“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.  Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.” Psalms 112:1 and 3

This is a painting from a real place called Plumtree, in the mountains of North Carolina.  A real cabin that’s survived many a storm ‘cause it’s built on a rock.  Its owned by real folks who love and trust a real God, who so loved the world that He gave His only Son, to create a real, eternal place in His heart… just for you. READ MORE >

Very few of God’s creatures evoke as much emotion in poem or song as the little bluebird.  And yet, the saga of the bluebird is a dramatic story of its struggle for survival.  The bluebird will not build its home on a limb of a tree, but has to have an enclosure–– a hole whittled out by a woodpecker in a tree, fence post, or the eve under a barn.   But along came super highways and shopping malls and homes became scarce.  And the bluebird almost disappeared. And that’s what prompted Mr. Jack Finch to begin building homes for his “friends.”   READ MORE >

Early I learned that the story behind a painting was as important as the painting itself if it was going to minister to folks. As badly as I wanted to paint the old cabin nestled in the valley of the North Carolina mountains, in Plumtree, I couldn’t without a story.   But God arranged us to get snowed in near the cabin one cold winter and I asked Linda to join me to go down in a borrowed jeep and let me take some photos.  She reluctantly agreed, cause the temps were way below freezing and with the wind blowing extra hard, it was mighty, extra cold.   READ MORE >

When I came home from a glorious conference where I lived luxuriously in a four star hotel, I was met by a house with a broken water tank, dog poop on the floor, and unwashed clothes strewn everywhere, I mistakenly asked my wife, “What in the world is going on around here?”  My “stretched tight” wife and mother of my children,  wiped her forehead, rose to her knees from scrubbing up the dog’s mess and said, “Home is where you have to live out all the things you like to talk about.”

No picture I’ve ever painted has ministered to more people than the “Little Child” has.  Yes, the little child is our youngest daughter, Sarah.  At summers end we’d always vacation at a family on the coast of North Carolina, and Sarah would always make me promise to get up with her to collect shells on the beach.  I didn’t mind making that promise, but what I dreaded those morning was how early she’d wake me by waving a sandy bucket over my head, reminding me, “Daddy, you promised.” READ MORE >

Whenever the Helser household suffered an economic setback, I would sigh, “Well, there went my sailboat.”

On my daughter, Dustie’s, wedding day, she surprised me with a gift.  A blue, toy sailboat.  Leaving the church for her honeymoon, she blew me a kiss and boasted, “You got me married and you got your sailboat too!” READ MORE >

I remember the first time my own Dad took me down to the shore or the ocean.  I remembered how powerful the arms were that held me.  Powerful enough to make my fear of the ocean’s roar and bigness disappear. READ MORE >

Description goes hereI was such a young artist when I wanted to do a detail painting of one of my favorite passages of Scripture, Matthew 6:25-34.  It is Christ’s warning in the Sermon on the Mount about how the greatest treasure in life is to live free from worry by considering “The birds of the air… and the lilies of the field.”  I was excited about this painting until my little new born, Jonathan David,... READ MORE >

I was so young, my gift list so small.  All I wanted for Christmas was the paint set I drooled over in the hobby shop window–– the one with thirty-two tubes of paint in a beautiful oak box with shiny brass latches.  I was convinced that with those oils I could be a real artist. READ MORE >

Sarah and I went for a walk early that morning, but instead of taking an old sea-salt rusty bucket for our shells, Sarah insisted on Cattie McCormick’s beautiful basket.  “But Sarah,” I protested.  “There’s no telling how expensive that beautiful basket is?  I bet…”  Cattie interrupted, “Oh, take it.  Your walk with Sarah is worth far more than that old basket.”  READ MORE >

When the farmer was weighing out some Granny Smith apples on the old scale and a butterfly landed on it, we both smiled.  He waited for the creature to fly before he priced the apples.  That reminded me of Proverbs 11:1 that says, “A just weight is God’s delight.”  But it also reminds me of how unbalanced my life can be and how He alone can bring me into His balance so that I might have what He promised:  “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.”  John 10:10

A father.  A son.  A walk to the beach.

A picture of God’s heart toward us.

But the world’s busyness has replaced belonging.  We’re tempted to trade lust for Love.  Religion has replaced relationship.  Words have taken the place of The Word, until we have allowed information about God to replace intimacy with God. READ MORE >

“I know the plans I have for you," 
declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you,  plans to give you hope and a future.”   
Jeremiah 29:11 Difficult and many the obstacles be,
For one whom can’t nest on mere limb of a tree,  But faith born of instinct the bluebird must follow, To locate a fence post or dead tree hollow, ... READ MORE >

A shepherd's joy is for his sheep to find solitude in green pastures.  His pain is the brokenness many must suffer for Him to lead them there.    

We mistakenly think of sheep as cute, cuddly creatures, joyfully following the shepherd. Instead, they are stupid, stubborn animals, intent on their own way. READ MORE >

Actually the crab is my only self-portrait.  It’s a reminder of a time when the workaholic in me nearly destroyed a family vacation while fishing for crabs, the Lord said, “Did you come to just catch crabs or did you come to have fellowship with your family?  Which is more important?” READ MORE >

Sarah, a tot of three, took off running toward the strange howling sounds from across the dirt road.  I followed her quick pursuit to find, lying on its back in a ditch, the dirtiest, mangiest, ugliest, flea-bitten hound I’d ever seen.  READ MORE >

What an incredible statement from Jesus in Matthew 6, when he says we are not to take thought of worry for our lives–– what we shall eat or drink–– in essence, “How are we going to survive.”  He explains this mystery by telling what we are supposed to do in a time we are tempted to worry:  “Consider the birds of the air…” ... READ MORE >

An old Mason jar.  A lid.  A butterfly set free.  But what lies beneath the simple picture is a story of a fifteen year old girl who overcame fear when she heard God say, “I’ve taken the lid of shame and deception off your life because of Calvary Love.  Spread your wings.  You can fly!”  In that moment the little girl, my own daughter, Jodie, wrote her poem… READ MORE >

A frightened little girl in a hospital was being tucked in for the night when she asked, “When I die and go to heaven, will God have a teddy bear there for me?”  The young nurse prayed, asked God and His answer came in a song that she passed on to my daughter, Dustie and I.  We recorded it and the song became a hit among many children.  And why shouldn’t it be? READ MORE >