“O Lord, Do It Again! Do It Again!” Buckingham

Volume XIX, Issue VIIa: Worshipful Architecture in Dillwyn, Virginia

Rendering of the not yet completed seminary cloister from their website, Commonwealth Architects.

Saint Thomas Aquinas Seminary
Photos by Bob Kirchman

Rural Buckingham County is primarily a land of forests. After driving through acres of woodland, one might happen upon a bit of Romanesque architecture rising above a lake. In this land of white frame churches, it seems transported from someplace like Cluny in France; a tribute to the study of beauty and truth and the home to a group of young seminarians studying for the priesthood in the Society of Saint Pius X.





The Buckingham Branch Railroad
Photos by Bob Kirchman

Locomotive and cars seen in the Dillwyn, Virginia yard of the Buckingham Branch Railroad.

“Do it Again Lord”


Franklin Graham leads a Prayer March from the Lincoln Memorial to U.S. Capitol.

After a Great Move of Prayer [click to visit] on our National Mall led by Franklin Graham, I took a bit of a respite from social media and played with my grandchildren. It was a great time to refresh myself. “What if ‘The News’ isn’t really the news?” I don’t know how much coverage the mainstream media gave to prayer on the Mall but I really don’t care. Here’s the real news! Rev Dr. Gordon Moyes tells a timeless story – one that reaches back into history and into our day: “Dr J. Edwin Orr, the greatest authority ever on renewal in the church was a lecturer at Wheaton College. He took some students in 1940 for a brief visit to England including the Epworth Rectory. Beside the bed were two worn impressions on the carpet where it was said John Wesley knelt hours in prayer for England’s social and spiritual renewal. As the students were getting on the bus, he noticed one was missing. Going back upstairs he found one student kneeling in the carpet knee holes praying with his face on the bed: “O Lord, do it again! Do it again!” Orr placed a hand on the student’s shoulder and said gently, “Come on Billy, we must be going.” And rising, Billy Graham rejoined the bus.” By the 1950’s the young evangelist was bringing revival to the United States. His children and grandchildren now carry the torch. What was the secret to their great effectiveness? I have to believe it was seen on that day in 1940! “O Lord, do it again! Do it again!” 

APOLLONIUS, Chapter Six

Volume XIX, Issue IX: Special Book Section

Apollonius
By Bob Kirchman
Copyright © 2020, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved

Chapter 6: The Mad Monk Squadron

Abiyah Ben Gurion seemed most at home in the cockpit of an F17, at least that is how it seemed to Sarah Cohen as she first tried to understand the man who commanded her squadron. He said little. He gave few clues. Most of the men and women in his command knew that he had studied engineering at MIT, but returned home to Israel determined to make as much difference as he could to his tiny country. As a boy, he’d had a fascination with flying and had his pilot’s license as a teenager. He must have had some wild adventures, but he never spoke of any. Outside of command, he rarely spoke unless spoken to. If you met him on the street, his short stature made you miss the fact that he was lean and muscular. He avoided showing that off too. Though there were rumors that he could drink bigger men under the table, he was only actually known to enjoy a polite drink at beer-call with his colleagues and go home early. Serving under him, as a strong pilot in her own right, Cohen began to see inside the man.

Once they were on leave in Jerusalem and as they walked in the old city, a suicide bomber/active shooter situation developed around them. After the initial blast, a sniper was attempting to inflict more casualties on the first-responders. There was a little Arab boy standing dazed in the street and before Sarah could articulate it in a sentence, Ben-Gurion had pushed her into a doorway, rushed out to grab the kid and ducking erratically, managed to return with the frightened child to the safety of the doorway. One of Ben-Gurion’s fellow flyers saw where the shooter was and ended the terror with a well-placed shot from her sidearm. Abiyah was concentrating on comforting the boy and it seemed like he was oblivious to the greater events playing out around him… until he congratulated his colleague: “Nice shot, Rachel.” “He must have some incredible peripheral vision!” Cohen thought to herself. The fact is they both scored exceptionally in that area at about the same level.

