Piano
By Carla Hekman

Harmonies mingle together,
Fingers fly freely,
Sounds flow smoothly.
Classical, Jazz, Love songs.
Chords, sharps, dotted half-notes.
Beauty.

Christmas Time  
By Carla Hekman

The sweet, enticing smell of freshly baked
cookies wafts gently from the kitchen
and I can hear my sister bustling about
as the timer goes off.

My little brother, cheeks as red as cherries
and eyes all a-glow, comes bursting
in the house after a long day of
sledding, making snow angels, and
building snow forts with his buddies.

My mother fixes him a mug of hot
chocolate made just the way he
likes it: luke-warm and piled high
with whipped cream.

I can almost see the tingling in his
fingers and toes as the warmth
of the drink floods through his childish frame.

Dad comes in from shoveling the driveway
and builds a fire in the fireplace.

We all cuddle up together to soak up
the warmth of companionship.

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For more information about how you can obtain a print in support of the Carla Hekman Scholarship Fund, contact Kathi Bates, Director of Development at Holland Christians Schools. (click on the picture to see a larger view)

The Carla Hekman Scholarship will be awarded annually to a student who desires to express Christian faith through art, literature or music composition. Awards will be made to students who are planning to continue their education beyond graduation from Holland Christian High School.

..............................................

She leaves us behind - her mom, Marybeth, sister Jill and brother Dan, but she will never leave our hearts.

Marybeth Hekman is an accomplished artist. Please visit Art by Marybeth to see some of her pieces.

Carla's Story
............................................

To know Carla Hekman was to love her. 

She was so full of life. With blond hair, brown eyes and a warm smile, she could charm anyone's heart. And she did so quite frequently. She was the oldest of three children, born on May 1, 1980.  

Carla grew in faith as she grew in stature. Through the influences of her family, her school and her involvement in church, she came to understand life as her Creator intended it to be understood. She expressed her faith publicly at age 14. She also expressed her faith by the way she lived. She was sweet by nature, and she was able to share her faith through kind actions, consistent encouragement of others, by studying the Bible and praying, and by standing up for her faith.

Carla had many interests. She loved to read. She enjoyed family vacations, holiday traditions, friends, and even school. She was an excellent student, and was looking forward to going to Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the fall to pursue her interests in creative writing, Spanish and art. She pursued a variety of special interests in high school. She enjoyed being part of the theater group and acted in three plays. She joined her Spanish classmates on a mission trip to Mexico during the spring break of her junior year. She was on the staff of the yearbook. She worked for two years at Blimpies Subs and Salads where she became a shift leader. She had several excellent friends with whom she spent some high quality time during the Christmas break just prior to her accident.

On January 9, 1998, Carla Hekman's life on earth came to an end. She was on her way to a dance at the high school when her car hit a patch of ice and slid into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The impact on the passenger side of her car caused fatal injuries to her head and neck. She died instantly. She was alone in the car. No one in the other vehicle was injured. Both cars were traveling well under the speed limit. All were wearing seat belts and no alcohol was involved. She was 17.   

By all human understanding, it was an accident.

Shortly after her death, we discovered a prayer journal that Carla kept at her bedside. The entries in the last few months of her life tell of the depth of her faith, the high value she placed on her family, and of her hopes and dreams for the future. She wrote with conviction and with simple elegance as she poured out her praise to her Creator. She expressed her desire to make a difference as she searched for God's will in her life. But perhaps her most moving entry was one found near the end. She wrote, 

"Thank you for being a friend to me as well as a teacher, a Savior and my God. I know I'm at a difficult point in my life and everything really confuses me right now, but I have nothing to fear because you are my walking buddy on the road of life. And if it gets too hard for me to go on alone, you will be there to carry me through it. Thank you Lord!"

The image of Carla and God as walking buddies inspired artist Joel Tanis to paint a series of watercolors in Carla's honor, commissioned by her classmates at Holland Christian. The primary painting entitled "The Lord is My Shepherd" has been made into a print that is available to students and others with the proceeds being applied to the Carla Hekman Scholarship Fund.

The scholarship has a simple purpose. It is designed to inspire and encourage young writers, artists and musicians to find uniquely powerful ways to express faith in God. It is also designed to bring that expression to life in ways that are compelling for those who don't yet share the faith that Carla embodied. It is to draw out the creativity of those who are not satisfied with traditional Christian forms of expressions, but who are driven to find ways to bring the truth about God's transforming power to those who are searching for it through literature, art and music. That is what Carla wanted to do.