Oct 21stHow am I doing?
Well, the year is quickly drawing to a close. Fall color is quickly flying past, and it’s time to take look back at the “New Year’s resolution post” and check progress.
- Get Organized. Nope. Not an inch of progress. I did manage to give the site a face lift this summer, though. 
- Show Off. Currently working on selecting some pictures to make LARGE living room sized prints from. Contests? I’ve entered a few online that weren’t outright “rights grabs” where you have to give up all your rights to your photo whether you win the contest or not. Last night, though, I actually did win a place in my very first photo contest with this shot:
I guess the winning photos will be in the newspaper sometime in the near future, so I guess I get another 15 minutes of fame. Sharing online? Some sort of consistency would probably help. Still struggling there.
- Try something new. Well, just about the time the weather was getting nice enough for me to start getting out the Bender, we had to go and move. Now that the year is nearly over, I’m finally pretty much done with all that, so I hope to start playing with that again. I’ve been looking at large format printers since the summer. My husband may have just made it possible for me to actually acquire one of these, and I believe there is still a rebate going on for the one I want which will make the price much more appealing, so it’s possible that by the end of the year I’ll be delving into the other end of the photographic process – making prints worth putting up on the walls.
- New perspectives. While the technical skills continue to improve making it easier for me to reproduce in two dimensions what I see in three, I’m still fleshing out how I uniquely see the world.
- Do some good. It’s a pleasure to use my photography skills and equipment in service to Christ. It’s probably an odd thing to do, but I told a pastor here, “You know how some people dedicate their babies? I dedicate my cameras.” And I do. It’s God who has given both the equipment I have and the skill to use it, and when I get a new camera or lens, I take it to church with me and lay it on the altar and dedicate it to the Lord’s service first. Do I get a lot of pleasure from it that’s not at all related to serving the Lord? Absolutely! But if that ever begins to take first place in my heart, I have a tangible reminder of where my blessings come from and who really owns “my” stuff, and that’s a blessing too. I’d still like to explore this area in more depth, though. As far as teaching, since my daughter is the one who inherited my Rebel, I get the pleasure of throwing her a tip or new technique to try now and then, as well as watching her progress.
- Challenge myself. The photowalks have sort of come to an end during the moving process. Not to say that it will stay that way forever, but . . . . Taking pictures of people I don’t know. Is it only photographers who react badly to having their picture taken? Maybe just some photographers.
- Start a project. The only “project” currently in the works is trying to decorate the new place with some of my photographs. Mostly, it’s my own indecision holding that one up. I finally made some small prints of potential candidates while mom and dad were here, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.
- Take my camera everywhere. Definitely. Good move.
Here’s another picture entered in last night’s contest that didn’t win. Enjoy.
Jun 5thLu
On Saturday, Rachael and I went over to Lu's house and almost had a conversation. There was lots of halting silence and looking through the word list, but we managed to exchange a few pieces of information. When we got back, Joyce asked me if I had invited her to church. I started to feel bad that I hadn't until I realized that I didn't know enough Portuguese to actually do that.
So after breakfast the next morning, I grabbed Lisa, and we went over to see if she would come. And she said yes. After the the service, I got Paul Sr. to help me explain a drawing I had told her earlier that I would show her. She had commented several times about how happy and content I was, and I had said that I wanted to show her a picture I had drawn when I was not so happy. As Paul and I explained the drawing and the story behind it, Paul began to share the Gospel with her, and she received Christ.
I know I'm at the end of a long line of people who have been planting seed and watering the ground, but it's such a priviledge to actually be there when that seed sprouts.
Jun 5thLaundry Day
On the day I took this picture, Neni washed clothes and left well after dinner when they were all cleaned and hung on the lines. I saw the places on her hands where the skin had been rubbed raw and the bulging, swollen muscles in her forearms. At that moment, I knew that I didn’t have a clue what hard work really is. I would have quit long before I had any marks in my body to show for my labor.
Update: Neni is no longer just the “laundry lady”. She received Christ at one of the evening services, so she’s also now my sister. Somewhere in between all of that laundry, she made a lovely table cover for me before I left.
Jun 5thA Late Dinner Worth Waiting For
Jun 2ndPatrick
This was the first high school we went to. We spent an afternoon and a morning there, and it was truly a blessing. Besides the Bible distribution in the classes, we gave out dozens of tracts as the students were moving around from class to class.
