I am still going through all the different shots from last weekend but pulled this shot out of my Father-in-Law that I just love. I hadn’t seen a news paper in so long that I had to pull out my camera. I love the mix of old and new this shot portrays. To [...]]]>

I am still going through all the different shots from last weekend but pulled this shot out of my Father-in-Law that I just love. I hadn’t seen a news paper in so long that I had to pull out my camera. I love the mix of old and new this shot portrays. To see more shots from the weekend you can go to the Flickr gallery or you can see Deborah’s blog post as well. I will be adding more to my Flickr gallery as I can get them sorted out, but today the photo of the day is my Father-in-Law David reading the newspaper.

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I have been trying to think of something intelligent to say about the earthquake in Japan but seeing the news and the pictures coming out of that country just leaves a person almost speechless. It’s different than Haiti of course, and you don’t see “text to donate” messages being flashed all [...]]]>

I have been trying to think of something intelligent to say about the earthquake in Japan but seeing the news and the pictures coming out of that country just leaves a person almost speechless. It’s different than Haiti of course, and you don’t see “text to donate” messages being flashed all over the place (why I’m not sure), you barely see the donate to the Red Cross for that matter.

Since our news cycles seem to rotate in and out so fast today, the coverage of the Japan earthquake will soon diminish to nothing but another historical fact, and they will move on to who’s winning the NCAA March Madness tournament or something else newsworthy like Lawmakers Pitch Gov’t Takeover of Driving Age (FNC) or The moments that make us fat (CNN), both of which were on the front page as of this writing.

But for the time being, news, for the most part, is still coming fast and furious from Japan. What the earthquake did do was, along with many other stories, bring awareness to the evangelical movement in Japan. A recent article from a magazine out of Korea called Konnect, titled A Personal Message from Dr. Michael Oh: The Everyday Tragedy of Japan gives some sobering statistics and offers a Christian perspective of the current events.

Japan is the largest unreached nation in the world. In Japan they are reporting upwards of 1100 dead so far. Again, it is very possible that that number will multiply 10 fold. But every 11 days an equal number of Japanese (1100) take their own lives. In hopelessness they turn to suicide. Every day is a tragedy in Japan for those without Christ.

Honestly I really had no idea the Japanese people were one of the most unreached developed nations in the world, no did I know they dealt with such a horrible suicide rate. Perhaps it’s because the source is out of Korea where the evangelical Christ movement is extremely different than here in the United States, perhaps we in this country are too involved with the four walls of our own country to notice, or both. According to Operation World on Japan, there are about 2 million Christians among a population of almost 127 million people.

If nothing else turns your heart towards the people of Japan it would be the photography coming out of the earthquake. Some of the photos are so incredible it’s just hard to comprehend from a vantage point of Auburn Alabama. The shot at the top was provided by GeoEye showing an area of Natori, Japan on April 4, 2010, left, and March 12, 2011. (GeoEye/Associated Press) I like the photo coverage from the Boston Globe on their blog called “The Big Picture“, which is sort of a pool from many photographers.

For some of the shots on the earthquake see: Japan: New fears as the tragedy deepens, Japan: Vast devastation, Japan: earthquake aftermath, and Massive earthquake hits Japan.

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Of course this is utter ridiculousness, but, that severely flawed logic seems to be what is prevailing in our culture today. This topic, which I usually just tend to leave alone, is overpowering the news, blogs, and culture lately (and is certainly nothing new under the sun, gay’s have been trying to justify their [...]]]>

Of course this is utter ridiculousness, but, that severely flawed logic seems to be what is prevailing in our culture today. This topic, which I usually just tend to leave alone, is overpowering the news, blogs, and culture lately (and is certainly nothing new under the sun, gay’s have been trying to justify their actions for millennia, see Why is Being Gay a Sin? for a civil discussion, Does Romans 1:26 Condemn Lesbians? for the absurd justification, and then an honest “Christian Perspective”, not forgetting to throw in Anne Rice who recently “quit” Christianity on Facebook [comments in pdf,] with Mark Driscoll’s response for the Washington Post, because she didn’t want to be “anti-gay anymore”, and the countless trash talk about Proposition 8 in California).

With Proposition 8 being overturned by the California courts, this seems destined for the Supreme Court (where they probably don’t want to deal with it either). The Boston Globe did a huge photo spread called Same Sex Marriage about a week ago and the responses to that article show why this, unfortunately, is THE topic of our day for Christians and the church.  This discussion really wasn’t intended to launch into whether being gay is a sin or not, but to show the absurd arguments on both sides, which lack any careful thought.

