My friend Julie gave me some original stained glass art that has been in her family for a long time. Roger McIntosh is the artist, and his stained glass appears in lots of churches throughout Texas. One of his pieces decorates a window at the SMU. I didn't know how valuable these sketches are until just a few minutes ago. Apparently they're worth hundreds of dollars each. I'm stunned by her generosity. These compositions are nearly a hundred years old. One is signed R D McIntosh, designer, 1919. And she just gave them to me. Just gave them to me. I had it in my mind to give one to someone close to me, and now it makes it mean even more that I should give one of these away as a gift, knowing how... just singularly unique and valuable they are. I'm just bowled over and wow'd and kind of feel a little bit as if I've been poleaxed.
It's funny how you never know what's going to happen next in life... the next day, or the next week, or the next year. There's always something interesting in store, some little thing or big thing that happens. Events which transpire that come right out of the blue. Sometimes they're ugly things, and sometimes they're surprising things... but sometimes they are little wondrous things. And they all spill out at me constantly, and I can count on nothing to be what I expected.
I would love to invite you to come and see the McIntosh glass at our church, Tyler Street United Methodist, in north Oak Cliff. We believe that we have the largest collection of his work anywhere, with a total of 8 art glass windows depicting the life of Christ, and more than 30 stained glass windows. One is very similar to the second "Jesus at the Door" pictured above. Additionally, we have a stained glass dome that we believe he created of Italian glass. One member of our church actually worked with Roger McIntosh, and has many memories which he has put in writing for our 100th anniversary (1912-2012.)
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