His only recreations seemed to be reading and nature photography. That was something he and Sarah shared. Gradually the two pilots found themselves sharing their hobby. Abiyah loved to photograph flowers and often visited the commercial nurseries where thousands grew. His stunning macros actually became quite sought after as he marketed them under a pseudonym. He had just recently become more serious in reading and studying Torah, his mind opened to the possibility of worlds unseen. Sarah was the product of a good Liberal home and initially listened politely as Abiyah shared his personal journey. The fact is the two were drawn to each other and it would be only a matter of time before Sarah thought feelings might be expressed. Abiyah seemed to have one great dream… he wanted to see the desert “blossom like a rose.” Then there came an unprecedented rain and the opportunity for leave. “Sarah,” he said, “I have wanted to see this. I’ve secured a pass for both of us. Would you come with me to see the blooms in the desert?”

Yes, Abiyah!” Sarah spoke before thinking.

They drove to a little hotel by the Sea of Galilee and checked in. From there it was a short drive to the desert where the recent rain had unleashed a vibrant display of wildflowers.

If the truth be known, the two had become quite good friends. They were probably already considered a ‘couple’ by their colleagues but the taciturn Abiyah seemed to take their friendship for granted. “Did he have family?” Sarah wondered. Sarah had learned, however, that there was substance behind the silence. She trusted that as she gave herself to him in her mind.

The two set into photographing desert flowers but Abiyah seemed to have something on his mind. Pilots learn to read cues from one another and Sarah said “Penny for your thoughts?” absently.

Oh, Sarah, I was just thinking…” an exceptionally vivid desert rose seemed to distract him for a moment, “…about you… and, er… us!”

Abiyah Ben-Gurion obviously was pretty lame when it came to pick-up lines. “What about us?” Sarah returned.

I don’t want to live without you.” Abiyah blurted out. “I was just wondering how you felt about me?”

Well, most of our colleagues think we’re already pretty intimate.”

Do they?” Ben-Gurion asked, not so incredulously. “Is it that obvious in my eyes?”

Sarah said nothing.

Even though I am an uncommunicative old goat, you can still see the love that I have for you Sarah?”

I can.”

“…and what do you think of that, dear Sarah? I see your affection for me, but is it love of the same fervor as mine for you?”

I love you, I love you, I love you; Abiyah Ben Gurion.” She replied through tears. “There, does three times make it clear?”

Quite!” he said, as they lost themselves in embrace.

I want you in the worst way,” Ben-Gurion continued after they had walked blissfully through the desert wonderland for some time.

I am yours.” the woman responded, kissing him passionately. “Have me!”

I mean..” the man stammered, “I want you before God! Under a chupah! …and I do want you! Body, Soul and Spirit!" Sarah blushed. In the complex and convoluted world of modern ‘romance,’ such directness caught her off her guard, but in truth, she desired the same and nodded her approval.

The Chupah, and a few friends hastily gathered by the Sea of Galilee witnessed the marriage of Sarah and Abiyah. “We’ll make it public when we can,” Ben Gurion said, “But today we’ve made it forever.”

Someday I want to live in a place that’s called ’Shalom’ and make mad love to you until we fill our house with children.” Abiyah said as they slipped off to consummate their marriage.

Aliyah Ben Gurion would only lay claim to one virtue, that being gratitude. In the time that followed their whirlwind marriage, Sarah would learn that her husband began life as an orphan in London. His early years were wretched ones. His kind adoptive parents gave him a name that would command respect by its mere mention in their home country… and a name that carried with it a great hope and a future!

They indulged his passion for aviation, taught him Hebrew and encouraged his nobler dreams. The boy was filled with wonder at the new world that opened up to him when his parents immigrated to Israel and sent him to university in America. While many young people take their good fortune for granted and often treat their parents and home country with distain, Ben Gurion never got over the wonder.

He was a wild, tough youth of course. But he ultimately channeled that wildness to give something back to everyone who had blessed him… and that is what led him to love Torah. He read the history of his new adopted country. “Was this the work simply of a great people,” he wondered, “or is my land’s miraculous history truly from the hand of the Divine?”