This comment below is typical when reading trash talk on the news sites, and was made by someone who used the title “I Feel Drawn Towards Christianity, But I’m Gay”, which then received very complimentary responses, with little question for the lifestyle itself, or with sound argument for or against Christians and the homosexual lifestyle, and what scripture has to say about it’s effects and consequences.

I was surprised in a few ways, one by how openly acceptable the Christian responses were to this person.  Not that they were accepting of the person, that’s great, but accepting of all aspects of the persons lifestyle, with not much need for contemplation (although some did suggest the person generically seek God’s direction). The other surprise was how utterly weak the reasoning and arguments were that were used on both sides.

I am certainly no expert on this topic whatsoever, and there are many who can soundly argue, on both sides, but those seem to be few and far between.  No gay person I talk to (and many Christians for that matter) can give a sound theological argument, backed and based on scripture (since this person “feels drawn to Christianity”).  The majority of the arguments put forth are emotional arguments, which are impossible to argue against in a rational manner.  This is the argument that was given in this particular case:

The Bible also condemns divorce, the eating of pork and shrimp, and says that men shouldn’t sit on the same chairs as women who are menstruating.

The argument seems to lack even a surface level study of scripture, but most Christians responded with nothing other than an emotional response.  As with much of Scripture in our culture today, these verses are taken so much out of context for the use of the argument for a homosexual lifestyle I am surprised they were made? I am not being mean or hateful in spirit here, but seriously, if you are gay, this is your argument?

• The Bible condemns the eating of pork.
• We eat pork today.
• Therefore, homosexuality is ok in the sight of the Lord.

There are so many things that could be addressed but at the basic level, in Mark 7:18-19 Jesus declared all foods to be clean, he didn’t declare all forms of sex to be clean. A better argument that perhaps shows a little more clearly why scripture says that the homosexual lifestyle is sinful in God’s eyes (and there are many things that are actually still seen as sinful in God’s eyes today, besides homosexuality), would be:

Point 1 on Sin:

• The Bible says sin is detestable in God’s eye’s.
• Therefore any continuous sinful act is not honoring to God.

Point 2 on Marriage:

• The Bible defines sex outside of marriage as sin.
• The Bible defines marriage as a monogamous union between a man and a woman.
• Therefore any nonrepentant sexual relationship of any kind outside marriage is sin in God’s eyes.
• Therefore a nonrepentant homosexual lifestyle is sin.
• Therefore a nonrepentant adulterous relationship is sin.
• Therefore any sexual relationship before marriage is sin.

I rarely see those “hateful” Christians everyone seems to refer to today that will acknowledge that the last three are equally sin, and equally condemned by scripture, but, that doesn’t mean that either is less or more acceptable to God as a way to live that honor’s God. I do not say that in a hateful manner but in an examination of scripture.  I also recognize that many, or most, “gay Christians” will take issues with my argument above and defend it away in some manner.  The statements above are all based on scripture and can all be backed theologically with sound argument.

Our culture as a whole is continually refusing to see objective truths in the Bible today. Whether we like to ignore them in our day or not, they still exist, there are still things that God says are good, and those things God says are bad, we just seem to have so much knowledge in everything that we have no knowledge in the actual truth anymore.

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I spend a good bit of my day running around on [...]]]> This is the last and final, part 3 of this particular topic.  If you missed the previous two posts, check them out at part 1 and part 2.

The Church: A Response to a Bad Economy?

I spend a good bit of my day running around on the Internet, and many places I stop are with people of faith, churches, organizations and groups trying to raise funds, in a “bad economy”.  There are usually two responses.  One (to me) Biblical, and one not.  One based on fear, the other based on belief.  One worried about their 401k balance, the other excited to see a time when the need for the church among the un-churched is growing.

Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

What happened just after September 11th 2001?  People ran to the church.  Some because they were scared, some because they didn’t know where else to turn, some came back after a long time away, but the number of people attending church (doesn’t mean it was meaningful by the way) went up dramatically.  What makes hitting people where it really counts (in their 401k’s) any different as far as possibilities within the church to help others?

I took this photo below at “Ground Zero” a few months after the terrorist attacks on New York city.  They still had not torn down the last few damaged buildings that are outside the photo here, and this “cross” was still standing as well.  It was incredible to me to see a cross, carved out of mangled steel, standing above all the mess that was ground zero.  It was an unreal time of horror, terror, and despair in our country, and yet, Jesus didn’t change, the world did.

