Shepherding the mystery of the symbolic. That God also symbolizes Himself, even before He acts. The Levites go in first, and do a ritual, which brings in the spiritual Reality, then the fuller incarnation comes! That the artist go first, and open the portals, so that the rest of the tribes can enter the reality of the thing.

Even the whole act of the cross was a great symbolic gesture of things to come, and the eventual completion of the restoration.

To be a father in the arts, is to consider the symbolic nature of God–why He speaks and reveals Himself in symbol, and then makes us in His symbolizing image. There is always this dance between the literal and the many spokes of the symbolic. Few have written adequately about the nature of the symbolic. But clearly this is an aspect of The Creator!

God communicates. One level of this communication is the symbolic level. This is the area which has most fascinated me throughout the years, and is still the area I meet Him within. I am able to disciple people and cities most directly through their imaginations–through their symbolizing function. It is, to me, so direct! If we are to disciple the whole person, and allow our entire selves to be formed by Christ, then this area of the imagination is a huge area of neglected Lordship in our lives!

Christ is Lord over all of Reality–every dimension, including His symbolic dimension!!