His gratitude found a new focus as he read the Holy Texts. Like most young people he suffered through a series of awkward attempts at romance. When young and beautiful Sarah became part of his life, his gentleness toward her sprang from the most fervent gratitude to the Lord almighty!
(to be continued)

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
[click to read ]
Copyright © 2020, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved

A Prayer for America, God's Healing for Our Land

Volume XIX, Issue VIc: A Prayer for America

The Divine Plan for Our Redemption

If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." -- 2 Chronicles 7:14

Prayer for Our Nation
[click to join]

The only hope for America is God.” Today, you can watch live from Washington, D.C., as Franklin Graham leads a Prayer March from the Lincoln Memorial to U.S. Capitol. You can watch the archived video of the Prayer March now. “Prayer is our most important weapon,” he said. “It allows us to go directly to the King of kings, directly to stand in front of the throne of grace and make our petitions known directly to God.” Watch the Prayer March 2020 archived video, and pray along. (read more)


Franklin Graham leads a Prayer March from the Lincoln Memorial to U.S. Capitol today at noon.


Thousands gather at the Lincoln Memorial to pray for our nation.

"Our highest allegiance is to God, but we have a duty to our country as well," wrote the late Adrian Rogers.

The Divine Call to Political Engagement
(From Decision Magazine)

Our government is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We are some of “the people,” and we are to participate in our government. Jesus said to give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and give to G-d the things that belong to G-d (Mark 12:17).

If you do not participate in your government, you have not rendered to your Caesar the things that belong to your Caesar.

If, for example, you do not vote—if you do not inform yourself—in my estimation, you have disobeyed the Lord Jesus Christ. It is inconceivable that God would have ordained human government and then tell His people to stay out of it. If that is true, who does that leave to run it?

We as Christians are to participate, not on the basis of parties or persons or politics, but on principles. Our highest allegiance is to G-d, but we have a duty to our country as well.

We’re not to force our views on anyone else, but we should be persuasive in what we do. Our government is a democracy, and America is based on public opinion. May I tell you, the only hope for America is to change public opinion? Do you know the only thing that can change public opinion? The Word of G-d.

George MacDonald's Inspiration for C. S. Lewis

Volume XIX, Issue VIa: C. S. Lewis and Lilith

Myth and Theology, a Thread by Lewis

Heaven will solve our problems, but not, I think, by showing us subtle reconciliations between all our apparently contradictory notions. The notions will all be knocked from under our feet. We shall see that there never was any problem.” – C. S. Lewis in A Grief Observed

I just began re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia as my granddaughter has been reading them and we like to share what we are reading. I don’t know why I didn’t stop and ponder it before, but as Mr. Beaver describes the origins of Jadis, the white witch, he says that she is a descendent of Lilith – “Adam’s FIRST wife.” Of course, that does not register as most of us know that Adam was married to EVE. That led me to do some research and discover the origins of a legend – the Legend of Lilith.

Apparently the legend has its beginnings in Jewish extra-Biblical tradition such as Kaballah (where Jonathan Cahn gets much of his ‘prophecy’) and stems from a perceived need to reconcile the creation accounts from Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:22. In Genesis 1:27 it is stated that God created them (mankind) “in His Image.” The next chapter details the taking of Eve “from the side of man” and most of us would, using Occam’s Razor, simply assume that the first mention of the creation of mankind is simply a broad description, much like the preface of a novel, which is further articulated in the following chapter.

But the Jewish scholars saw a problem in that they saw this as two distinct accounts. In the first, they said, the Divine made man and woman from the earth. Lilith, however would not submit herself to Adam, so God made EVE from his side. Lilith, the legend continues, had relations with demons, spawning evil creatures such as malevolent giants. It is worth noting that Jadis is described in the Chronicles as “quite tall.”

Lewis was a devotee of Victorian Author and Pastor George MacDonald, who wrote a dark novel ‘Lilith’ in which the legend is central to MacDonald’s tale of life, death and salvation. MacDonald was a Christian Universalist and explores the redemption of the character Lilith. He does so by creating a ‘parallel universe’ in which Mr. Vane steps from his library into a world where “dreamers sleep until the end of the world in death.” The tale involves a heroic quest and the waking of the sleepers.

