New Shots.

EDIT: 20 new shots! Go to my Flickr and check them out now! There are 18 on the first page, the final two on page 2. Thank you SO much for your comments - there have been many kind words sent my way. I love taking the pictures myself - but your love/like of them makes it all the better. Thanks again!

Hello all. Apologies for the lack of updates - I've been a bit busy these past couple of days.

Anyway - there are new pictures up over at my Flickr photo page. I would greatly appreciate any and all of you heading over there to check them out. The first ten, on the main page, are the recent additions. Please leave comments if you have good advice, and definitely leave comments if you like something.

Also - you might want to bookmark the page...I'm playing around with a new camera and, if possible, will be trying to put new pictures up in a more timely fashion.

Thanks!

What Happened To Selflessness?

I just wanted to take a quick moment to apologize to you all for my seeming lack of caring lately. I've been amazingly selfish here recently, and in the past - and while I cannot say for certain when it might end - I can promise that God is shining a light on it, showing me the damaging results of it, and working on it for the good. So all of you, in this cyber-land - my deepest apologies. Hopefully I'll also have a chance to send my apologies to the people a bit closer than the Internet. My gratitude for your almost limitless patience.

Thank You For Disappointment.

I know, it sounds ridiculous. Disappointment, being let down, not particularly getting what you want - they are all bad things. They are frustrating, disheartening.

Liberating.

You see - we often have things in our lives that we want. Things we set our eyes, our minds, our hearts, and our appetites for. They become our passion. They become our prayer.

Many times, these things are not honoring to God. Sometimes, in their best form, they merely cut short of what they should be - they are a shadow of the greatness demanded...our nature, or our pursuit, has left it something it should not be (even if it was good, or not necessarily bad, to begin with).

I think disappointment serves a noble purpose in these situations. We are running as fast as we can to reach that goal, we are fighting hard to win the prize - and it becomes a blinder to our eyes without us even knowing. Were it not for the loss, temporary or perpetual, we might have never been restored to a more faithful, firmer, understanding position.

So, thank God for the disappointments in this life - and the absolute grace to realize them for what they are - purposeful redirections towards an ultimately greater treasure.

To Be Like God.

God is the most joyous being in the entire universe.

We are (I am) lonely, depressed, saddened, self-pitying.

This tears at my insides. Our sadness is so infecting, so manipulating. It consumes us, will not let us go, penetrates to the very depths of the soul. Our moods can change on a whim, our emotions can be confused, our thoughts can be taken captive. We are restless. We are without peace.

Why? What has gone horribly wrong with us? (And I am not seeking a cliché answer).

It's such a horrible conflict. We see the glory of God in the face of Christ - and we have hope, we have joy, we have a Spirit of grace and love.

But we are still broken. Still confused. Still seeking with such persistence and power those things that battle against us, that wage war against God - that pull us deeper into a murky abyss that is not without strength to hold us down.

I know so many cries go to our God. He is beyond time, but I know that time is filled with the aching of our hearts - directly to His ears. His compassion floods over us, and it lasts for a time but then we are back again...wallowing, paralyzed, affected.

Lord have mercy on us in our dark days, in our dark nights. Help us to see the absolute temporary nature of our current state. Help us to again witness the glorious light of your presence in our lives. Leverage your strength and your power for our benefit - because you care for us, because you love us. Lead us away from these things...lead us closer to you. Never let us go, never let us go.