Angle of Repose 30" x 40" x 2" AOC

Angle of Repose

The term “angle of repose” once evoked for me the simple image of lying down to rest. In civil engineering, however, it holds a loftier meaning: the maximum angle at which dry, granular materials like sand or salt, when poured into a pile, remain stable without sliding. This precise point of balance—calculated with a formula—guides engineers in designing safe storage for such materials. Fascinatingly, adding just one more grain to this pile triggers an avalanche, which continues until the material settles again at its angle of repose, finding rest.

I believe God has a formula for each of us, a divine equation for a moment of perfect balance amid life’s chaos. Through prayer, He promises answers and rest for our trials, tailored to our unique personalities and struggles. This is our personal “angle of repose”—a sacred pause where our burdens resolve into peace. Some recognize this moment when it arrives; others see it only after it cascades into the next challenge. Yet, this miraculous resolution, granted through prayer, transforms our clasped hands of supplication into arms raised in praise, like a Cat’s Cradle freed from its string.

My Wilderness Walk series—nine paintings spanning the past five years—chronicles my spiritual journey through profound loss. Five years ago, my world unraveled: I lost my father, then my mentor two months later, and three months after that, my 15-year career as Bank of America’s Senior Bond Trader. In my mid-forties, I was a man wandering a desert of grief, my prayers seemingly unanswered, my path dry and circuitous. The series’ recurring wooden towers—fragile, exposed, and in need of repair—symbolize my lifting of troubles to God, a framework for my broken life.

Through this wilderness, my faith deepened. God has granted me, for now, a respite from trials—a crossing over the River Jordan into a Promised Land of peace. From this place of rest comes my latest painting, The Angle of Repose (acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches). In it, the King of Kings presents a Cat’s Cradle, a children’s string game where two players weave intricate designs, passing the string to create new patterns with an “X” at the center. After my wilderness walk, I feel God has taken the circular, endless loop of my past five years and woven it into a cradle of rest—my personal angle of repose. He offers me His design, inviting me to pinch the strings and complete it. The “X,” present in every Wilderness Walk painting, reminds me that He walked with me through every trial. No matter what the future holds, He promises moments of balance and blessing—until the next grain falls, and a new journey begins.