The first icon I ever painted (yes, that’s me on the left) was of the Prophet Elias (Ilya, or in English – Elijah), so I’ve always had an affinity for him – oh and he was a pretty cool prophet too (grin). The icon references 1Kings 17 and depicts the prophet in a cave being fed by the raven. My prophet had a claw like foot, and in a moment of absent mindedness I turned to my friend Mark to ask: “How are my rocks?” It took our table nearly 20 minutes to recover.

Elias’ story is about faithfulness – about trust in God, and about the strength of the bond between us and the Divine, and the bonds we have with one another.

Elias lived in the cave while drought ravaged the land because the King had been unfaithful to God. The story is extreme, but it points to a reality that we’ve all experienced – quality relationships matter, and we do suffer when those relationships are broken.