In the morning, I got left behind with the boxes while the rest of the team took them to the classes. It wasn't long before I was surrounded by about 30 kids all curious about the white lady and the boxes. As soon as I told them the boxes were full of Bibles, they all wanted one. It about killed me that I couldn't just crack open a box and start passing them out right there. The hunger in some of their eyes was obvious. I had a good time laughing and cutting up with the kids. One guy told me he was Elvis Presley. Eventually, they all ended up with tracts and began to break up into groups of four or five and sit down to read them.
One boy in particular seemed especially interested in having a Bible. He was in 12th grade and told me his name was Patrick. I quickly asked God to get that kid a Bible somehow along with the group of girls who had sat down right next to the boxes. Later, I did see that Patrick had gotten a Bible and was grateful for that. A bit later he came back and gave me the tract that had just been given to him not too long before with his name and address on the back and a check mark in the box indicating that he had received Christ.
Patrick is one of about 40 or so kids who returned their tracts to one of us while we were still there. Pray that these kids will grow in their faith and pray that they will follow Jesus all the way into eternity.
Update: Someone (not me) actually got a picture of Patrick. That’s him on the end of the bench reading a tract.
May 31stLunch in Cabo Verde
Grilled chicken, rice, pork and beans, and fries. Coke is coke all around the world. Rachael got hold of my phone for a minute and did a lovely self-portait. The gentleman sitting next to Rachael, Djoca, is one of our taxi drivers. He needs to be saved. Our other driver, Tatino, received Christ yesterday.
Update: Djoca came to the church service on our second Monday night. It was a strong Gospel message, but it appeared that Djoca was going to leave without responding. I asked him if I could show him the picture I had drawn while I was still an atheist, and asked Claudio, one of the Brazilians on the trip, to translate for me. Djoca understood the meaning of the picture right away and said that he was ready to have the darkness taken away from his heart. Claudio talked to him from that point on, and he soon bowed his head and received Christ. Friday night, he brought his son, who also responded to the invitation. More on Djoca later.
May 24thAre You Going To Waste Your Life?
Heard this on the way home from church tonight.
Listen to the radical way Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 12 . . . You remember the situation. He’s got a thorn in the flesh. We don’t know what it is, but it is causing him pain. He says, “Christ, please take it away.” Three times. And Christ says, “No.” And then Paul says, verse 9 . . .And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. . . .
There’s more of Christ. Do you see that? Do you want more of Christ? Christ’s grace. Christ’s power. Christ’s fellowship. Do you want more and more and more because he is your treasure? Paul did, and therefore he said . . . Most gladly . . . Don’t miss that amazing counter-intuitive word . . . Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I’m content . . . . I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
Magnifying Christ by being satisfied in him in pain, in calamity, in suffering, in insult, and weakness was the passion of Paul’s life. His passion was not the American Dream of escaping insult, calamity, pain, suffering. His passion was any life and any death that enables me to know you better, see you more, and magnify your greatness more. Bring it on, Jesus. All I want in my life and in my death is to make your worth more vivid for the world to see.
So, I ask you tonight. Are you going to throw away your life? Are you going to buy into the American Dream, minimize suffering, maximize comfort, maximize ease, maximize security, build bigger barns, work for the bread that perishes, lay up treasure on earth, covet the praise of man, and be happy for 80 years, and PERISH? Is that the way that you’re going to waste your life?
Or are you going to see Christ crucified and risen and reigning and bearing your sins as the infinite treasure in your life that he really is and then make life choices that display to the world his value?
May 5thRescued From The Brothel
Some years ago, I remember laying down for a nap on a Sunday afternoon and waking to an interview with Linda Smith, founder of Shared Hope International. What she was talking about really gripped my heart as she described meeting some girls in India who had been sold into sexual slavery. The girls she met with had recently trusted in Christ as Savior but were still enslaved in some abominable conditions. It was these kinds of girls that Shared Hope seeks to rescue from the slavery they have been sold into. As Mrs. Smith described how freely these girls worshipped God — even in the brothel where they didn’t even have anything of their own, not even their dignity — it changed everything about how I view the comparatively minor things I have to deal with.
