Bumblebee

Saw this bumblebee the other day and was lucky enough to be able to get close enough to get some good pictures. I don't have a macro lens so this was all the closer I was able to get. I love this first one.

The Problem with the Church

While reading this quote, I want you to try to guess who said it before reading the name below.

"The contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound.  So often it is an archdefender of the status quo.  Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.
But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before.  If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.  Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust."  



This letter was written over 40 years ago.  It is from "Letter from the Birmingham jail. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."  I first read it this past week in "a hole in our gospel" by Rich Sterns.  I don't think there is much to add to it.  There are those that have been successful at recapturing the sacrificial spirit and those that haven't.  I think that in this quote we have the solution to the decline of the Church in America.  The church has been loosing followers like crazy, and lots of people do dismiss it as an irrelevant social club, and are disgusted with it.  I know people like this.  How do we reach them? How do we reclaim those that have been lost?  It is by seeking justice, loving the poor, the orphan and the widow.  Too many churches have turned into state of the art entertainment places.  One could walk in and mistake it for a theater.  That is not how we make lasting change.  I think this quote is true or truer now than 40 years ago.


ISA 58:6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?


JER 22:16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy,
and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know me?"
declares the LORD.

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Cute Little Bird

I have tried to get a picture of these birds before, but they move so fast, it can be hard.  But this time it was a bright sunny day and I could use a fast shutter speed so his movements wouldn't be blurry.

Edmonds Clinton Ferry Pictures

For three weekends the Mukilteo Ferry Dock has been getting some upgrades or work done on it. So the Clinton Ferry has been coming down to the already busy Edmonds Dock.  Makes for some great pictures if one likes Ferries.

Dusk Photos

Last weekend Deb and I went down to Edmond's Waterfront to watch the sunset. It wasn't as good as we thought it would be, but we got some other good pictures.

Super Full moon

Last week was the super full moon. Where the moon was full and at it's closest point in its orbit.  Happened last I think in 1993 and will happen next in 2020's.  Not too common, luckily there was enough of a clearing in the clouds for me to get a few pictures.  It's interesting taking pictures of the moon, because you can really choose how bright it is.

Engagement Shoot Sneak Peek

Saturday Deb and I did a photoshoot with this couple. It was a lot of fun and they were so photogenic.  More to come...

More Gas Works Park

Here are some more photos from our time at Gas Works this weekend.

Gas works Park

On Saturday, Deb and I had the opportunity to go to gas works park and take a couples engagement photos, it was such a nice day and we had a lot of fun and got a lot of pictures.  I will post some from the Engagement shoot after I give the couple a chance to look at the photos.

Flowers

I haven't been posting this week, because I've been working hard to finish up all my school stuff and we've had some really crummy weather around here so I haven't been able to get out and take photos.  But today I bought some flowers and took them outside to take some pictures. The orange was kinda hard to photography well. The petals in some aren't as defined as I would like.

Lent

Quote of the Day from Mother Teresa:

I believe it was Saint Vincent de Paul who used to say to those who wanted to join his congregation: " Never forget, my children, that the poor are our masters. That is why we should love them and serve them, with utter respect, and do what they bid us. "
Do you not believe that it can happen, on the other hand, that we treat the poor like they are a garbage bag in which we throw everything we have no use for? Food we do not like or that is going bad-we throw it there.
Perishable goods past their expiration date, and which might harm us, go into the garbage bag: in other words, go to the poor. An article of clothing that is not in style anymore, that we do not want to wear again, goes to the poor.
That does not show any respect for the dignity of the poor; this is not to consider them our masters, like Saint Vincent de Paul taught his religious, but to consider them less than our equals.


I find this quote so interesting because of the Saint Vincent de Paul stores. They are a second hand store. They get the stuff people don't want anymore. Anyway, thought it was an interesting quote.

Senior Project

This week I finish up classes and earn my BS in Informatics.  I have been working on a video of what we did for our final project. Here is a draft of that video. I will post the final one if it is different.  Feel free to add comments or suggestions on how I could make it better.

Love over Knowledge

1st Corinthians 8:1b says "knowledge puffs up while love builds up"

I read this this morning and have been thinking about it a lot.  We live in the information age and have immeasurable amounts of information at our figure tips, but have we spent all this time trying to gain knowledge that we have forgotten what it means to love.  I love to be built up, but I have traded that for a lie. I have instead puffed myself up like a balloon.   If I am not loving others and they are not loving me than it is all just fake.  Real love builds up.  And I feel like as a society we have forgotten what love is all about.  We have become a people that seek love.  That isn't what this verse says.  Love can't be found.  It is something we must practice.  It says love builds up (others).  To love someone means to build them up.  Is that how I treat my wife, my friends and those around me?  Do I try to build them up?  Or am I so concerned with myself that I puffed myself up and failed to build them up?  What does it look like to build my neighbor up, my friend up or my wife?  It means putting their desires above mine.  It means giving them my time, my energy, my money and using my skills to sharpen them and make them better (but not impose on them my definition of better).  How often have we seen or heard about people trying to make others better, and it just leads to failure and frustration.  Is it because we want to see them be built up? Or do we want to see the fruit of our labors?  Do we get mad at the apple tree in spring for not having apples on it?  Building something well and correctly takes time, just as it takes time for the apple tree to produce a full healthy apple.  Before we can build someone up we must first take the time to get to know them and see what we can offer them (not impose on them).  To build someone up means to make them better than they were before.  Are people better off because they are in relationship with me? Or am I too busy tearing them down to build them up? Or am I too busy trying to fix their 'problems' that I forget to build them up?
My challenge as Lent begins is to find ways that I can build others up around me.  May you build others up around you. 

Lent

To start lent off I thought I would post a quote, I might do something else as we get into it, but for now, I will start with a quote.

St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

Where there is hatred let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

Lord, may I not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

Because it is in giving that we receive, in pardoning that we are pardoned.

The other day I went out and took some pictures of the flowers I had driven past on my way home.  I think they turned out pretty good.

Spring is coming

I've wanted to get a picture of the moon the last couple of nights, but by the time I've gotten home it has gone into hiding, setting at 8:30 Sunday and going behind clouds last night.  Anyway, today we have some flowers that have started sprouting around our home.  Deb took two of these photos, and I took the other two. 

Boats

Saturday I went down to the beach to take some pictures, it was a nice day and there were lots of boats out.  To put it mildly, I really like boats.  So here are the best of the photos I took.  A couple of tug boats and a couple of ferry shots. 

Even More Eagle

Yesterday I went down to the bluff in Edmond's because I hadn't taken any pictures all week and I saw the Eagle yet again.  It was a little dark, but it was a good night for pictures, more to come.