My Grandpa was a very gifted artist. He painted murals & projects all over town were I grew up, in Mooresville, North Carolina. He was best-known around town for large mural projects—he even painted a mural on my elementary school’s library wall that’s still there today.

One project that Grandaddy did each year was the backdrop for Vacation Bible School at our church, based on whatever the theme was; (if you’re not familiar with Vacation Bible School, there’s a theme each year with a storyline, and each day for a week, volunteers do skits to tell the story.) Every summer, Grandaddy would work for weeks and weeks painting these gigantic, full-wall-size murals. I remember being a kid and going to V.B.S. each summer, and feeling so proud that my grandpa had painted the backdrop.

He did these paintings for years and years, up until he passed away in 2009, so the church had accumulated quite a collection of these massive paintings.
The other day, my friend, Pam, who organizes V.B.S. at my church back home in Mooresville, emailed me a picture of a mural that my Grandpa painted yeeears ago (it was a zoo landscape and happened to fit into the theme for their V.B.S. this year.

It turns out that they have kept all of those paintings that my grandpa put so much love and time into, and even now, ten years after he left, his gifts are still being used to serve and bring joy others. I’m not sure if Grandaddy ever considered that when he was painting this mural all those years ago, but I am sure that even in Heaven, seeing this makes heart so full.