A moment captured

I was just looking at some photos on a blog I follow and was just blown away by the amazing shots. It got me thinking about my photos. If you've ever looked at my Flickr site, I take a lot of photos. I think the reason I take a lot of photos is to try to capture the moment. When I look at the photo, it reminds me of my time there. Most of my photos aren't anything special, I won't be selling many prints. But they are valuable to me for the moment they take me back to.

Some photos do manage to capture the magic of the place. Certainly not as good as being there, but still able to stir something in the heart. This photo is one that I'm still impressed with (especially since it's a panoramic)


If you want to see some other killer photos, head over to http://therangelife.blogspot.com/ They have been having kayak photo competitions, some great photographers pulling out their best stuff. Some amazing photos. Look past the lunacy of the paddlers, look at the beauty of the world God created. I'd love to have an HD TV simply to be able to better appreciate my kayaking videos. The porn isn't just the kayak stuff, the scenery is incredible. And there's no easy tourist path to these places either.

White Fang

"Life achieves it's summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do" - from "White Fang" by Jack London

I thought that was a really powerful statement. God created each of us for a purpose and our lives find their pinnacle when they reach that purpose. So that brings the question, what is our purpose? The really generic, pithy Christian answer is "to bring Glory to God." While that's true, that doesn't really help me a lot. Exactly how is someone as small and flawed as myself supposed to achieve something as huge as that? Thankfully, it's not our job to do that. We're not capable. That's the job of the Holy Spirit, the God who can do lives inside of those who can't do, so those who can't do are able to do what we were created to do.

In a more practible, apply to my life sense, each of us has to learn to understand, and embrace, who God made us to be. Each of us was given certain gifts and talents, and each of us place put in a certain place in life, that prepares us for what God created us to do. Then, as we seek the heart of God and to be conformed to His likeness, the desires of His heart become the desires of our hearts. So that when we combine His heart within us with the gifts and talents He blessed us with, we are able to discover who He created us to be. It's a long and humbling process, and it's meant to be that way. The only way we become strong in who we are is through struggle and work. A doctor who spends 10 years in school doesn't give up easily when difficulties come in his job.

I think many times in the church we are pressured into being what we were not created for. Working with children is not my gift. I've tried it in many capacities. While I'm able to do it, that's not what I was created for. So I don't become deeply involved in children's ministries (though I do help when it's my group's turn to help with child care). However, I have been given gifts as an organizer and planner, and a passion for the outdoors. So I continue to explore those desires and gifts to understand how I can use those for God's Glory.

With all things, our greatest strengths can also be our greatest weaknesses, and our greatest passions hold the most danger of becoming our biggest idols. Satan fears who we may become if we find our purpose, so he wants to keep us from becoming that. He knows that the greatest temptation is the prettiest apple that we want the most, and that the best lie is made up mostly of truth.

A couple of excellent resources for understanding our purpose better:
"The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren (as much as I'm against fads, it's a good book)
"Calling: Deciphering the mystery of your life" by Gary Barkalow (from John Eldredge's ministry) http://www.ransomedheart.com/RH_Ministries_Store/detail.aspx?ID=62

Sometimes I get this feeling that the church thinks to follow Jesus we have to suffer. The message I find in the Bible is that to follow Jesus is to find life, and find it to the fullest. Even when we encounter hardship when following Christ, it is not suffering but really living.


I felt closer to God here than I ever have in church

Snow

I think one of the reasons that God gave us snow was to remind us what silence sounds like. There's a magical silence that comes when snow falls. Everyone retreats inside, everything is under a heavy blanket, and the snow absorbs all sound. Some people can't stand silence, I don't know how they keep their sanity. Silence is a magical thing, sometimes we don't realize how much noise we fill our lives with. Silence helps us stop and refresh, to know what peace is. I don't find that enough, it seems like there's always a noise. After a while it just all blends together and I can't hear God or myself.

I'm sad that with the snow I can't just go play. I have to be grown up and go to work. Maybe I'll call in a snow day tomorrow :)