Today we had a very last minute invite to St George Island, right across the bay from Apalachicola. This had to be our fastest trip ever down to the coast, no wait, second fastest… we once drove down to our Orange Beach marina for Thanksgiving in 2007 only to find out their wifi was not working and then made the 4-5 hour drive right back. We were there for about 60 minutes. This time we were down there for about 20 hours. It was plenty long enough to bake in the blasting heat, read another chapter in the Bonhoeffer biography (which is incredible), take a few pics for today’s Friday Feet, and make it back home.
Hard to believe how long it has been since Deb and I have been down to the gulf. We use to go down there about once a month but it’s been almost two years since we made the drive down there. I was instantly reminded why we use to go down there in December through February. The 100% humidity and 100*F weather going on right now was enough to make you run for cover.
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This is a continuation of my series, airports and a 50mm lens. Since I was in Europe this time I didn’t really get quite a much material as I normally do in a place like Atlanta. For one thing, once I get outside the United States shooting [photos] in an airport isn’t quite the same. The laws are different all over the world. I know what I can and can’t shoot in the U.S., and I can stand my ground in most cases in my own country. Not so much once I get outside the U.S., so this series changes a bit, to err on the side of caution.
Europe is usually ok about photographers as long as you aren’t obnoxious and you don’t look too suspicious but Entebbe is another story. I didn’t take hardly anything once we landed over there but on my next trip I know on the way back home there are a few things I would like to capture. I’ll see. In October I may be as tired as I was when we left in August, but EBB right now is about one single shot.
Here is a quick shoot of Amsterdam. There was a lot I didn’t get since our connection was so short, but next time I have a 5 hour connection so I should be able to improve upon this shoot. If you are wondering what’s the point… well, I actually consider this street photography, something I have really come to love over the years. Trying to capture a mood, or an expression, without someone standing in front of you going “smile” isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but sometimes it’s just more genuine. To me it shows a more realistic view of life. Everything in this (and all my 50mm airport series) is shot with one single focal length lens (obviously a 50mm), and to me, it tells a totally different story than the post from Atlanta 8 hours earlier told.
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So today was finally the day we have been leading up to since Ash Wednesday, more than 40 days ago, Easter Sunday. This is the great day on the Christian calendar where we celebrate Christ as the risen savior and Lord over all creation. It was an exhausting day, but a wonderful day filled full of Christ’s redeeming work. It is always a fantastic site to see so many people gathering together that perhaps normally wouldn’t even know each other except for the common bond of Jesus.
Easter Sunday is always an extremely busy day of course and today was no exception. But because Easter is one of those days on the calendar where many people come to church, perhaps out of a mental obligation to the date on the calendar (or any number of other reasons), it’s also a day where staff and volunteers in the church are on their game. Not out of sense of trying to paint a pretty picture of life, but out of an attempt to fulfill the great commission and point people towards the cross and away from themselves. I only wish many of them could have also shared in the days leading up to Easter as well since it is all part of the story of God’s work.
Our sunrise service for the first time in several years was almost completely covered by clouds, but it wasn’t freezing outside, which was nice. There was some sun as you can see from the shots below, but it didn’t really matter, the important part was the celebration. I hope this season of lent has been meaningful to you and your family. Below are some of the photos from this morning, you can see the full gallery of the whole weekend on the Holy Week 2011 gallery.
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This morning just when I opened my eyes this is what I saw above. My face just happens to face east right out a window, and this morning these low clouds turned into a beautiful sunrise. The colors fade so quickly but the brilliance produced in a matter of five minutes is just amazing. As I write this there are virtually no colors in the sky and the sun has retreated behind the thick clouds but what a great surprise to wake up and see the colors of a sunrise.
I was only able to take a few shots and by the time I got over to the pond (last photo) the colors were already just about gone, (time sequence of the shots was about 2-3 minutes). You can click on each photo to see a larger image, hope you enjoy them as much as I did when I ran out in the grass in my bare feet.
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Yesterday, as part of the 8PE series called the Mystical Elephant, we had a discussion on the mystery of miracles. Those unique times in history when God visibly entered into someone’s life, and changed it forever by seemingly breaking God’s own laws of nature. Many scholars and skeptics alike view the impossibility of miracles or absence of miracles in our 21st century world proof of a fallible Christianity. Many scholars who do believe the miracles of scripture believe it was a unique time in history that has since finished, is completed, like the canonization, not something that takes place today. Today, our miracles are trivial, they don’t need God, they happen ever day, on Twitter.