My church at the time in 2001 (a 35,000 member church) was trying to decide if they should start a $40 million building campaign in the middle of the 911 economic turmoil.  They decided to follow God and not the economy and great things were done.  Why should the church back down when times are bad?  Be responsible yes, but fearful????

People are scared, people are fearful.  Why?  Uncertainty.  If we are Believers… why are we living in fear and uncertainty?  Because we can’t buy the normal $500-$1000 of Christmas presents this year?  We have the most certain thing in the world.  A risen Savior.

If you like the cross as a symbol you need to drive out I-40, past Amarillo, past Oklahoma City, and look at one of the largest crosses I have personally ever seen (first photo above).  It is a magnificant symbol right on the interstate for all to see.  We should be like this cross on I-40 in Oklahoma.  Big, bold, tall, ready to reach out and help those who are hurting and searching.  We should be excited to be in these “times”, they are new times of new opportunities.  As the Church, let’s not watch this opportunity pass us by and wonder why we didn’t make use of this special time in our history.

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Sometimes it really amazes me who is called a photographer and who isn’t. Photography takes on many many forms from journalist to fine artist and everything in between.  When one photographer is able to garner the spotlight of the news for political purposes, such as what Jill Greenberg has [...]]]>

Sometimes it really amazes me who is called a photographer and who isn’t. Photography takes on many many forms from journalist to fine artist and everything in between.  When one photographer is able to garner the spotlight of the news for political purposes, such as what Jill Greenberg has done this week with her photo shoot with John McCain, purposely misleading her client, has done harm to the profession of photography for all photographers.

Outside of that, for someone to manipulate an image to the extent that Jill Greenberg has done, takes photography out of the work and inserts something else.  One person put it on the news last night, what Jill Greeberg has done is political pornography, which is an insult to pornographers.  I was so disgusted by the images she posted on her website and that were shown on Fox News and CNN that I don’t know how anyone can call her a photographer.  In the end, at least the Atlantic Monthly has apologized for her representing their magazine, but they shouldn’t have to do that, a photographer should work in a professional manner, no matter what the subject.

The editor of The Atlantic Monthly said Monday he is sending a letter of apology to John McCain after a woman the magazine hired to photograph the Republican presidential nominee posted manipulated pictures from the photo shoot on her Web site. Photographer Jill Greenberg, who is vehemently anti-Republican and expressed glee that the photos would stir up conservative ire, took pictures of McCain for the cover of The Atlantic’s October issue.

Did anyone even notice that this woman is Canadian?  There seem to be so many non-U.S. citizens that seem to want to influence the election, and these are the tactics I guess are needed to do just what she has done, but she has done a true dis-service to all photographers at this point. If you look at it from a blogging perspective or google, she has accomplished exactly what she wanted… to create a fire storm of media attention (and bloggers, see Jill Greenberg Is Not Afraid To Dump All Her Clients At Once, Low blow, The Atlantic should have Googled Jill Greenberg before hiring her, and Fallout From Jill Greenberg’s McCain Images just to name a few) to her disgusting manipulations of the photography profession.

What new mountains of paper work will form from her stunt that will have to be signed, released, political backgrounds checked and so on.  Most photographers I have met would never behave in this manner at all, and I am glad she doesn’t represent me or any photographers that I know.  So that is my rant on the business of photography.  I have yet to find someone on either side of the political isle that is willing to defend her actions, I hope none arise.

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It is amazing how fast time goes by.  It is hard to believe that today is the 7th anniversary of September 11, 2001.  It was of course one of those days when we will all remember where we were, what we were doing, and looking back today at what happened on the news, [...]]]>

It is amazing how fast time goes by.  It is hard to believe that today is the 7th anniversary of September 11, 2001.  It was of course one of those days when we will all remember where we were, what we were doing, and looking back today at what happened on the news, as always happens on each September 11, I was just thinking back to what my wife and I were doing that day, and what was going on in our lives, and what has changed.

A few days before 9-11 we were in Texas, on our way to a convention in Pennsylvania.  We often traveled with David and Georgia (Deborah’s parents) or met them in different campgrounds across the country going to or from a convention.  They would drive their motorhome out to the show where ever it was and help us setup, work the show, and break down afterward.  Here, we met them at a campground in Texas.

