A young couple, with a baby on the way… No room at the motel (also, new manager, but it’s lost its second A)… Weisman beer… a bright and shining star…
It took me a second, too… 
Oh… this is nice… if you click on the image and zoom in you can find even more interesting messages…
You beat me to it, but also: they’re in Dave’s City, the prophetic reference graffiti’d on the pay phone, etc.
I was wondering if that was something along those lines…
Where did you find it, @Millie_Fink? Do you know who the artist is?
i am not even a believer, but this one actually moved me.
“Wizeman Cigarettes” in the poster upper left, with the camel illustration, the “Starr Beer” neon sign. “Dave’s Motel” with the letter board miusing an “A” in “manager”, leaving “manger”…
so many subtleties to a story we all seem to know, but in this portrait, our two desperate foreigners, looking for a place to stay - perhaps to escape deportation, Jose makes a call.
but, as @mindysan33 points out, there is a small sprig of hope bursting up between the cracks in the concrete.
there are other references there, such as the number on the side of the phone box, “Zeke 34 15-16”. make of it what you will, like i said, i am not a believer, yet i do understand the reference.
15 eI myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, dand I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 fI will seek the lost, gand I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and hthe fat and the strong I will destroy.1 I will feed them in justice.
Random flotsam, but Googlay image search found it on artist EverettPatterson’s blog:
Apparently, the guy is illustrating a project about the bible, too (or was, maybe?)… which sounds interesting… his theology seems to lean left…
Anyway, it’s a lovely illustration.
Thx @Millie_Fink & @mindysan33 for the links to the artist’s blog! I might’ve dug further but now I didn’t have to.
It’s got so many references, subtle and not so subtle, all over the picture. I especially like the way the ads on the window form halos around José and Maria’s heads.
That went right past me, & yet I did notice it in this other work of his
What I find most interesting about that, is that they are the Samaritans’ 10 Commandments.
