The cover for the Fall 2014 issue of the Ichthus was specially designed by a guest artist and student from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Below is the artist’s description for the cover, including an explanation of what confession personally means to her.

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Confession to me is throwing away my personal opinions and agenda and agreeing with God, trusting Him to have my best interests in mind. In order for me to do that, I need to re­alize that I am so small compared to him, that He indeed is sovereign over my life, but also that He cares for me, having confident faith in His great purposes for my life. In Psalm 8:4-6 the psalmist walks through these two observations about humankind’s rela­tionship to God:

“What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little low­er than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him do­minion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.”

In realizing these truths about my re­lationship to God, I train my heart to align with His in confession, in hum­ble agreement with and confident hope in Him.

Screen Shot 2015-06-02 at 10.33.12 AMThe doodle on the back cover came from my subconscious meditation on this passage of Psalm 8. In the image, the world around the little man tow­ers over him, and he seems to be a minuscule afterthought, his body not an integral part of the landscape sur­rounding him. Yet, he is the fulcrum, with the earth bending beneath his feet, creation serving as the context for man to be the focal point.

Chantine Akiyama ’15 is a Mechanical Engineering and Product Design major from MIT and a guest artist for the Ichthus.