Velvet Jesus

My brother, Steve, and his wife, Regina, moved back from Florida many years ago; so, my wife, Kathy, and I visited them when they moved into their new home. They used to have a velvet painting of Jesus, before they moved to Florida; they used to have it hanging at the end of their hallway in their house, when their children lived with them, so, their children would see it when they walked down theirvhallway to their bedrooms.

They took it with them to Florida , but, when they returned, it was missing (hopefully just not yet unpacked).

After eating and discussing various topics, we were ready to leave, and, Kathy and I were near the door, ready to leave. Steve was in the kitchen; Regina was sitting in a lounge chair near the front door.

Since Kathy and I were very involved in various ministries in our church, and, had a reputation in my family as being evangelistic. Steve and Regina had a long history of being involved in their churches, and, had a good & close spiritual relationship with God.

I mention this to put it in perspective what I was about to say, as I was about ready to leave. I didn’t realize the words I chose certainly had a double-meaning, as I asked her (in reference to the missing painting, which they highly desired), “Have you found Jesus?”!

My wife immediately realized that Regina would have taken this as an insult, as evidenced by the startled look on Regina’s face, which I will never forget! Kathy interjected “the painting” to clear-up any misunderstanding, shown by Regina’s face as it changed from seemingly mortified to laughing (thankfully)!