Of course C. S. Lewis’s Narnia is also a parallel world and it seems quite plausible that MacDonald’s Lilith is an inspiration to Lewis. Indeed, the place in The Last Battle where ‘the good Telmarine’ is welcomed by Aslan might be inspired by the ideas of MacDonald. Lewis, no doubt, also wrestled with the nature of salvation. It seems contemporary Christian thinkers are much obsessed with ‘Limited Atonement’ as contrasted with the sentiment of 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

In a soon to be published piece I wrote for Lost Pen Magazine [click to read], I shall take up the problem of Susan’s ‘falling away’ as described in Lewis’s The Last Battle. Look for it on September 25.

Lilith, by George MacDonald

APOLLONIUS, Chapter Five

Volume XIII, Issue VIII: Special Book Section

Apollonius
By Bob Kirchman
Copyright © 2017, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved

Chapter 5: Sarah Cohen Ben-Gurion

Certain springs are tapped only when we are alone. The artist knows he must be alone to create; the writer, to work out his thoughts; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray [and] women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves.” -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

In fact, Sarah Cohen was no stranger to the business of jumping into new worlds. As a girl she was always looking for new adventure. She crawled at six months and never stopped after that. She played for hours in the woods behind her house and most of her playmates were boys. Summertime allowed day-long adventures with them. At night, she was drawn to read Narnia, Tolkien and J. K. Rowling. She took up horseback riding and scared the wits out of her dear mother, it is said. For Sarah, the collaboration of man and beast opened up new worlds of speed and sensation. Once she’d learned to gallop a horse, she only stopped in kindness to the animal.

Her girlhood in suburban New Jersey probably wouldn’t count as being all that extraordinary. It was those quiet lazy afternoons in the Summer woods that fueled her imagination. Camping out in the Pine Barrens with her family and in the wild mountains of Western North Carolina, she was first drawn to the stars. One exceptionally clear night she lay in the open on a mountain roan as the rest of her family slept soundly and looked up at the Milky Way. “How many stars are out there?” She mused. “What wonders lie out there that I cannot see?”

Then came the day she announced to her surprised family that she was going to Israel. She was going to serve in the IDF! Well, somehow along the way she took a test for pilot skills, aced it, and the rest is history. No doubts her confidence as an aviator was first forged on the back of a strong horse! She flew F-17’s and that is how she came under the command of her husband when she joined his squadron.

The Alaska Space Program opened up the possibility of a childhood fantasy coming true for both her and her husband, as they both admired the American astronauts of the nineteen-sixties and the seventies who had taken man to the moon. Sarah also admired Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who, together with her husband, had pioneered the establishment of air service around the world. Anne and Charles had in fact flown together in a relationship very similar to hers and Abiyah’s. Anne married Charles in 1929 and got her glider pilot’s license a year later. She served as Lindbergh’s navigatior, radio operator and copilot as the famous aviator worked to lay out the routes for modern air travel. Their travels together took them to Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.

A true Renaissance person, Anne Lindbergh became a writer as well. Inspired by Anne's stories, Sarah kept a detailed diary of life aboard the Great Northern and in her spare moments took thousands of photographs as she planned to create a permanent record of their own historic adventure. She shuddered at the thought of the terrible kidnapping of Anne’s first child and wondered how she and Abiyah might drop out of the public eye and find some anonymity when they had their own children. Sarah Cohen was a dreamer, a visionary, and she was driven on in her present task by the knowledge that most of all one must give their children dreams and vision.
(to be continued)

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
[click to read ]
Copyright © 2020, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved


Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh traveled the world in airplanes such as this as they charted the routes for intercontinental air service. She acted as his copilot, radio operator and navigator.

Dr. Vivian Theodore Thomas, Surgical Pioneer

Volume XIX, Issue Va: Pioneering Life Saving Techniques

Dr. Vivien Theodore Thomas

Breaking Barriers in Surgery and Opportunity

A Milestone Monday Feature:

Dr. Vivien Theodore Thomas was born on August 29, 1910 in New Iberia, Louisiana. He was the grandson of slaves but completed high school in Nashville Tennessee. He dreamed of continuing his education and becoming a doctor but the Great Depression in 1929 dashed his hopes for higher education.