I subscribed to the Shared Hope Newsletter, and the very first one I got, featured a picture of a young woman who had been rescued from one of these Indian brothels and was wearing a beautiful white wedding dress standing next to a handsome young man who was now her husband.
In one of those unforgettable convergences that only God can arrange, the following Sunday morning, the pastor spoke about Ephesians 5:25-27.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
As he started to talk about how it was as if God, out of the cesspool of human civilization, had taken a young lady from one of these brothels, cleaned her, given her new clothes, and now presents her to himself as his bride as a chaste virgin, I literally had a picture of exactly what he was talking about in my mind. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that picture. Every time I read those verses again, I have a picture in my mind of a young lady who has seen depths of human depravity that I will never know standing clean and pure with her husband on their wedding day. It reminds me of the end of the story — the day every believer in Christ is looking forward to:
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of might thunderings saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself read.
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
Bonus: Human trafficking and sexual slavery was still a relatively unknown issue when I first heard the interview with Linda Smith. Her organization and others like it have made a great deal of progress in bringing these things into the spotlight. If you think slavery in this country ended with the Civil War, think again.
May 2ndQuote of the Day
The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, “Sir, we would see Jesus.”–John 12:21
Toward anything like thorough scholarship I make no claim. I am not an authority on any man’s teaching; I have never tried to be. I take my help where I find it and set my heart to graze where the pastures are greenest. Only one stipulation do I make: my teacher must know God, as Carlyle said, “otherwise than by hearsay,” and Christ must be all in all to him. If a man have only correct doctrine to offer me I am sure to slip out at the first intermission to seek the company of someone who has seen for himself how lovely is the face of Him who is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley. Such a man can help me, and no one else can. A. W. Tozer
One of my favorite authors, ever since I first read The Pursuit of God has been A. W. Tozer. For several years, I have subscribed to a daily email devotional that has been compiled from his writings by Literature Ministries International. Every year when this quote comes around, I just want to shout Amen! The only reason I can possibly see to listen to someone else — especially in the church — is if they know God “otherwise than by hearsay.” Without that, preaching is nothing more than hot air, and possibly harmful hot air at that. I can forgive a preacher a lot of imperfections if he can help me see Christ more clearly. But no amount of suave or polish or correct doctrine can ever make up for the absence of a heart that burns from time spent with Christ.
Bonus: I was really pleased to hear from my dad, long after my grandpa died, that he, too, was a big fan of A. W. Tozer. Neat thing to have in common with him.
Jan 10thA Not So Random Snapshot
Eight years ago today I experienced something that most people will look at you like you’re an alien from outer space if you mention – unless they too have experienced it, in which case there is a sense of instant brotherhood. I was Born Again, just like Jesus told an old Pharisee named Nicodemus he had to be before he could even see the Kingdom of God, much less enter into it.
Eight years out, what’s it like? I think I’m like the kid on Christmas day who just opened the biggest present under the tree, and inside the box found the one thing he wanted more than anything else in the whole wide world but was so sure he would never get because it was just too expensive that he never told anyone that’s what he really wanted. And yet . . . there it is in the box. Wonder. Joy. So much that it doesn’t quite seem real.
I still haven’t gotten over the wonder that Christ is really mine and that I am really his. I still have tears streaming down my face every time we sing in church about the fact that one day I will see him face to face. Me? After all the wretched things I’ve done? He loves me? He’s not ashamed to call me family? Just as I am? This is the wonder of all wonders.
I will glory in my Redeemer
Whose priceless blood has ransomed me
Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails
And hung Him on that judgment tree
I will glory in my Redeemer
Who crushed the power of sin and death
My only Savior before the Holy Judge
The Lamb Who is my righteousness
The Lamb Who is my righteousnessI will glory in my Redeemer
My life He bought, my love He owns
I have no longings for another
I’m satisfied in Him alone
I will glory in my Redeemer
His faithfulness my standing place
Though foes are mighty and rush upon me
My feet are firm, held by His grace
My feet are firm, held by His graceI will glory in my Redeemer
Who carries me on eagle’s wings
He crowns my life with lovingkindness
His triumph song I’ll ever sing
I will glory in my Redeemer
Who waits for me at gates of gold
And when He calls me it will be paradise
His face forever to behold
His face forever to behold