Overpass Graffiti

There’s a new pop song in culture called Overpass Graffiti by famous singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. It’s about a girlfriend in the singer’s past that he thought was the one, and how her mark on his heart will never fade, like graffiti on an overpass. There seems to be an endless supply of love song metaphors out there, and this one is clever for sure.

Beyond the song, overpass graffiti is something that we’ve all seen, whether we’ve popped open the spray paint ourselves or not. Recently, overpass graffiti impacted a life in a different kind of way. It’s a real-life story, even from within the Dynamis Ministry network, and there’s an important generosity piece, so we’d like to share it:

This past November, a college sophomore was going about an ordinary Monday of classes. In one particular class, he started to feel as though God was putting a strong vocational calling on his heart. The Spirit was moving, and God was speaking. Not knowing exactly what to do with this incredible stirring, the young man began to pray, listen and journal for 3 days. Finally, he caught and embraced what God was asking him to do with his life – to be a preaching evangelist to his generation.

As the week continued and doubts started to enter his mind, in prayer this young man felt prompted to go to a pedestrian overpass bridge in his college town. It seemed like a random thing to do. After resisting it, he finally went to the overpass on Friday night with a close friend. Nothing happened, and then 40 minutes into that cold, dark evening, there it was – overpass graffiti. On the painted concrete overpass, there was only one graffiti message. His first name, and a unique one at that, was graffitied in huge print! The calling was confirmed, and there was no turning back.

In response to this event, the young man’s dad secretly contacted a local photographer in his son’s college town to get the graffiti photographed for a lifetime memento as a Christmas present. The photographer happened to be one of the best in the region and thought it would be really cool to do. So the dad took a risk and shared the story to give greater meaning to the task. He was immediately touched and began to share about his own testimony of faith.

The dad was surprised the photographer was a Christian. And then the photographer said this, “You know what? I feel moved by God to do this project at no cost. This will be my contribution to your son’s calling.” What an amazing encouragement this act of generosity would be to the family. Little did the photographer know they were coming off a year of their lowest level of income ever due to difficult life circumstances.

The photographer in this story displayed a remarkable spirit of generosity to a complete stranger on a phone call. The monetary value of his gift was $250, but the gesture of his generosity was priceless. It is said in culture, “Time is money.” Too often we overlook the generosity of time or reduce it to meager volunteering. There are endless ways we can use time as a generosity tool, like the photographer who “gifted” his services to the family. What is the market value of your time to this world? What talents can you display through gifts of time? How might God be calling you to be generous through your personal or professional services to people who need it?

Photo by Joseph Gonzalez