Thomas had found a job at Fisk University as a carpenter for their maintenance department. He worked through the Summer of 1929 but was laid off in October of that year following the stock market crash. This put his educational plans on hold and eventually he found work as a laboratory assistant with Dr. Alfred Blalock at Vanderbilt University.
 
The original job description was caring for the dogs being used for surgical experiments. Thomas fed the animals and cleaned their cages. Dr. Blalock took notice of the young Thomas, discovering that he possessed keen hand-eye coordination, a sharp intellect and the ability to think on his feet to solve problems. No doubt, Thomas' carpentry skills and training came in to play here.
 
Blalock began using Thomas as a technical assistant, having him perform much of the actual work in developing new surgical techniques. Through the 1930's Blalock pushed on into new frontiers in vascular and cardiac surgery. Thomas did essential work in perfecting the surgical procedures. This pioneer work made Blalock one of the leading surgeons of his time.
 
In 1940 Blalock was offered the position of Chief of Surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. He requested that Thomas be hired with him. Their 34 year partnership would continue to push the barriers in surgical technique. Their work would eventually lead to learning how to correct the heart defects that caused blue baby syndrome, Their work on crush syndrome led to understanding that would save the lives of thousands of soldiers in World War II.
 
Baltimore society was even more segregated than Nashville and Johns Hopkins only hired African Americans in their houskeeping department. Thomas was put on the payroll as a janitor but worked alongside Blalock in surgery. He turned a few heads walking the halls in his labcoat. Here many wonder that Blalock so valued Thomas professionally but allowed him to be distanced socially. Both men, it must be remembered, where men raised in the old Southern society. The separation was highly codified in a city like Baltimore [I still have a map of the city from my youth that matter-of-fact labels the white and colored swimming pools in Druid Hill Park]. The recognition of merit over race and the mens' friendship was enough to remove the most insurmountable of barriers.
 
Blalock didn't object to Thomas initially being 'assigned' to housekeeping but by 1946 he had negotiated his status as the highest paid lab assistant at Hopkins.
 
Watching Thomas perform an intricate surgical procedure, Blalock remarked "That looks like something the Lord made." Thomas was able to perform complex surgeries with such efficiency of motion that the students said that he made them look effortless. When a young surgeon in training moved in too close to observe, he might unknowingly step into a spot next to Blalock, who would tersely remind him: "Only Vivian is to stand there!"

In 1976 Johns Hopkins presented Thomas with an honorary doctorate and appointed him an instructor of surgery, acknowledging the work he had already been performing for decades.

APOLLONIUS, Chapter Four

Volume XIX, Issue VII: Special Book Section

Apollonius
By Bob Kirchman
Copyright © 2017, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved

Chapter 4: Apollonius Takes Charge

In the endless light of the midnight sun the supplying of Great Northern from linear induction shuttles proceeded round the clock. Soon the voyage would begin. Cohen and Ben Gurion shuttled down to meet with Zimmerman. A plan was laid out for command of the Great Northern and oversight of the colonists on board. Once shuttled to the Martian surface, the colony would be administered by the Alaska Autonimous Republic and Israel, but there would be no official presence of either nation there. Because AAR/Israel operated the only ship capable of supplying the colony, this would be enforceable from Earth. Should the colony divert from the agreed upon mission and somehow challenge this chain of command, supply by Great Northern could be suspended. If, as Apollonius had hinted, there were great resources to be found beneath the planet’s surface, the mining off them might finance additional long-distance ships and allow for annual and then twice-yearly visits and departures. George Apollonius might have detested the added oversight over the mission but he was gracious as he nodded to it. Soon the craft would be underway and he would be pretty much in charge of everything anyway. The crew would be busied by the operation of the ship and the colonists would be under his leadership as they traveled outward. Finally, Apollonius came aboard on the last Earth shuttle. He and 29 colonists made up the passenger manifest as the Zimmerman Organization had exercised no hesitation in disqualifying those it felt it needed to. That number could be shuttled down to the Martian surface in the ten Mars shuttles she carried. These craft would remain on the planet. Should an emergency force evacuation of the planet, all the colonists could take off in these craft and with emergency rationing in place, make it back to Earth orbit if need be. Future missions would add more ‘lifeboat’ craft to the colony.

