Life and other hobbies...

Living in Saturday

2010-04-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

I seem to be stuck in Saturday... with one HUGE advantage. I happen to know that there is a resurrection coming on Sunday. 2000 years ago they did not have that assurance.

Think about that. You had promises, visions and dreams that you had been assured of and even seen face to face for three years. But that was all gone. They nailed all of that to a tree yesterday. So now you sit in Saturday wondering what happened ... how you could have misunderstood so completely and what you were going to do next.

The dream was gone. Dead and buried in a tomb.

But no matter how much you felt abandoned. No matter how many tears you cried. No matter that your faith and belief had been ripped from you ... Sunday still came and there was a resurrection. And the dream ... though perhaps not what you thought it was going to be ... was perfect. And you knew that you knew that you knew...

So, even knowing that I know that I know, I sit in Saturday and maybe feel a little abandoned, and maybe cry a few tears, but my faith is not in what I heard - but in who said it.

There is a resurrection coming.

Spirtually Clumsy

2009-11-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

I find myself on a personal journey filled with misconceptions and misunderstandings...all on my part. As I strive to understand God's desire for my life, I find that I become spiritually clumsy in my dealings with him. There seems to be a simplicity in His desires for me that either elude me, or seem too obvious to possibly be correct. Never in my life have I been this much into His word, and never have I had this deep and active a prayer life, and yet, every step I take does not seem to bring me closer to my goal. If anything, each step seems to show me how much further I have to go...not how much closer I am getting.

I am ultiamtely however, encouraged, for His word says that He will never leave me or forsake me. The distance is in me ... not in Him. He is right here...patient, kind and loving, and all I need to do is learn to rest...open my eyes... and abide. I WILL learn to stand. I WILL learn to walk, and then...oh my...what a journey I will take.

Men - Lead your families

2009-03-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

I chose the word men rather than husbands for a reason. If you believe that God has a helpmate for you, then you are sort of a family just waiting for members. Are the things you are doing as a single man conducive to being a husband? Will you leave a trail behind you of things that will need to be undone once she joins you? Ah - how loud the voice of experience can be!

And what about leading? This is not a picture of an emperor or a tyrant. Leading in this case means to be the first to submit. The first to set aside. The first to lay down. That is how you lead. The Bible is clear that the picture of a man in marriage is that of Christ and His church and we all know what He did for us. Making Himself least even unto death modeled the perfect leader.

Seeking to be made into the likeness of Him will allow you to do the same.

Can you trust Him with your life?

2009-03-29T15:17:00.001-07:00

It is interesting to me how the way a concept is phrased can actually keep people from embracing it. It is embarrassing to say, but I have often struggled with the concept of giving up your life for Christ. Giving up your life for anything I suppose, but when I finally got around to watching the amazing movie Fireproof - I finally heard this concept presented in a way I had never heard it before.

In the scene where the father is speaking with his son about giving his life to Christ, he asks him a very simple question. Can you trust Him with your life. Wow - that was an eye opener to me. Since it is no problem for me to understand that He gave me my life in the first place, then it is simple for me to trust Jesus with it now.

Such a simple concept, but one kept at bay - at least in my case - by an over-sensitivity to word choices.

The Photograph vs. Snapshot

2008-11-17T12:28:00.000-08:00

One of the driving forces behind my photography would be perspective. A way of looking at (or capturing) a subject that was perhaps impossible without the camera.

In a photograph, there is a dissection of the obvious scene that takes place allowing for a focused point of view imposed upon the viewer that discards elements not desired by the artist. The photographer will achieve this through selection of medium, lens and most importantly - point of view. Distance - angle - height. These are all elements of the composition that are completely independent of the equipment used allowing a shooter with a $10 throwaway to create art while the guy with the $5000 dig creates passable vacation shots.

A snapshot is almost the opposite of this attempting to capture as much of a subject as necessary to convey it's meaning. Meaning in a photograph may not be as immediately obvious as that of a snapshot. With the photographer drawing on some of the implicative tools of the painter, one may have to ponder the result to realize its underlying meaning.

.... if there was any in the first place.

-- Post From My iPhone

Almost

2008-07-11T11:37:00.001-07:00

I was thinking about this word yesterday, and how powerful... and kind of scary it is. In many ways, it is a really great word. Did you make a million dollars last year... almost!

Did you go to all the places in this world that you had planned to go.... almost!

Did you achieve all your goals at work... almost!

But what about...

Were you able to save her life doctor...almost

Were you able to avoid an affair ... almost.

Are you saved....

My Face

2008-07-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

Wow I finally did it. Now I have a social network... or two... to go along with the blog I don't keep up. I should get a gold fish that I can let die and I will be good.

I finally put something up on Facebook and I got 34 friends in the first day. Does this happen every day? Will I have twelve thousand friends after a year? What am I supposed to do with them? At least Face Book sort of makes sense to me. I put up a My Space site and I am afraid to go back and look at what may have happened there in a day. I was hoping o put some original music up there, and actually could have if I had spent the time it took me to put the Face Book thing together on making music.

I do this alot....

The Photograph

2008-01-30T10:00:00.000-08:00

I have been fascinated by the power of the photograph for decades mainly due to the fact that this art form has the unique ability to do the impossible.

To stop time.

People may argue that full motion is a more accurate representation of an event...and this may be true, but even video is a slice of time with a duration. A journey. Only a photograph can deliver an instant for consideration and appreciation as the flow of time is forever stopped in it tracks. It may be contrived (as moments of time often are) or it may simply and naturally drape itself before the photographer's lens. Either way, the moment remains intact and ultimately explorable by the viewer.

A photograph can suspend time for as long a one chooses to live in that moment.

Dirt in my house...

2007-10-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

I have no TV. This I do by choice. In fact, I have not had a TV for over 15 years. I can go into why that is another time. What is striking me about this today is that Southern California is burning, and I had no idea.

Well I sort of had an idea. A friend of mine who is a fire fighter told me at church yesterday a little bit about a fire that was threatening Pepperdine University in Malibu. He was on call, and I am sure he is up to his you know what in fires by now.

I did know something was wrong because my house is covered in dirt. Dirt blowing in from all of the Santa Ana winds covering everything. Now I am beggining to suspect that it is not so much dirt as it is ash. 128 homes in Lake Arrowhead have been destroyed and 250,000 people have been evacuated in San Diego. Peoples lives are being turned upside down and I am complaining about dirt in my house.

Yikes. Reality check.

I still dont want a TV....

Great...now I have a blog that I can neglect too

2007-02-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

I just came from a conference in Nashville called re:Create. It was a really interesting gathering of some of the most influential church staff members in the US. I recall that one of the seminars was focused on why you had to blog in 2007.

I did not attend this seminar...

So all I know is that I have to have a blog, but I don't know why. So here is yet another project to start and let languish along the way...or maybe not. Who knows, this may be just the ticket to unload some wit, spread some joy and otherwise find yet another way to occupy my time. I will strive to make subsequent posts much more interesting than this.

What I don't know is whether or not I will have to keep blogging in 2008.