Lines and Dots

The following was written by a dear friend of mine. It is presented here in it's entirety with his permission. I pray that it touches you as deeply as it touched me.


And when I looked, I saw a stage where four men stood. There were three canvases, two men stood before one canvas and the other two men had a canvas of their own.

The man on the left, with a single canvas, was drawing vertical lines. Most were straight lines of varying widths, but a few were curved or squiggly.

The man on the right with a single canvas was drawing, what seemed to be random dots and each dot had a number beside it.

The two men in the middle stood before the same canvas. This canvas was displayed by lines and rows of dots from edge to edge and top to bottom.

Nothing seemed to make sense. There was no artistic beauty or value to any of the canvases, white canvas with black lines or dots on them. I pondered the canvases for what seemed to be hours. As the men stood before their canvases they seemed to be waiting for further instructions. My pondering brought me to a dead end.

Finally, I asked the man who stood before the canvas with the lines on it, “Sir, does your canvas have a purpose? I’m sorry but I just don’t understand your picture.”

He said, “Lines are being drawn around the earth. Some lines are wide and some narrow, some are wavy and some are slightly curved or bent.”

“Sir”, I continued, “but why are the lines different?”

The man said, “Do you see the line in the middle?”

“I can see a line in the middle that is very narrow and is actually hard to see because it is so thin”.

“That thin line is God’s standard; it is His way and His truth. The other lines around on the left and on the right are man’s “ways” his “truths”. Some lines are wide and some are narrow, those are how man has chosen to live and the laws he has set for himself. Even though they are straight, they are very broad compared to God’s. The curved lines are the abominations against God’s law. The sharper the curves the more radical man has become.

As I looked at the canvas again I saw more of the reality of what the man was saying.

I then asked the other single man standing before his canvas, “Sir, what does your canvas mean, it is so random. It doesn’t seem to make sense like the one with the lines?”

As he began to speak he began to connect the dots. “My canvas has a picture on it. Each dot has a number by it and when you start at one and connect that dot to the dot which had the number two by it and then three and then four, by the time you have connected all the dots and returned to the number one dot, you have a complete picture.”

He continued to connect the dots and as he did, I began to see some things that looked familiar. When he had finished, it was a magnificent line picture which needed no color to enhance its beauty.

At that same time the two men, before on canvas of vertical dots and horizontal dots, began to connect the dots on their canvas. Each in turn would connect one dot to another on the vertical or horizontal axis. This process went on for hours and then something happened. One of the men boxed in a square and put his initial in the square, “J”. That set off a random set of connections and as the boxes were completed a “J” was put in the box.
What I now recognized as, the opponent in this game began to make his boxed connections, was the one with the most boxes, win’s the game.

As if my thoughts were being read by the man, who had marked the “J” in his box, he turned and gave me a stern look and without words, I sensed within myself, his words, “This is no “game”.

I had thought I was having a dream and it seemed to be like “The Price Is Right” and I had three doors to open and I could choose one of them. Only I was standing before three canvases, each profound and each prophetic. Then I realized that the two men before the lines and picture dots were angels. Then I realized the one man before the canvas who were connecting the dots and marking with a “J” was Jesus. The other man was marking with an “S” was Satan.
Then I truly understood that this was no “game”.

The war is on, lines are being drawn, the dots are being connected, and the souls of men are in the offing. Are you following the thin line of God’s way and God’s truth, or are you trying to bend the line to fit your life or lifestyle?
Are you broadening the line to make yourself feel better?

If an angel were to connect the dots of your life would we see a beautiful picture that needed no color to enhance its beauty?

Your life can be a beautiful picture when you begin to live God’s way and live God’s truth. All you have to do is say something like this, “God, if You are there and You can make me into a beautiful picture, go ahead and do it. I’m tired of my life the way it is, take it and make it into a beautiful picture.

Your Friend in Christ,
Ron Eskew
reskew@aol.com