On the morning of September 11, 2001 Deborah and I woke up in a Walmart parking lot in Pennsylvania in our RV where we had spent the night.  We were on our way to Philadelphia and stayed, as we normally did, in a Walmart parking lot just a little outside Philadelphia.  As vendors, this was a convention we did each year but in years to follow would become less and less important because of the date (which sometimes fell exactly on 9-11) until the owners of the show finally moved it far away from 9-11.

I took these two photos of the news while watching the coverage from the back of our RV.  What is interesting to me is, if you look just to the right of the TV, we had already hung an American flag in the window of our RV (and these were huge greyhound bus windows), much like many American’s did at their houses.  We were living in the bus at the time, this was our home and we drove around the country for at least another year or more with that flag handing in the back window (one on each side).

I remember setting up for the show while running out to the motorhome every second I could to try and watch the news.  The show was a terrible one for the vendors as no one wanted to do anything in the way of shopping.  The restaurants in Philadelphia were closed when we would try to eat after the show each night, and we couldn’t wait to get out of there and on to the next city.

To the Grand Cayman Islands and Cayman Brac

It wasn’t but about two weeks later when we took our first plane flight out of the United States into the Cayman Islands.  This was a planned trip, planned months before 9-11 every happened.  We were going with Deborah’s parents, David and Georgia to a rented house on the small island of Cayman Brac.  I can remember every single one of us being very nervous about flying when we had never really be nervous before.  We had talked about canceling our trip, but decided we were going to do what we had planned on doing regardless.

I have very few photos of our trip down to the Cayman Islands.  I was not shooting with any larger format camera at the time and only had a very small (and free) 2mp digital camera from HP, given to me as a type of extra for buying a printer.  These were a few of the shots from that trip.  We sat many hours of that “vacation” inside watching the news coverage of the events at ground zero, it was one of the strangest trips I have taken, but we did enjoy each other’s company.

Now it is 7 years later and things are much different.  Time has a way of keeping thing moving.  I look at the photo above and remember by mother-in-law who is no longer with us.  In this photo she looks so alive and well, and Deborah and I both miss her.  The four of us in the photo above (counting me who is taking the photo) did so many things together back at that time.  We no longer have the business we had then, and part of it was the effect 9-11 had on the circuit of shows we were vending at for many years.

We now no longer have the bus pictured above that we lived in for more than 5 years.  We have different jobs, live in a different part of the country, have new and different friends, and of course are 7 years older.  One thing I love about blogging is the archives.  You can go back and see what you were doing and how things have changed in your life.  We started blogging in March of 2001, but have very few original posts from that time period, but it is interesting to see how we have grown and changed.

What were you doing on September the 11th, 2001?

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This is an update to a previous post about the tragic murder of Matthew Butler and Stephen Swan in Garland Texas back in June of this year.  If you are unfamiliar with the story please see my previous post Matthew [...]]]>

This is an update to a previous post about the tragic murder of Matthew Butler and Stephen Swan in Garland Texas back in June of this year.  If you are unfamiliar with the story please see my previous post Matthew Butler Killed at Zion Gate in Garland Texas about Matthew’s life and his wonderful testimony.  Back in June I came across this story while watching the news and was touched by what happened because, according to the news story and Matthew’s wife Jamie, Matthew was a strong Christian Believer, a musician, and a business owner of Zion Gates Records.  Those thing struck a nerve with me as I am all but a musician, but a big lover of music in general.

The post on my blog grew legs and soon many of Matthew’s friends and family, including Jamie and his mom Theresa had commented on the post.  This morning I received an email from Matthew’s mom, Theresa that I wanted to share with you about his memorial fund for his children.  Normally (I would guess) once a story hits national news you can a huge nation wide outpouring of support for the family, especially when the widow has small children as the Butler’s do, but the news story was so short lived that it never really had a chance to build any steam on a large national scale, so the Butler family held a charity golf tournament, are having a large rummage sale, and have setup a memorial fund at the bank in Texas.

All I wanted to do by this blog post is bring a little attention to their situation and possibly reach someone who might be able and willing to help their family in some way.  Below is the email from Theresa about the Matthew Butler Memorial Fund, I know his wife and kids appreciate any and all help they have and will receive.

