“On September 27, 2024, I began drawing the Good Shepherd with the lost sheep tenderly wrapped around his shoulders. As I worked, rain pummeled our roof, saturating the ground with an endless deluge as tropical storm Helene reached my town of Black Mountain, NC. …
When I began this artwork, I naively hoped to gain insight into Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep. I did not wish to become the lost sheep and live through the greatest natural disaster to hit my hometown in over a thousand years. Now, over 6 weeks after the storm, what strikes me is the shepherd’s singular pursuit of the lost and vulnerable. He steadies the sheep on his shoulders and steps out of the frame toward us. His gaze finds mine, and I almost hear him whisper, ‘I will never stop searching for the lost. I will never stop rejoicing when one is found.’”
—from the artist statement for “Lost and Found” by Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity | @sanctifiedart