Writing it on Your Barn

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:

5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

The Shema is a Jewish Prayer and the first part of it is from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. As Christians we see it as a declaration that the LORD is one and that we should love him with all our hearts.  We should keep these words in the forefront of our lives and always on our minds.  It stresses that fact in that we should even write them on our home and gates, so that we are always focusing on them.

On the way to work the other day, I pulled to the side of the road outside of Crowley, Louisiana, to take a picture of a man who took Deuteronomy 4:9 literally:

Almost.  He painted, "GOD IS LOVE" on the side of his barn with the "O" in Love being a heart. While some paint "See Rock City" on their barns, this gentleman made a more meaningful sign on his barn that conveys an encouraging proclamation to the millions that pass by on Interstate 10.

God definitely is Love... and more and more need to experience that love today. Thank you to the barn painter in Crowley that is spreading words of hope.