My wife, Linda, and I got started sketching the heavens when she was in treatment for another cancer many years ago. We were far from home and in an RV in late winter outside the Dallas-Ft Worth area. Chemo is no fun, and she wanted to do something besides just live through the treatment. I started setting up a telescope with an astro video camera then ran the video signal inside the RV, where she could sketch the object of interest with me. Every occurrence of the disease, we have purposed to do something or strike out in a direction. In essence, inside her is a heart of faith in Jesus Christ, so she sets her face to be of use or do something….not just sit. Even now, with the onslaught of chemo days away, she calculates what she might do and does what she can. Tomorrow she visits an ailing friend to encourage her. The two days following she will be sorting some things–some of which will be sent to the Philippines to help children and some to a little Ugandan village. These actions are “setting your face to the heavens” … a deliberate orientation of thought and action that is defined by something far beyond what disease can touch.
The sketch below reminds me of her ability to see a situation and capture something from it. My moon rise sketch at the same occasion was plain, but she captures the color and the movement of clouds past the disc in an impressionistic style that I cannot duplicate. And, you can follow a story with pictures and sketches that we posted just a few weeks ago before we knew we would be dealing with cancer again. The words and points remain true, regardless of the change in our circumstances. Follow this link to see it: http://christworksministries.org/inspiration_20_year_walk
Her sketch of the moon rise on the Blue Ridge Mountains:
