Sunday, July 11, 2010

In Memoriam: Joey Holmes

My friend, Joel Ray, recently commissioned a portrait of his uncle, Joey Holmes, who passed recently. Joey rode a Harley and lived a fast life. He found religion in the latter portion of his life and was known to preach from his bike and council young people about religion and Christianity.

Joel told me that his uncle was often inspired by the three crosses you see on the sides of highways scattered about the south. Upon researching these crosses for the illustration, I found that Rev. Bernard Coffindaffer actually raises these sets of crosses. Crosses of Mercy - Cast Thy Bread, Inc was the non-profit organization which spent a whopping $3,000,000 putting up crosses in 29 states, Zambia, and The Philipines. Caffindaffer supervised the erection of 1864 crosses between 1984-1993, a short nine years. There is no limit to what a man can accomplish with his will (and money). From humble beginnings as an orphan, the Reverend graduated high school at 14 and went on to get a degree and spend six years in the Marines before running a coal washing business which funded much of his non-profit efforts.

Spirituality is a powerful thing. It can show a man a light within himself to accomplish anything. Man has built monuments, raised crosses, taken to the streets and raged wars for decades in the name of their God. Joey hopped on his bike and spoke from his heart and touched many of the people of his community.

This portrait is for Joel's mom (Joey's sister). Happy Birthday!

1 comment:

  1. Jodi Baggett NaborsJuly 26, 2010

    This is wonderful Brandt! I just wanted to take a minute and thank you for all you did, and all the time you took to research the crosses. I would of never known how they were established. Hopefully all of your "followers" will be inspired by this in someway. My Uncle (Joey Holmes) would be proud! All he ever wanted to do was to inspire people to give their life to the Lord. Thanks Again and keep up the GREAT work you do.

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