0:09

Our journey with I'll call

0:11

it our visual journey of the faith really

0:14

began with stained glass and

0:16

paintings and carvings . There

0:18

were a lot of different factors , but the

0:20

first icon that

0:23

came into our life is this we

0:26

knew what icons were , of course , but we never had

0:28

any interest in owning any of them . I was

0:30

up in Seattle visiting with my sister

0:32

, and we went to an antique

0:35

shop around the corner from her house , primarily

0:38

to look for a piece of furniture . We

0:40

looked around and there were icons scattered

0:43

on the walls of the

0:45

warehouse Not in

0:48

a display , but just hanging

0:50

hundreds of icons and

0:52

that caught my eye and I asked the guy

0:55

if he was selling them . He said no , no , no , no

0:57

, no , no , no , that's not , those are

0:59

not for sale , that's just my

1:01

collection . So okay , one

1:05

collector to another , I'm not going to waste

1:07

my time trying to talk him out of

1:09

it . A sister wrote me an email and

1:12

said hey , that guy

1:14

is closing down his warehouse . I

1:16

went in there and he said he might sell some

1:18

of those icons . So

1:21

this was about 2006

1:23

. Cell phones weren't what they are

1:25

today , and so she snapped

1:27

a few tiny little grainy

1:30

pictures and sent them to me , and I picked out

1:32

four that I liked . This

1:34

is one of them . What appealed to me was

1:37

the blue color and the fact that

1:39

the Saints seem so normal

1:42

and typical of people

1:44

in the faith that I know they

1:47

don't look like giant

1:49

warriors . They're not on a massive

1:52

white charger with a spear , you

1:54

know , taming the dragon . They're not John

1:56

the Baptist out in the desert

1:59

or St Anthony , for example

2:01

, in the desert seeing visions of demons

2:03

, and so forth . These are just folks who

2:05

were honored by some

2:08

other family and churches for

2:11

their faith . Quiet Christians

2:13

who deserve to be remembered for

2:15

generations , and that's what appealed to

2:17

me most about this icon , so

2:19

I bought it .

2:20

Well , one of the things that makes us

2:22

appreciate the icons and have them in

2:25

this room and all around us is that

2:27

we're reminded of in the

2:29

11th chapter of Hebrews , that we are surrounded

2:31

by such a great cloud of witnesses and

2:34

these Russian saints

2:36

, just regular folks , are

2:39

at the throne of God , who are interceding

2:41

for us at all times , and all

2:44

the other saints , and so

2:46

something so simple as an

2:48

icon , with people that we don't really know

2:50

, but yet when you say

2:53

your prayers , they are there , listening

2:55

and helping you to accomplish

2:58

God's work .