Martyrdom of St. Stephen

54 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; 56 and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ 57

But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears, and they rushed upon him with one impulse. 58 And when they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him, and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And having said this, he fell asleep.

(Acts 7:54–7:59)

Sketch Swap

A couple weeks ago my long time buddy Jason Blaising asked if I could send him a sketch for him to digitally paint. I sent him the following sketch and the above is what he came up with. Totally rocked it. Good work Jason! (I still remember the first time I met Jason at Azar's when I was a sophomore in HS, I was trying to hornswaggle his copy of Uncanny X-Men 201)



Thanks to everyone who ordered one of my art books the other day. For those interested, I've still got some left. Just $5 + $3 shipping. Buy one on my website here.

Limited Time Only! Special Deal on my Book!

Hey everybody,
Special deal on my big fat book of drawings right now!

My latest shipment had a small printing error (the halftone screen on one title page- you probably won't even notice it) but because of the awesome customer service at 360 Digital Printing, they graciously agreed to reprint them. In the meanwhile I've got a box of books I need to get rid of.

Normal price is $10 + shipping, right now it's $5.00 +$3.00 shipping (7% sales tax if you live in Indiana). Each comes signed with an original sketch.

So if you're interested, send me an email at Tim@TimBaron.com with the words "Tim's uber gnarly book deal" in the subject line.

Paypal preferred!

One page at a time

Still working on the graphic novel. Here's part of a page I stayed up way too late working on last night.

Very pleased on how it turned out though. The starfields were fun to do with spattering opaque white and all.

Why does he eat with tax collectors and "sinners"?

Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Mark 2:13-17 NIV

Need to eat some humble pie?

Then check out my friend Aaron Minier.

Aaron is a local guy who has...and IS doing work for Wildstorm /DC comics. If you've heard of the movie "Push," Aaron did several flashback pages within the prequel comic series which leads up to the movie. Though as I and others have commented, Wildstorm would have done well to have him draw the whole thing.

You can check his site out here.

Let Them Come to Him

Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

Luke18:15-17

Time and Beyond Time

A few weeks ago one of my children asked me a great question about God and time and if something or other were possible, and I wish for the life of me that I could remember what the questions was.

The idea of time and being outside of and transcending the time/space continuum is an idea that really captures my imagination. That's one reason I loved that new Star Trek movie (though I've never been a Trekky).

Anyways, this question, (whatever it was) brought this passage of Lewis to mind. It's one that's stuck in my mind since I first read Mere Christianity some 10 years ago (particularly the crashing plane example:

Almost certainly God is not in time. His life does not consist of moments following one another. If a million people are praying to Him at ten-thirty tonight, He need not listen to them all in that one little snippet which we call ten-thirty. Ten-thirty and every other moment from the beginning of the world —is always the Present for Him. If you like to put it that way, He has all eternity in which to listen to the split second of prayer put up by a pilot as his plane crashes in flames.

That is difficult, I know. Let me try to give something, not the same, but a bit like it. Suppose I am writing a novel. I write "Mary laid down her work; next moment came a knock at the door!" For Mary who has to live in the imaginary time of my story there is no interval between putting down the work and hearing the knock. But I, who am Mary's maker, do not live in that imaginary time at all. Between writing the first half of that sentence and the second, I might sit down for three hours and think steadily about Mary. I could think about Mary as if she were the only character in the book and for as long as I pleased, and the hours I spent in doing so would not appear in Mary's time (the time inside the story) at all.

This is not a perfect illustration of course. But it may give just a glimpse of what I believe to be the truth. God is not hurried along in the time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the word.

CS Lewis, Mere Christianity (from the chapter "Time and Beyond Time")

3 new Portraits

3 more, this time for an upcoming magazine publication.

Twas the Day Before Comic Con

I was reminded of one of my favorite CS Lewis quotes this morning as I am so freaking excited about Comic Con...

Most of us find it very difficult to want "Heaven" at all—except in so far as "Heaven" means meeting again our friends who have died.One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world. Another reason is that when the real want for Heaven is present in us, we do not recognize it. Most people, if they had really learned to look into their own hearts, would know that they do want, and want acutely, something that cannot be had in this world. There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.

The longings which arise in us when we first fall in love, or first think of some foreign country, or first take up some subject that excites us, are longings which no marriage, no travel, no learning, can really satisfy. I am not now speaking of what would ordinarily called successful marriages, or holidays, or learned careers. I am speaking of the best possible ones. There was something we grasped at, in that first moment of longing, which fades away in the reality. I think everyone knows what I mean.

The Christian says, "creatures are no born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist." A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex.

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.

If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same.

CS Lewis, Mere Christianity (From the Chapter on Hope)

Babies and Pets