Jesus and the Lifeboat

A year or so ago, I talked about a large painting of men in a lifeboat trying to survive a fierce storm, with Jesus standing on water watching over them.

It's a striking painting and has come to mean a great deal to the people serving at the Merchant Marine Academy.

When the Biden crew took over, things changed.

An atheist activist wrote a letter demanding that it be moved immediately: "Separation of Church and State."

The Biden Administration quickly removed the large painting and stored it in the basement.

It has now been restored to its rightful place--On the wall for all to see.

Thanks to the appointment of Sean Duffy, President Trump's pick for Transportation Secretary.

Senator Ted Cruz and others have written to Duffy, thanking him for doing the right thing.

Be inspired.

The Christian Post, along with several other Christian publications, published this story this past  Saturday:

Son of merchant mariner who painted USMMA Jesus painting 'honored' by Duffy's support

The son of the late merchant mariner whose painting of Jesus at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy has repeatedly made headlines said he is honored that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the midshipmen at the academy have supported it.

Hunter A. Wood II, who shares a name with his late father, told The Christian Post he was surprised by the viral footage last month that showed midshipmen erupting in applause when Duffy called for the USMMA's "Christ on the Water" painting to be brought up from the basement where it was placed during the Biden administration.

"I was surprised, and I'm heartened and very honored by that," Wood said. "I'm sure my father would be very honored by the fact that so many people have taken such an interest in it."

The painting hung in the USMMA's Wiley Hall for 76 years until a 2023 letter from Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder Mikey Weinstein demanded its removal, claiming a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

After announcing last week that he had hung a replica of the painting in his office at the Department of Transportation in Washington, Duffy issued another announcement Thursday reiterating his promise that "this painting is going to go from the basement back to its place of prominence."

Wood said the attention his father's work has lately received is "an amazing point to his legacy; that so many people are interested in that and they cherish that painting so much as they do."

"Politics and religion aside, I think it's fabulous."

Hunter Alexander Wood was born in 1908 and by 17 was already studying at New York State Schoolship, now the State University of New York Maritime College. After freelancing as an artist while he worked for various steamship lines in the 1930s, Wood enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard 10 days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Wood saw action during the invasion of North Africa in 1942 and served as an artist in the Coast Guard Combat Artist Unit. In 1948, his life was cut short at age 39 in an automobile accident, just three months after his son was born.

Wood's son said what he knows of his father he learned from relatives and the extensive research he has done on his father's work, which also adorns the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, the U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office in Washington and the Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia.

Maritime historian Frank Braynard described "Christ on the Water," also known as "Jesus and the Lifeboat," as Wood's most ambitious work, which he painted in 1944 as a tribute to merchant seamen who faced torpedo attacks and other dangers during World War II.

Wood noted that his father had a photographic memory and would commit some of the conflicts he witnessed in North Africa to paper or canvas immediately after seeing them.

"From the story I'm told, when he would get back to the main ship from taking a landing craft in on the shore, he would go back and he would sit at his desk, and he would recreate everything he just saw," he said. "So it was a bit of like being a photographer, but in charcoal, in sketches and in paint. So that was kind of amazing on his part as well."

Wood said his father was a Christian and laced the theme of hope throughout much of his work.

"There's been shipwrecked men waiting for rescue throughout history, especially during World War II," he said. "And he had an ability to portray the despair they had, but also the hope they had. And Christ on the water, standing over and watching over the men in the dinghy waiting to be rescued, I think that just means there's always hope."

"I'm very humbled, and I'm very honored by the attention it's gotten after all these years since he first painted it in 1944, and I think it's just quite amazing," Wood added. "I'm glad it's going to be around for a long time to maintain his legacy."

Midshipmen who recently spoke to CP recounted what the painting means to them personally, with one midshipman explaining that he came to see it as a symbol of God's faithfulness to him when he feared the storms in his own life.

"I remember many times when I used to pray underneath that painting when I was on the verge of failing a class, or I had big tests, or I was worried about something," he said. "I've prayed underneath that painting when it used to be in Wiley Hall. So to me, it's a very significant, important painting, and I think it's an important part of the school's history."

Wood's comments come after Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, sent a letter to Duffy last week expressing appreciation for his willingness to restore the painting to a more prominent place at the academy, according to The Daily Wire.

"Your public acknowledgment of the painting's spiritual and historical significance was a powerful moment of moral clarity and leadership — one that resonated not only with the midshipmen in attendance, but with countless Americans who care deeply about preserving our nation's religious and military heritage," Cruz wrote.

"Your statement — 'Can we bring Jesus up from the basement?' — was more than rhetorical. I trust it will be seen as an imperative," Cruz wrote. "Thank you for your principled leadership, for defending our nation's religious heritage, and for working to ensure that this government-commissioned memorial is returned to its rightful place."

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.