The Matthew Butler Memorial Fund

The community support for Jamie and the kids has been amazing.  Matthew is gone from this earth but safe in his heavenly father’s loving arms.  Now, we must help raise up these babies, take care of Jamie and help her to continue the dream that Matthew had when he opened the doors to Zion Gate Records almost three years ago.  Many of you have said, “We will not let this dream that Matthew had turn into a nightmare.  We will not give the enemy that satisfaction!”

The golf tournament raised over $20k for the children.  Friends, family and even total strangers have also donated their money and time to help Jamie get the studio up and running.  A very sweet young lady from Matthew’s high school, Tammie, got together with some of her friends to have a garage sale to benefit Jamie and the kids.  Over the past few weeks, as people heard about it and wanted to donate their items, it’s grown into this huge RUMMAGE SALE which will be held at the Albertson’s parking lot on Lavon Highway in Garland (near 190).  If you would like to help, please bring your items to the sale on Saturday morning, September 20th before 7:00am.

Here is the link with map:  http://www.yellowbot.com/albertsons-food-pharmacy-garland-tx-2.html

There is also a memorial fund at Washington Mutual Bank – Matthew Butler Memorial Fund.  Donations may be made at any location.  Thanks to everyone for their prayers, love and support.  In His Grip, Theresa Butler

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Sarah Palin is currently undergoing a smear campaign on the Internet like I have never seen before.  It is really just incredible to see how sharp the attacks on Palin are and how baseless these smears are in real facts.  Is there a good reason for this?  Is the left, far left, democrats, [...]]]>

Sarah Palin is currently undergoing a smear campaign on the Internet like I have never seen before.  It is really just incredible to see how sharp the attacks on Palin are and how baseless these smears are in real facts.  Is there a good reason for this?  Is the left, far left, democrats, independents, people in general really that scared of this woman?

I will have to agree with a recent blog post I read (see Politics and… by Fluidity) that this all shows our divisions, but they can’t be expected to just go away with someone like Palin, she stands for something, she isn’t luke-warm.  I just hope Palin doesn’t read blogs like bloggers do.

Still, I have not seen any of the hatred being spewed out over Joe Biden, no one is just killing themselves to be the first to get nude photos of Obama or McCain only Palin of course since she is a woman.  Are these people disappointed that she is not some homely looking feminist woman that only wears a pants suit while telling everyone to just get along?  To these bloggers I say, you really don’t get it.  This is what middle America wants.  A smart woman that can buck the system, raise her children, have a moral basis, doesn’t look like some butch tree hugger, and can relate to the “regular” person who deals with life’s problems just like she does.  And while we may not all be a part of middle America, it encompasses a lot of people in this country.

Find the dirt, the naked photos, the illegitimate children, the affair, the miserable part of Palin’s life if it exists.  You know what, maybe it actually doesn’t?  People today are so quick at trying to pull out all the skeletons from the other person’s closet, who cares about the ones piled up in their own house.

A total and complete denial, disregard, ignorance of Matthew 7:2-4 when dealing with those in public view and even those who are not.  Yes, she should be ready for this, this is politics in America in 2008, but how much defamation of character, libel, slander, and vilification should one person expect to be able to handle?

Matthew7:2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

At least Obama yesterday came out and said to back off, that her family should be off limits as is the case with most candidates.  Blogs today can give any nut job a voice, which actually is great, that just means that I have the same freedom to post whatever I want on my own blog (of course I may be one of those nut jobs too).  I at least make an attempt to post verified facts, and if it is an opinion, I try to say so, or at least make it obvious.  The bloggers are on an all out smear campaign of Palin based in totally false statements and no basis of fact.  I hope people who read these “news” stories or blog posts realize that and try to look at her candidacy objectively for what it is, a down to earth person who is now knee deep in the dirt of politics, at least that is how I see it here on this blog.

The real funny thing to me is that all these people that keep posting all these terrible things about Sarah Palin are really just helping her cause and ultimately her campaign. The graph from Google Trends above is just the start (look at the bottom graph, flat line to a straight line up).  “They” are all talking about her.  Blogs, news, radio, tv, commercials, the coffee house, the water cooler, they are talking about her as the possible VP, and this just empowers her in today’s media.

Not totally the same thing but I can’t imagine people doing this to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis?  I understand she was not running for VP, but she was a woman in politics?  What about the two democratic woman that came before Palin?  I have respect for them just the same, but it doesn’t seem to go both ways on the Internet today. So if you want to empower her in the media, just keep talking about Palin.  I don’t see it helping Biden?  What do you think, how much slander should one politician have to handle? All of it I guess.

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