The Sketch.
This observation and sketch took about an hour, but it was a very long hour. It was difficult. The crater is well known and an obvious feature, but that did not make things any easier. This story is about what it took to pursue a sketch of this crater complex.
I have difficulty handling pencil on white paper when sketching the moon. I am much better using white pencil on black paper. Using black pencil on white paper as I did here, the three dimensional appearance of the surface is hard for me to see and draw. I have to pursue shapes and replicate shades of grey but deliberately ignore an overall impression of what is high or what is low. If I don’t, I have a hard time continuing. When I finish a sketch like this, I have to take a mental break, then go back to it to shade, or I cannot get the topography correct. This difficulty cannot be seen by looking at the sketch but I remember what I had to do to complete the drawing. In a sense, if I did not pursue the crater sketch with this kind of intense method, it would not turn out.
The Lesson.
In John 9 there is a detailed account that starts with Jesus healing a man who had been blind since birth. It is unusual for the Holy Spirit to provide such a lengthy section for one event, so when it happens it suggests an importance to the detail. One important part of the story is near the end. The healed man has been thrown out of the local synagogue for no good reason. The account switches back to Jesus as He hears what has happened. Jesus changes his direction and goes to find the man, who did not know Jesus because of the way the miracle occurred. When the two meet, Jesus identifies himself specifically, so the man knows who Jesus is. The healed man worships him.
The amazing part of the scene is that God pursues the man. In a sense, it is a deliberate pursuit or a definite pre-meditated effort on God’s part to find the man and make Himself known to him. You see: that is what God does with us if our hearts are toward Him. He pursues us and makes Himself known.
As I was looking at the sketch and what it took for me to painstakingly finish it, it is the pursuit of God in this Bible scene that I remembered. As he has taught me to pursue observing and sketching as best I can, He has now related the two pursuits for me as a reminder: He pursued me. And, He pursues any person that has a heart to know Him.
