All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Cor. 12:11-13)

"Randy? Do you think you are as smart as Tim?"

The brown curly headed Doctor, who is also a dear friend, was looking at us with genuine inquisitiveness. She was seriously asking me if I thought that I was as smart as my co-worker. I replied, "Well I don't know that I have ever thought of it that way —"

She interrupted in her usually direct but gracious way, "Come on Randy ... are you as smart as Tim?"

I thought about it. Tim is an amazing guy. He knows how to do math. People who know how to do math are amazing to me. He is very linear and always focused. I said, "Well, in all honesty, I don't think I'm stupid but I don't think I'm as smart as Tim." I also live by an axiom that we are all able to learn from each other in some manner. What I was able to teach Tim was so ... well it was ... hmmm....

Tim was shocked but the Curly Headed Doctor turned to him, "Tim, you think you're smarter than Randy don't you?"

"Well, no of course not —"

"Come on Tim, be honest."

Shaking his head, "NO no no...."

"Tim?! Come on now, from time to time you do think you are smarter than Randy don't you?" Sheepishly Tim admitted, "Maybe ... from time to time."

I feigned that I was deeply disturbed by this admission and pretended to wipe tears away and asked for a Kleenex. I was playing around. I actually found this experience fascinating.

I mean really, what's a little arrogant judgment between two friends? It was a joke and I was ready to move on.

Then the curly headed doctor went all mischievous on us. "So ... which one of you has the most organized desk?" Tim and I looked at each other and said together, "Me/Randy." Smiling and I could have sworn her curls bounced with delight, "OK ... who's car is cleaner?" Again, together we said "Randy/me?" Then with almost abject joy she declares, "If someone were to look at your offices and cars, who would they think is smarter?" The inescapable completely obvious answer was me: Randy.

I am sure the Lord hated my haughty eyes at that moment. So He corrected it through the chuckle of the curly headed doctor.

"See, how wrong that is? If you were to ask Tim for a specific document, he would know exactly what you were talking about and exactly which pile left of the third big pile it was in. Not only that, he would know that it is a fourth of the way down on blue paper. He could have that document to you in less than a minute. But, you probably wouldn't need it because Tim has all the information at the ready in his brain."

She continued, "On the other hand, Randy, if you don't organize your life you will never get anything done. The reason why you stay organized is because 'out of sight out of mind.'"

The doctor took a sip of water from a cup on the table, and then said, "You have adapted — you both have adapted your environments to accomplish your work. The truth is that neither of you are smarter than the other, your brains work completely differently and process information and output in completely different ways. Tim's brain works like a train going from one point to the next logical point, Randy's brain works like thunderclouds and lightning bolts. You're not sure where Randy is coming from but you can't miss him, and his ideas are quite often powerful. This is why Tim is an amazing financial wiz and Randy can keep up with a network of ministries all across North America."

Tim's mouth was open and I was saying something to the curly headed doctor like, "... that is SO cool."

This was the result of a pretty involved test that we and other members of our management team had taken. I, Randy, tested off the charts as a Random/Abstract and Random/Concrete thinker; Tim had tested off the charts as a Sequential/Concrete thinker. I was floored by the Curly Headed Doctor's analysis and edification. I never really knew it but I did consider myself not as smart as other people.

* * *

I was meditating on this while I was driving home when the Lord decided to rock my world.

(Why does He do that so often when I'm driving? I have to believe that there are angels all around my car and Gabriel leans over and says, "OK ... everyone, listen up. Randy is about to have an epiphany and our goal is to make sure his car stays on the road! OK, counting down ... 5 ... 4... 3... 2...."And then my car jerks, I'm crying and praising the Lord, and the angels are straining. Gabriel is yelling, "Randy, be blessed dear Saint of God ... but ... could you put your hands back on the wheel please?")

In any case, while driving my car the Lord reminded me of this doodle I had done all my life. There's a plate that I made my mom when I was a wee child that has this same sort of rudimentary "doodle" that just carried on throughout my life.

The thing about this doodle is, it would consume me. It scared me so I didn't go forward with it. I didn't understand how "that" was coming out of me. Before Christ, the doodle took very dark and ominous tones. Not knowing where it was coming from or what it meant, I wouldn't investigate it.

I was 35 years old during this particular car epiphany and I had never considered myself an artist. The Lord impressed on me, clear as a bell, "This is not just a doodle, this is your Random brain worshipping Me. I want you to investigate and cultivate this gift of drawing ... not doodling." The Lord was calling me to develop an art form He had implanted in me before I ever drew breath.

* * *

I was shocked. I always hung around artists but not once had I considered myself one.

It took two years for me to really get into the drawings and find my medium. At 37, I was finally willing to allow others to call me an artist. My friends and family were astounded and I sold several pieces for what I would consider a lot of money. I would draw at a coffee house nearby and people were always stopping by and remarking about how beautiful these wildly colorful abstractions were.

Some of the most amazing ministry opportunities have happened while drawing on planes. The young people love my style and time after time I get to tell the story of how I just started drawing, never had formal training and only began because of an epiphany from Jesus in a car.

It doesn't stop there. The Lord gave a friend in Ohio a dream of me just soon after I started drawing. In his dream he saw me painting (not drawing) with both hands and with every pass of the brushes, great swathes of fine art appeared on the canvas. As he told me this I just somehow knew that the Lord was calling me to write articles and books. The painting with both hands was symbolic of typing, the fine art was in using words to create wonderful art in the reader's brain and told a story.

Another friend, again out of the blue, e-mailed me from Colorado Springs. He also had a dream of me painting in the middle of huge field and individuals and families from around the world came to watch me paint and tell stories as I did so.

