, Texas, gave students an opportunity to depict and paint something from the Bible on pre-framed hardboard/Masonite. This was part of a project that Lutheran High North had undertaken to spruce up various classrooms throughout the building - in an effort that leveraged the visual arts to enhance the school's spiritual life.

I set out to paint a simple symbol of the Holy Trinity—God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—a core, unifying belief of Christianity (which the church in downtown Houston that I was baptized at, grew up in, and was confirmed at was named after). 

My parents raised my brother and me on the Houston Northside, one of the most diverse and multicultural areas of the country, to see God’s love for all people and to savor His creative, sovereign, saving, redemptive, sanctifying, and sending-forth work in our lives.

Fast-forward to the summer of 2024. After nearly a decade and a half of art being a focal point of my time in Austin, Texas—one of the leading art scenes in America—I was given the opportunity to take this painting home and keep it because Lutheran North unfortunately had to permanently close its doors. 

For two years, I had been trying to figure out what to do with this painting. Then, in the summer of 2026, after interacting more deeply with the content of the original Red Letter Challenge book (which eventually became a series of books that a friend of mine, Zach Zehnder, wrote and developed), I felt it was time to repurpose this painting. I wanted to center my heart and mind, at this stage of life in my mid-40s, on the Lord Jesus—risen and alive, seated and reigning on the throne.

As I painted the five action verb words from Red Letter Challenge - Being, Forgiving, Serving, Giving, and Going - multiple times—in crimson, so that the new words would pop off the page—I found myself pausing to reflect more deeply on each of the principles drawn from the life of Jesus that my buddy Zach researched and presents from the four gospel books of the Bible - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The painting evolved from this version to what a few weeks later (in the process of praying these words) became the final version.

I have been reflecting on how these principles currently play out—and ideally should play out—in my own life and in my walk with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the end, this repurposed painting has become more than an art project. It has become a visual reminder of where I want my heart and mind to remain: centered on Jesus Christ, who lived, died, rose again, ascended into heaven, reigns today, and will come again.

To learn more about the Red Letter Challenge, please be sure to visit the Red Letter Challenge website.

https://redletterchallenge.com/