Photo Class

Yesterday I went to my first photography class. I have been interested in photography for a long time, taking lots of pictures, but they have all been done on "auto!" Above is one of my first pictures taken with me actually in control of the camera. I was in my "artsy-fartsy" mode! My instructor liked it, his critque was that the left side of it was too bright - said I needed another aperature opening. Maybe by the time this course is over I will know what that means! I have a digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera with many buttons that I have just ignored up until now. After learning the basics I am hoping to get lots of tips on taking wildlife pictures which are definitely my favorite. Anybody want to go on safari??

Lynn's Challenge -The Wakulla River

I was already out sitting in my canoe fly-casting for bass as the sun started to rise. There was a mist rising from the river that seemed to hang in the air like a gossamer cloud. Through it I could see the beautiful variations of pink and rose of the rising sun. As my canoe glided gently with the current, I could hear the “plop, plop” of wary turtles falling off their logs as I approached. I slowly passed by a great heron intent on his own hunting efforts. I sighed, knowing my days on this beautiful Florida river were numbered as I was soon to start a new journey thousands of miles away. I wondered what beauty the Lord would surround me with on that side of His creation?

The challenge: Describe sitting in a small boat out on the water, without mentioning the following words: water, blue, green, rocky, wavy, hot, cold, or fish.

Writerly Wednesday (One syllable story)

I met him for the first time when I was hurt. He drove me home the day I crashed my bike. I think I fell in love with him that day. We led an up and down life; We played much, we loved lots, we fought like cats and dogs. One day I went out of town and came home to find him gone. He left a huge hole in my heart. I go by his grave once in a great while but he is not there. I pray that he is in that place where I will get to spend a long, long time with him. They say you have one true love. He was mine.

FIVE WORD MONOLOGUE - Parasailing

I was sitting in a coffee shop the other day eating a 12” submarine sandwich when Jimmy, an old friend from my California days walked in. After many hugs and exclamations of joy at seeing one another after so many years, I invited him to sit and have lunch with me. It seems he was in town for a big parasailing event. Now, our small town had never been much of a place for parasailing, but some young, foolish men had discovered that it could be done on the high bluffs over the river. Now they were trying to make our little town the “Parasailing Capitol of the South.” Can you imagine! All the farmers were against it because it kept scaring the cows and they were running off their weight trying to get away from those big colorful predators flying around up in the air. It turned out that Jimmy now sells parasails and all the vast array of paraphernalia that goes with it. He offered to take me up for a ride in a tandem/teaching parasail. Well, my daddy didn’t raise no idiot so I kindly thanked him for his offer and told him I would be glad to come and watch him go flying through the air. Well, then he called me a chicken and started dancing around the dining room making chicken sounds – “buk, buk buk, buk buk buk, till he finally made me mad and so I told him to come on, if he was waiting on me he was backing up! Well, off we traipsed to the bluffs. On the outside I was cool, calm, and collected, but on the inside I was quaking in my sandals, thinking of all the horrible things that could happen way up there in the air. What if we get caught in a whirlpool of wind and dash onto the ground? What if the parasail rips and we plummet into the river or worse yet, into that copse of thorny trees by the river?? Yikes! You would think that by my age I would have learned that pride cometh before the fall – this time I was hoping that it would not be a literal translation. So after he strapped and gusseted me into this seemingly flimsy contraption with these tiny thin little metal bars, Jimmy commands me to start running toward the edge of the bluff. I start off at a hesitant little trot and he is yelling, “Faster, faster!” so off I go running and praying and feeling like my heart is going to literally explode in my chest. We get to the end and all of a sudden I am running in thin air. Here I am, dangling, not quite vertical, nor horizontal holding on to this bar with a grip that is about to bust my knuckles. And then I open my eyes – and after the initial bout of nausea, I begin to really get the hang of this parasailing – I find myself waving and yelling to people on the ground that I know – they look like little miniature toy people down there. I laugh at the cows running until I see my Uncle Jake shaking his fist at us. We had a marvelous time just soaring around in the thermals; I could have stayed up there all day. Then, just as we were landing, I saw my dad over at the side just shaking his head. I know this was just one more incident in a long line of others that have convinced him that he might have, after all, raised an idiot.

Be Still My Soul

Be still my soul; the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain. Leave to thy God to order and provide In every change, He faithful will remain. Be still my soul; Thy best, they heavenly Friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end. Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake to guide the future as He has the past. Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still my soul; the waves and wind still know His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below. Be still my soul; when dearest friends depart, and all is darkened in the vale of tears, then shalt thou better know His love, His heart, Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears. Be still my soul, thy Jesus can repay from His own fullness all He takes away. Be still my soul; the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord. When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love’s purest joy restored. Be still my soul, when changes and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Be still my soul; begin the song of praise on earth, believing, to thy Lord on high; acknowledge Him in all thy works and ways, so shall He view thee with a well-pleased eye. Be still my soul; the Sun of life divine through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine. by Katherine von Schlegel Thank you Father that we can rest in you in the midst of whatever the world may put before us.

SAY WHAT?!?

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything." James 1:2-4.My Thursday night Bible Study has just started into the book of James and I was somehow elected to teach the first chapter - I think because the Lord has a great sense of humor! My life has been FULL of "trials of many kinds" lately. I have been robbed, my transmission went out in my car which is costing me a bundle and ministry has been VERY MESSY. I must confess that I have been, most of the time, not very joyful. To be truthful I have been whiney, resentful and pretty peevish. And, we won't even get into the matter of the tongue which I had to deal with later in this same chapter!But, I do want to just share with you this little tidbit that the Lord has impressed on me this past 10 days as I was studying this chapter. The first question we all ask is WHY should I be joyful in these circumstances?? Why be joyful when someone has accosted me and stole my money and my identification and my credit cards? What is there to be joyful about that I have to dip into my savings account to pay for a new transmission? And, what is there to rejoice about when people say untruths about you and question your motives and report "rumors" about what you have said and done??? Well, the answer to that is in v4 - because if you walk through them in faith the Lord uses them to "make you MATURE AND COMPLETE, LACKING IN NOTHING. Who wants that in their lives - everyone raise your hand!! It is when we can look at things with an eternal perspective of the outcome of God's refining work that we can have PURE JOY because we know that He is working in our lives to make us lacking in nothing!! But, so often we think of "something and nothing" in worldly terms meaning not lacking; comfort, ease, money, fun, power, etc., etc., etc.!! I don't think that is what the Lord has in mind. I think it is more; faith, patience, perseverance, humbleness, servant's heart, etc., etc., etc.!!! As it also talks about several times in this chapter, I think we become so polluted by the world's thinking that our views become very distorted.I have been trying to look at all of these things in my life with much more of an eternal perspective and I must admit that it is a little easier to see the good that the Lord will bring about through all those circumstances. This morning I found myself humming "Blessed Assurance," an old hymn. The third verse says: Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blest, Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. I am so glad that He is Faithful and true to His Word and WILL finish the work that He has started in me!

TWO MONKEYS

This is not a theological statement!