Monthly Archives: September 2013

Weekly Photo Challenge: Saturated

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Michelle W. challenged contributors to show something saturated:

This week, show us a photo of whatever you’d like, but make sure it’s saturated. It can be black and white, a single color, a few hues, or a complete rainbow riot; just make sure it’s rich and powerful.

I chose to use a few pictures that were taken shortly after my purchase of a Pentax K-x at our favorite Florida beach spot. Experimenting with the high-contrast on filter, here are a few examples of saturated hues:

Old Man
San Destin in the West
Panama City Beach – Sunrise
Late morning sun

Foot in WaterDuring the same trip, I took a picture of my foot in the water… truly saturated! Looking forward to getting my feet in that water real soon.

A team from our church recently returned after a week of extending love and care in Guatemala City ghettos and orphanages. On their first Sunday back in church after the trip, one of the young adults asked if they could sing “How He Loves Us,” a song that became their theme for the week. Written by John Mark McMillan and perhaps better known by the David Crowder Band recording, it has long been one of my favorites. The line that captures my heart says, “If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.” I am grateful for the all-surpassing, all-saturating, thoroughly cleansing grace of God. 

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift.   Ephesians 2:8 (HCSB)

For more interpretations of saturated, click HERE

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Lines to Patterns (Take 2)

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The 36th Annual Southwest Iowa Hot Air Balloon Race, our community’s most popular event, occurred last weekend. While we had clear weather, wind conditions only permitted two of the four scheduled flights, three of which are competitive. Both of those flights were characterized by almost no wind, almost cancelling the second flight. Because a church member was sponsoring a balloon, I was able to get up close for some pictures on Saturday morning and then have my first ride on Saturday evening. It was a blast! Here are some of the weekend’s pictures that I think meet this week’s challenge – from the lines (cables connecting the baskets to the envelopes) to the geometric patterns of the envelopes.

Two High
Pink Panther Balloon. Flame burst
Three Vertical
Coming in for a target -Mike Reinert, pilot
Pink Panther Reflection
Sailing by the Moon – Darcy Hoch, pilot
(l-r) Pilots Hadley and Reick approaching target
Pink Panther – Lines to Pattern
Night Glow
Night Glow

As I mentioned I had my first flight in a balloon! While only about a mile in distance to the target, the winds were minimal, making it about a twenty-minute flight. It was an invigorating experience and a blessing from God. Here are few more photos I took from that afternoon ride.

Up, up and away
Other balloon launching
Fellow traveler
Deflation port
Approaching the target
Feet on the ground again.
Creston from the air

While all three of my daughters have previously flown, my wife has been apprehensive about me flying because of a deadly hot air balloon accident she saw portrayed in a movie. Additionally, you might have noticed that the balloon sponsor was a funeral home – “that could be like a direct ride to the Pearly Gates.”(ba-dum tshh). However, I went with her blessing. When suggested by one of my daughters that “we need to get Mom up, now,” she responded, “When God gives me wings.”

Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

Isaiah 40:31 (NASB)

See more examples of this week’s challenge HERE

Weekly Photo Challenge: From Lines to Patterns

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This week’s challenge submission comes from a recent bike ride on the High Trestle Trail between Madrid and Woodward, Iowa, USA. The paved trail was built on a former Union Pacific railroad bed. We planned two short, 2.5 mile rides from Woodward – late afternoon and dusk – to see the highlight of the trail, the 1/2-mile, 13-story high bridge across the Des Moines River valley, making it one of the largest trail bridges in the world. Forty-one steel cribbings, representing the coal mining industry for which the region was once known, encompass the bridge’s path.

After the daytime observation, we made our way back to Woodward for a wonderful dinner at the Whistlin’ Donkey Sports Bar and Grill. Then, we repeated our trip at dusk for a special treat. Twenty-three of the 41 cribbings are illuminated with blue lights, marking the riverbed below. Because each cribbing is angled differently, the lights give the impression that you are moving through a time warp and the illusion that the cribbings are curved. The following video of the entire half-mile crossing shows this effect. Hope you enjoy the ride!

Here are more entries to this week’s photo challenge.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside: My entry is inside a simple truss bridge that I came across this summer in my rural Iowa wanderings. A gravel road leads up to this wood-decked bridge, and the reflected sun on the trusses drew me off the highway. I liked the contrasts of silver/primer paint and rust inside the bridge against the green fields and cloud-filled blue sky outside.

Bridge

Truss bridges have always fascinated me. From my childhood, I recall that bridges with a truss design gave me a sense of security. Perhaps it was because the surrounding structure, giving the sense that you were “inside” the bridge, made the journey across whatever abyss my parents were taking me seem a little safer. I remember crossing the Mississippi River by train and being somewhat terrified to see that the bridge had no surrounding truss to keep the train from toppling over into the waters below. This led to several minutes of agonizing fear despite the reassurances of my mother.

Additionally, any trip across the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge, a cantilevered through truss bridge over the Mississippi River, signaled the beginning of a family adventure, usually a trip to visit family in Missouri and Iowa. With my other four siblings in the car, the first bit of fun we had was to see who could hold their breath over the almost one mile span.

So, this entry brings with it some deep emotions tied to childhood memories that make being inside a truss bridge a “happy place.”

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: An Unusual POV

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Challenge: Go out and take photos and share a shot that reveals a new and different POV.

I have made mention of our family’s afternoon gatherings for sunsets when we are at the beach. However, sunrises are a different story! My wife loves being the first one out to see the sunrise and find shells that might have washed up overnight, but she is often solitary in that venture. Occasionally, I tag along with camera. On one such morning, I found this coconut that had washed up…not a normal sight on the section of beach we frequent.

IMG_0054As I lay on the ground, an early morning jogger came by, took a quick glance, and continued on his way. While not necessarily trying to capture his passing, these three photos in the slide show do:

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As this jogger ran by what I thought was an unusual, “stop and smell the roses” moment, it reminded be that our personal POV drives us: mine – wanting to find something that was photo worthy; his – staying in shape. Our “point of view” means everything to us and often directs the focus of our day. For example, if our point of view is that we must be physically fit, it will motivate us to get up early and pound the pavement (or beach) and watch what we eat. If we have a passion for a political ideology, we will immerse ourselves in the latest news, attend Town Hall meetings and voice our opinions on everything political. Unfortunately, our POV often causes us to give passing glances at the really important things of life.

However, God calls us to have a balanced and overarching spiritual perspective on life, seeing it through a “God lens.” This POV is often seen as “unusual” in our day and time, just as it was in Jesus’ day. In fact, when asked why he spoke in parables (spiritual truths wrapped in everyday life stories), Jesus said it was to help his listeners to have a perspectives that were unique in comparison to the ones taught by their religious leaders. However, even their lack of spiritual insight into his parables was foretold in Old Testament prophecy:

14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ [Isaiah 6:9-10]

16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. (Matthew 13:14-16, NIV)

The disciples’ eyes and ears, however, were blessed as they began to perceive the message of Christ. Because they were “all in” with Jesus, having made the decision to follow him, they began to see the world through the “God lens.” As a result their POV shifted from selfish to selfless, from temporal to eternal, from religion to relationship. Having this new, and unusual (to the world) POV, transforms everything we see!