- Actually if i did great for other subjects, it’s like a miracle, cause i studied a wk before mye anyway 12 minutes ago via MobiTweet via SMS
- I actually got up on time today. It’s a miracle 18 minutes ago via TweetDeck
- It’s a miracle. Monday morning and I was wide awake at 5:30 am.about 2 hours ago via HootSuite
- In bed by 10, it’s a miracle!about 2 hours ago via TweetDeck
- IT’S A MIRACLE! You can actually lose weight by drinking cups of tea!!! about 3 hours ago via web
- As my 3-yr-old would say ‘it’s a miracle!’about 4 hours ago via Echofon
The list could go on and on, we all do it. The miracles of Moses in Exodus, or the disciples and Jesus in the New Testament were earth shattering, but they also didn’t happen every day, all the time, as a common occurrence. The subject of miracles is so broad, so huge, that it was necessary to narrow it down for a meaningful discussion yesterday, and the focus stayed on one single miracle, the resurrection.
After many proofs and logical arguments that explain the proofs behind the resurrection (not how God raised Jesus from the dead, but that God did raised Jesus from the dead) Brian we into two examples from a friend of his and I wanted to share one of them with you.
Mexico in the Summer of 1997
Kathryn, my wife, and I were in a village going from door to door sharing the message of Christ and His LOVE. Kathryn had a divine encounter with a young man on the street. This young man told Kathryn that His sister needed to know about this “Jesus” and would she please go talk to his sister. Kathryn asked him to please take him to his sister and they would talk.
As they walked the young man and Kathryn continued their conversation. Once they arrived at the house Kathryn began to speak with the sister. Kathryn explained that the girl she, Kathryn, and the girl’s brother had been talking for awhile and the brother had said that it would be a good idea for Kathryn to speak to his sister. The girl began to cry uncontrollably.
Through her tears, the girl began to explain that her brother had been mute his entire life. Kathryn, overcome with the miracle before her eyes, continued to speak with the girl and explain that Christ loved her family so much, that he enabled her brother to speak so that he, the brother, could lead Kathryn to their home.
By the way, Kathryn didn’t speak spanish at the time and the girl didn’t speak english…
Do miracles still happen in our world today? Did God just wind up His creation and sit back and let it play out, or is He an active participant in the lives of His creation? Psalm 115:3 says it the best, “our God is in the heavens, and he does whatever He pleases.” The photo? What does it remind you of? I took it, I was an eye witness, and it reminds me of beauty that only the miracle of God can create.
You can listen to the entire audio message or even download it to iTunes and listen to it on your iPod, iPhone, iPad, or mp3 player, what a miracle.
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I started off today with a beautiful creation by our Creator that I am not all that thrilled to see when I get up. 20* Frost.
I took this photo this morning when I went out to get in my truck. We live in the deep south and I like to think that our winter days are mild, but not lately. It is currently 30* outside and it is almost 11am, not a pleasant thing for those of us who have a wardrobe that consists of t-shirts and one or two long sleeve shirts that we never like to wear but do so when we can’t bear it any longer.
The first image is actually the sunrise looking through my truck window on the driver’s side, into the truck, then back out the other side. The sun still hadn’t warmed things up enough to melt away the unique snowflake like frost that had formed all over everything last night. There was just enough humidity last night at 20* to make for a beautiful close up of the snowflake crystals on the window (although handheld due to my tripod being in use at the time).
The second shot above is a further close up (beyond the macro 1:1 ratio for those photo techies) of the first shot above. It took less than a minute sitting in the car for all of this beauty to melt away. My next blog post is going to be where we should be this time of year, but for now, it is cold down here. I don’t care if it is -10* up north and 20* isn’t cold to some, it is cold down here, time for Spring.
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I don’t know if I want to say this is a typical sunrise here in Alabama or not (I think they are all different every single day), but it is still beautiful. It reminds me of a calm coolish (certainly not cold yet) Saturday morning here in Alabama. Auburn plays Vanderbilt tonight, which means there is enough time to get some work done outside before the game starts. This is by far, the beginning of my favorite time of year, for a whole host of reasons. Fall in Alabama comes late in the season compared to the rest of the country (at least down here in lower Alabama it does). The weather is just now, finally, starting to cool of in the late night and early morning hours where we can start to feel some 60′s and not have to die from the heat.
This photo was taken right outside my office window (my office is the upstairs part of my house that faces east), so this basically the view from my office. Since I face almost due east, about 10 minutes later in this photo and I will be staring directly into the sun for a few hours, but the sunrise out my window is always beautiful, and different each morning.
