Father and Bride

Life Going A-Rye? Eat Bread.

Today, I received an email from the University of Nebraska Medical Center that I will not be offered an interview for PA school. This past Friday Des Moines University and University of South Dakota said no as well. Denver was way ahead of the band wagon and turned me down a couple weeks ago. As I plop down into a puddle of self-pity, I look up once again to see that handgun pointing between my eyes and some desperate (or greedy) Guatemalan asking for my mochila. There are bigger problems in the world than me not making it into PA school and a myriad of blessings that are even bigger still.

Isn’t it more often the case that we choose to wear blinders as we walk the road of despair? We, like Naomi, will call ourselves empty even as a dedicated companion walks the road with us. In all reality, I have never really had it bad. Yes, there are times when we may feel our heart fall through our chest and rupture like a water balloon on the floor. Even in those times, to ask “why God lets bad things happen to good people” would still be inappropriate. In the movie, The Shawshank Redemption, Andy Dufresne is convicted of murdering his wife and is sentenced to life in prison as punishment. During his time in Shawshank, Andy says that “whatever mistakes he has made, he has paid for and then some”. By our sense of justice, he may be right, but by our debt of sin to God, that will never be the case. We really are like one who has committed murder and has been pardoned from prison or lethal injection. More than not being punished as we deserved, we also have been given more than we deserve. It is like we have been given pardon for murdering several people, and then given a free car to drive and a house to live in. The only person who got worse than he deserved was Christ. Perhaps he would be like one of the EMS personal who came to the shooting where we murdered several people, but he saved the life of two children who were only injured by our rampage. After saving their lives, he was immediately put in cuffs and, merely weeks later, was executed. The amazing thing is that he did it all in complete willingness (Isa 50:6, Mt 26:39). So what reason do I REALLY have for being grumpy at God for not letting me into PA school?

Perspective Trick

I know your impressed, that is a huge sunflower. What would you guesstimate the height to be? 15 ft? It is actually about 10 ft. Maybe it doesn't actually look any bit extra tall to you, but it shows a very handy perspective trick that can be used to either mislead or emphasize a trait of the subject in the shot. And no, I was not trying to make my wife look short. If you want to make something look extra tall simply get closer to the ground, preferably closer to the subject, so that you will be shooting at a steeper angle to the object in focus. Even more effective is to place a object of known size, like your spouse, in front of the subject, close to the camera, to give a reference as to how much taller the subject is than them. This can be extra effective is one uses a wider angle lens with a larger aperture, so as to make the top of the tall subject slightly out of focus, as if infinity wasn't enough to grasp the height of your looming sunflower. Hunters and fishers use this trick all the time. Next time you get a Cabela's catalog or your facebook friend catches a "monster" check out their body in relation to the monster they just slayed. 9 times out of 10 the beast will be close to the camera and they will be holding it away from their body to make themselves look smaller behind it. So, if you can't catch a whopper with your lure, catch it with your camera instead. Happy deceiving!

The Eyes Have It

I love her.

Cover Your Ears

This is the third time now that I have deleted this blog and rewritten it. Why? Because I am no Jim Schaap, who is both an inspirational photographer and writer to me. Photography was something that comes a lot easier to me that writing. Why? Because God blessed me with two eyes for seeing and one fascination for His creation. That is in essence why I do photography, is to try give a window to view the world as an intriguing place that will lead a sibling in Christ to glorify their creator and a stirring in the unbeliever to make them question their existence (Rom 1:20). Even though I am grateful for having an interest in various facets of creation, my curiosities and ease in being entertained is nothing compared to that of my niece. I am pretty sure that she could have broken crystal as she ran in circles from the tetherball of doom relentlessly following her around her every left turn. How is it that a two year old can joyfully run a 10k without leaving the confines of the kitchen, while we "mature" adults stretch our jaws before the plasma at 10/9 central? What kind of progress is that? Jesus said that His Kingdom belonged to the children (Matt 19:14) and that we are to have faith as they do (Matt 18:3). At this point I could just try to wrap this up in some nice finalizing statement about having simple faith like a child and what that means and yada yada yada, but then all you would do is just feel warm and fuzzy or bored and fuzzy and I would have wasted a half an hour typing. So, read the Bible for yourself. Take a lesson from a joyful screaming child and learn a bit what being mature as a believer is really about.

Eager for Life!

Remedy Drive

This past weekend my fiance and I saw Remedy Drive in concert and they were fantastic! The band members have a ton of energy on stage and put on a sweet performance. The thing that most impressed me most though was the way that they acted off stage. Unfortunately, I have heard of many "Christian" bands that once they are off the stage they are arrogant, unkind and do not have the time of day for fans or staff that is helping with the event. On the other hand, the band members of Remedy drive all took the time to come by and thank us for the help we were giving at the merchandise table and the lead singer spend a half hour chatting with us about theology and aliens. If you have never listened to Remedy Drive before, check out the "Daylight is Coming" album. It has a lot of great songs on it, because of both the lyrics and music. They definitely do not fall into the category of a 7/11 band (bands that sing 7 words 11 times) or a band that sings half truths to make the Gospel seem more appealing, which has become far too common of the mainstream Christian music world.

George

George is a brother in Christ that lives near the Ngong hills of Kenya. He lives a life that he would probably call "very sweet". Every morning that my intern group spent in Kenya, he would greet us with a big smile that stuck out as a wonderfully sharp contrast to his dark Kikuyu skin. What reason did he have not to smile? He earned a handsome $10 a day and had a great group of mzungu to laugh at. More importantly I think he knew the importance of a community. Or, shall we say that community was ingrained in him deeply and he knew no different. He had a mindset to not consider himself first, but rather his brothers and sisters in Christ. He was truly confounded when we tried to explain the individualistic and capitalistic mentality that, as far as I can figure it, has been the product (or cause) our country being so successful...at least financially. I will admit that I enjoy the privilege and blessing of having the finances available to have the camera that took this picture, or the laptop to type this blog, or the car to drive to my fiance's apartment, which is less than a mile from my house. However, we have lost something in this our First World culture and I would like to get it back. Except, maybe the only way to get it back is to give something up?

Reflection

True Focus

Push

K 26

Face Wash

What Are You Waiting For?

Flame Thrower

It is amazing what just a little flower can do

Mother and Child

Ella

Smoke Rings

Coulees

Oak Grove Pond