These two men don't know each other. Also, here in the past two weeks I've received encouragement from two people that I should be writing books. One is with a Christian publisher and another with a secular publisher. Neither of these folks know each other as well.

I kind of feel like the warning of young Joseph should be inserted here. I do not share this to exalt a new-found gift and calling. I'm sharing this because all of this scared the heck out of me — it was so different from who I thought I was, and a mystery as to how in the world, in my late 30s, God could be calling me to manifest long dormant gifts of drawing, painting and writing. I just learned how to draw in my way, but now painting and writing? Could this be true? Is this real?

I don't know if anyone will ever see my work beyond my blog or the Internet. I'm not seeking fame or infamy, I'm seeking God, and He is rescuing the artist He created me to be. He is answering a long-standing prayer of mine that I never thought applied directly to me: I had been praying since 1995 that the Lord would rescue the artists within the Body of Christ and bring them home. I had no idea I was one of them.

* * *

It was 1995 and we were in IHOP, not the International House of Prayer, but the International House of Pancakes. That place, especially their muy delicious "pigs in the blanket," rocks. I was sitting there with Dennis Jernigan. He and I had been on James Robison's Life Today program.

I was acting like a total groupie. "Oh, Dennis, your music was sooo.... Blah blah blah.... And God used you magnificently during this ... blah blah blah." Dennis was very kind and gracious. I meant every word, but to say that I was attention-seeking would be an understatement. I did share with him that a friend had invited me to his concert shortly before I ever became a Christian. This concert was amazing and all I remember was feeling God's presence (as an unbeliever) and being overwhelmed by Him.

During that concert Dennis sang Amazing Grace. Now, I'm a Southern boy through and through. I grew up with that song being played in car commercials. OK, that's an exaggeration but I have heard it a lot. It's even kind of a family anthem. We never went to church but every funeral had a special rendition of it played at some point.

I loved this song even before I became a believer. When Dennis sang like an angel ... his tenderness with the song, the obvious "ownership" of the words touched me. Then, again as an unbeliever, I knew God was watching me and longing for me. I wept like a baby during my first "Christian Worship Concert."

The Lord used the majesty and art of song to break my heart where no clever arguments could ever come close to before.

Dennis and I were on the Life Today program because of our testimonies of having struggled with same sex attraction. Dennis shared with me a theory he had that the "modern day Levites," the ones called and commissioned by God to be pastoral, artisans, singers and priests have been kidnapped by sexual and relational sins of all kinds, not just homosexuality. Along with the corporate Church's lack of edification in the arts and lack of recognition of their importance, the modern day Levites are lost to the church and we need to find them and bring them home.

Every time that conversation has come to mind, which is quite often, I've prayed for the modern day Levites to come home to the church. I was praying for millions, again not knowing I was one of them.

* * *

One time I was at a Living Waters Training seminar and a lady played a solo on a violin. From what I understand she played this song on the fly. Meaning she was just playing what she felt led to play, nothing on a sheet.

I told her afterward that if God's voice were to be found only in one instrument aside from the human voice and the Bible ... it would have to be the violin. God's voice is bigger than words and the symbols of them in writing. God's voice is bigger than one instrument or orchestra. He is bigger than anything we can imagine and it's the arts that explore that frontier.

The Body of Christ will be malnourished if we continue to let the arts languish. It's not about being an "artist for Jesus." It's about Jesus expressing Himself through His people artistically. It's always been about His message to His lost ones and His message to His family.

His voice articulated in art transcends this world in a unique way.

Unfortunately artists have been pushed aside as dreamers and irrelevant for generations. This isn't just a church problem but a Western cultural problem. For decades and decades the West has stereotyped artists as silly, superfluous, lazy, impractical and vain. Specifically, within the church there has been general apathy — and in a few places false doctrines have actually been used to squelch the artistic talent within the Body. Some have been seen as "less than" because they couldn't pull together a three-point sermon within 40 minutes. All the while they accepted a lie that they were not smart enough to realize that the very painting inspired by their loneliness would lead more to seek Christ than last weeks sermon.

That said, it's quite fashionable of late to get angry at the church for "hurting" people. Of course, that's ridiculous. We are the church. Instead of getting angry let's get busy making redemptive changes. Artists will be stunted if they are not allowed to express. We have to know that the Lord will open the door for us to do so. He is a Good Shepherd and He will tend to His children and the creative gifts he has given them.

We also must be content. Our culture also idolizes artists in a carnal manner and forms an entirely different stereotype to impose on these gifted people. As artists, we must be content that true expression and fulfillment takes place when we work with our Creator to produce something glorious for Him. Whether one person or one billion ... or no other human appreciates your efforts, as long as it brings a smile to your Father's face ... that's all that really matters. Be content.

I'm happy to say that the arts are coming back in full effect. It's wonderful to see all the fantastic new talent, concerts, skits, videos, songs, worship genres, quality writing, singers, poets, prose and on and on rising up all throughout the Body of Christ. Yes we all know the Word of God is sufficient. The Scriptures are alive and is the voice of God to us. The very cool part of it is that we also give voice to The Word. We sing it, draw it, dance it, rap it, shout it, paint it, act it, record it, reveal it in glorious ways.

We were created by the Creator to create. So ... get busy.

His character cannot be confined by four beige walls and burnt orange pews. Let's take our gifts, a palette of myriads of colors, into the middle of a big glorious field. Then, let us gather people and families from around the world and tell the tale of a Magnificent Story about a Magnificent and Wonderful God.