George Apollonius took up residence in the VIP suite, the only quarters that came close to being spacious on the craft. The other 29 colonists were still crowded, though there were empty bunks. The chief surgeon and the engineers for the colony had slightly larger quarters but the cramped nature of the compartments brought to mind ocean voyages in sailing ships. The nine crewmen who would remain on Great Northern had slightly larger cabins than the higher ranking colonists. Due to the staggering of hours on duty, each crew member occupied a single cabin but because all but one were married, the couples enjoyed the luxury of a two-room suite apiece. There were ten crew cabins and a wardroom where the crew would take their meals, watch movies, read and enjoy large-screen Skype conversation with family and friends on Earth. Exercise could be had on some equipment there as well and all of the crew used the gravity ring as a sort of perpetual track for running. Apollonius rarely left his cabin. He was the oldest person on board but the colonists knew that he would be governor of the new settlement and pretty much deferred to his commands.

The settlers were a rather raggedy lot, some prisoners taking up the offer of land and a future in a new world, some were adventure seekers who possessed skills needed for the venture. Others seemed to be of a quiet mysterious sort. They had skills, of course, but they seemed to fit some profile set by Apollonius himself. The selection process in the end rather resembled final jury selection for a drug trial. Zimmerman and Apollonius faced off like prosecution attorney and defense attorney and took turns questioning the final pool of applicants. Elizabeth O’Malley and Hannah were always at Rupert’s side. He requested that, knowing that in the combined pool of their insight he probably would have not agreed so readily to the mission in the first place. In the name of ‘diversity’ or in claims of potential ineptitude, team Zimmerman was able to reduce substantially the number of people suspected of being Apollonius stooges. Still, in the end there was a small group that they noted Cohen and Ben Gurion should watch closely. Twenty-nine men and women and Apollonius would initially man the Mars station. Though they could have sent fifty cramped in the initial voyage, it was remembered that the Great Lake freighters could be operated quite smoothly with a crew of thirty or less. Crewmen would perform varied functions as needed and could be trained to do other functions en route. When cabin fever rose to a head, a crew this size could blow off steam with a few fights and life would settle down again. Full-blown mutiny was unlikely.

Zimmerman and Ben Gurion did not fail to consider the possibility, however, that Apollonius might have some reason in his mind to take over the ship. He was a smooth persuader as he had been on Earth, using his fortune to influence the leadership of the world. It was clear to everyone that this was ‘his’ colony on Mars. The Federalism of AAR and Israel would not quibble with that. All of the colonists were duly warned/informed of this. Apollonius’s Billions were funding the venture so essentially the creepy old billionaire was ‘buying’ the first house on Mars. The Zimmermans doubted it would ever become a colony of 40,000 souls, however, and Cohen and Ben Gurion would still have the honor of first setting foot on the Martian surface. They would lay no claim, rather the colony would be like the bases of exploration in Antarctica… operated by their respective countries but on soil that was considered open to all mankind. Research would be done, resources would be sought. It was like the beginning of a new Century of exploration but the reality was that Sixteenth Century explorers had found ready access to the new world’s treasure. Mars would not likely offer such opportunities. Cohen and Ben Gurion, once they had established that it was safe, would return to Great Northern and the colonists themselves, who would train en route, would monitor their one-way descent to the ‘new colony.’

Abiyah told Sarah that she should go down the ladder first and be like Neil Armstrong in the history books. “It’s not likely you’ll meet a bear or anything down there, and you’ll have one whale of a story to tell the grandkids someday!”

You are too modest, Abiyah!” She responded, recounting many of the heroic man’s past achievements and victories.

Yes, but in the realm of great exploits,” Ben Gurion continued, “You need to catch up with me.”

Alright then, we’ll jump down together.” Sarah said dreamily. “That would be so romantic. History would say we touched a new world together, husband and wife!”

If I don’t push you first!”
(to be continued)

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
[click to read ]
Copyright © 2020, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved