Volume XIV, Issue X
Josiah
By Bob Kirchman
Copyright © 2018, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved
Chapter 10: Quandry
Young Josiah Zimmerman knocked on the office door of Abiyah Ben-Gurion. “Come in.” Professor Ben-Gurion said. “I am deep in a quandary.” The young man said.
Ben-Gurion loved young Zimmerman. The young man had originally arrived at the school to study Aerospace Engineering but after a stirring talk by Dr. Greene in chapel, he experienced what the old-timers call the ‘Burning Bosom.’ Persuasive and articulate, the young man saw his gifts most applicable to some sort of evangelism, but he still loved the sciences. As with many young people who are so blessed, young Zimmerman struggled with his calling and his passion, and that is why he sought out Ben-Gurion. Abiyah was a deeply rational man, but he seemed to understand that man was more than a rational machine. The professor’s walls were filled with amazing floral photography that he had taken. He was quiet about his faith, but it was well known that he always left his office on Fridays long before Sundown. He often slipped over to Wales in time to be there when it was Saturday so he could worship in the manner of his Fathers. His voice reading the Holy scrolls was known only to a few people, but they knew it was beautiful.
What his students saw was the strength of his character. He was tough, but fair. He met you at eye level and would listen. He was downright reluctant to give up on a student. He had helped Josiah Zimmerman understand that his heartfelt need to study Spiritual matters was a good thing. “The Divine will see to it that you have opportunity. You, my friend, must keep your eyes open and learn to recognize it.”
Ben-Gurion, at the moment, was wrestling too. He had just received the latest transcript of West and Josiah’s conversation on Mars. “Those Martians are like sheep without a shepherd,” he thought to himself. Peering at the young man seated across the desk from him he wondered, “Could this man be the answer.”
The reassimilation proposal had been floated with Josiah of Mars. He in turn had visited the Council with it. Not surprisingly, the APOLLONIUS faction was against it. Those closer to Josiah and Allison were cautiously interested in hearing more. As a group, they met the repatriation proposal with a resounding sentiment of “Not so fast.”
Ten spaces sat waiting in the lander. No one would step up to be first to go. Josiah might have been tempted but there were a few things that stopped him cold. First of all, he sensed that the volatile colony might indeed disintegrate upon his departure. More than once, he and Allison had defused some tense situations in the new colony with some old fashioned thinking. Josiah shuddered as he thought of how close the colony had come to chaos. He didn’t love his job, but he feared the vacuum.
He and Allison had children. If everyone dear to Josiah returned with him there would be room for only a couple of other colonists. Josiah would not leave his family, especially to an uncertain future. Their children knew nothing else than the red world they inhabited now with its green biospheres. If more landers were available in the future it would be fine but that would require some negotiations and some guarantees.
(to be continued)
Visions of Heaven
The Restoration of All Things
Paintings by Bob Kirchman
Heaven's Hollyhocks I.
God is making good on His promise to restore all things. Despite the brokenness around us and in us, we put our hope in God. Please help us visualize this promise through your artwork.” That was the call for works to be included in Tabernacle Presbyterian Church’s second annual art show. It is a great event which brings together the Christian creative community and the theme of restoration is hard to resist. The images are taken from hand painted cards that expressed the theme as promised by the New Heaven and New Earth.
Heaven’s Hollyhocks I presents a visualization of a legacy of restoration. Every year the hollyhocks bloom along Springhill Road in Staunton, Virginia. They are the Legacy of a gardener who long ago planted them in her front yard. The house is long gone, but the hollyhocks return, promising another season of restoration. That gardener ‘just happened’ to be the great-great grandmother of my assistant Kristina, who shared the story with me. We were painting the mural ‘Journey to Jesus’ [1.] at the time and that too was a visualization of the vision of restoration in Isaiah 60 and Revelation 21,22.
Last year a reproduction of ‘Journey to Jesus’ was shown at the Tabernacle annual art show. It features children around the world coming to Jesus. This year the ‘Heaven’s Hollyhocks’ paintings expound on the vision of a lady named Zipporah, an Egyptian, who had lived through a time of terrible persecution for the Christian Church there. She said she had had dreams of Heaven. I asked her to describe it: “Jesus is in Heaven surrounded by children!” she said. “Tell me more!” I said. She continued: “The flowers there are enormous… like trees!” That became the inspiration for this series.
The boy and girl in the painting below – they are Indian, but they are meant to represent the hope of restoration for all of us. Surrounded by colossal hollyhocks, holding hands, they make their way to Jesus. My thought was that we all become as little children in the presence of the Master, losing nothing in the way of wisdom. Thus the couple could indeed represent the reuniting of a husband and wife who had been separated by death – or a brother and a sister. Let it represent both!, for Heaven is indeed a place of joyous reuniting and restoration!
I plan to explore the subject further. The initial images are white – inspired by a beautiful white hollyhock on Springhill Road, but Heaven is full of color – possibly far more color than we can perceive now. My plan is to introduce that in subsequent paintings. We sort of expect white images of Heaven – heavy on clouds and gold harps, but I believe that has diminished the true promise of the place. Humanity itself presents itself in a beautiful range of colors. Free from prejudice, we see our brothers and sisters like many varieties of fine woods in their coloration and characteristics. All tell us something of IMAGO DEI!
The show will be open March 9, from 7:00-9:00pm in the fellowship hall at Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, 1301 Red Top Orchard Road in Waynesboro, Virginia.
Heaven's Hollyhocks II.
Portrait of Restortation
Painting and Description by Savhanna Herndon
The Bible speaks of restoration in the sense of our heart’s reaction to Christ. To restore something is to return it to its former owner, place, or condition. I believe color is the language of emotion and art is to reflect its maker’s heart. Therefore, art should reflect the light of the maker’s maker and restore something broken in it is beholder. As for the artist, he is restored to heavenly glory when using his God given talent, stroke by stroke.
Psalm 23:3: “He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”
Savhanna Herndon.
Restoring Their Lost Voices
A Proposal for the World Trade Center Memorial Site
Xaver Wilhelmy's Design for a memorial at the World Trade Center site in New York. The memorial features a 3000 pipe organ to give a voice to everyone who's voice was lost on that terrible day. Rendering by Bob Kirchman
The History of New York's Bridges
A Tribute to Billy Graham
I Can Only Imagine
Emerging Crocus
Springtime Promise of Restoration
Photo by Bob Kirchman.
I Can Only Imagine
Bart Millard's True Story of Restoration
It’s the song that brings ultimate hope to so many … often in the midst of life’s most challenging moments. Amazingly, the song was written in mere minutes by MercyMe lead singer Bart Millard. In reality, those lyrics took a lifetime to craft.
Although he found faith at a young age, life wasn’t easy for Bart. He leaned into an active imagination and his love of music as escapes from a troubled home life. As he grew older, Bart turned to football in hopes of somehow connecting with his abusive father. But a career-ending injury—combined with the vision of a teacher who saw unlimited potential—set Bart on a musical pathway.
Chasing a dream while running from broken relationships with his father and Shannon, his childhood sweetheart, Bart hits the road in an old, decrepit tour bus with his new band MercyMe—named for his grandmother’s favorite expression. With the guidance of a grizzled music-industry insider, the band begins a journey none of them could ever have imagined.
Directed by the Erwin Brothers (October Baby, Moms' Night Out, and Woodlawn), I CAN ONLY IMAGINE stars J. Michael Finley, Madeline Carroll, Trace Adkins, Priscilla Shirer, with Cloris Leachman and Dennis Quaid.
A gripping reminder of the power of forgiveness, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE beautifully illustrates that no one is ever too far from God’s love—or from an eternal home in Heaven.
