Christmas eve!

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.”

I love the Christmas holidays, it’s a time for families to gather, take time off from work and just enjoy reconnecting.

After moving back to the U.S. this year, I am really excited about spending this Christmas with family. Christmas always seems to mark a time of cooking delicious foods and sitting around with the family watching movies and putting together puzzles.

I think that the meaning of Christmas can never be overstated, and that is that we are celebrating the birth of Christ, the Messiah and Savior. Many people will head out to Christmas Eve services tonight at churches all over the country, but many will miss the true meaning.

Tonight, many families will sit down together, some to open presents given by one another, others to share a meal, yet some don’t have families that get together at all. For many Christmas comes and goes without even being noticed.

As Christmas is such a time of giving and being generous, we need to stop and notice those who are needing a warm embrace or maybe just a word of encouragement. There are many ways to do these things, but the easiest way is to simply look around where you are and you will see the needs that you can meet.

However you plan to spend your Christmas holiday I pray that it will be merry!

lighting the night at christmas

For many years people have been using brightening up the darkenss of the winter months by decorating the streets of their cities with festive lights. Everything from Candles and gas lamps to present day “Christmas lights” have been used.

After living in Russia for some time, I began to understand even more the joy of having these decorative lights through the winter months. Moscow would light up at night, and despite getting dark at 4pm the streets would shine and bring new life to the cold nights.

I remember growing up going out and decorating the front of the house with Christmas lights, the vast array of colors providing a certain feeling inside that just made you feel good. Then there was driving around to look at other people’s light displays. There is so much association between lights and the Christmas holiday, it has become something of much anticipation.

life’s intersections

Life is full of many intersections and crossroads. I’m facing one of those right now. I recently moved back to the U.S. from Russia, I’m moving to a new state where I have never lived before, I’m trying to find a job in an economy that is struggling. I am facing many intersections in my life.

Intersections bring us to a place where we have the opportunity to make a choice. We can continue on the path that we are on or we can follow the diverging intersecting path. Many times we don’t know where either path will lead, we may think we know where we are going, but the reality is that in the presence of an intersection we are facing the possibility of two unknowns.

Despite the uncertainties of intersections, I find them refreshing. It’s an opportunity to stop and think about where I’m heading. A time to stop and seek Gods direction in my life to know that I am heading in the direction that He is leading me.

We will always face intersections, they are a reality of our lives. It is a unique opportunity that we have to look both ways and begin an adventure!

Reflecting on the year past

It’s December, and soon 2009 will come to an end.  I can’t believe how fast time goes by, I mean it seems like just a few days ago I was standing in Wenceslas Square in Prague, Czech Republic dodging all of the fireworks people are shooting off.  Now here I am 11 months later and as the year closes it’s nice to slow down and reflect.

This year has been a big year for me, I started this year in Prague, I was living in Moscow, Russia when the year began. I got to go on several photojournalism trips to remote places in Siberia, Russia and so much more.  I can’t even begin to think about all that I have been blessed with this year without thinking of one of my biggest blessings.  I got engaged this year to a lovely young lady.  God has truly blessed me.

I love taking time to reflect and remember. I think of the difficult times of transition as I moved back to the United States from Moscow.  This was a big transition as I had been out of American culture for over 2 years.  I began to hear and see things in life here that didn’t make sense because I was so far removed from everything. I was shocked at how strange it was to hear everyone speaking English. I have had to learn how to transisiton from being a single guy to a “fiance” and soon to be “husband”.

I’m excited to see what the future holds in 2010, I will be getting married, going back to school to get my masters degree, and moving to a new state.  Many changes await for me in this coming year, and I can’t wait to see how God is going to bring me through all of them.

Isn’t it great to just stop and reflect on what God has brought about in your life over the past year!

a return to innocence

Growing up, I was exposed to a life of camping and traveling.  Family vacations took me all across America.  I remember sitting around countless campfires roasting marshmallows and sharing stories.

So this week while visiting family I jumped on the opportunity to have a camp fire, sit out roasting marshmallows all while sitting under a beautifully clear night.  I grabbed my tripod and headed out.

Taking pictures at night can pose many challenges, getting stable non-blurry shots, getting exposure and lighting right and keeping your focus sharp in situations where you must use manual focus.  But challenges like this are what pushes us as photographers to become better.

Insects

I am amazed that so much color and beauty could be contained in something so small.  As I was spending some time in nature I was able to catch these shots of butterflies.  Butterflies are beautiful creatures.  Their colors have been capturing the eyes of photographers for decades.  Once more beautiful aspect of God’s creation.

Behind the Scenes

For the past two weeks I have been working to help design a Technical manual for the worship team at my church.  The idea is to provide those seeking to be involved  with the technical aspects of the service some information and direction to what they may be able to do.

I have been involved in helping with live production for many years, and I can say that there is always a need for good quality help to add to the team.  I am loving working on this project and getting to record a few moments for these guys to help them as they recruit for their service.

worship

This past week I was able to photograph a worship conference.  On the last night they had a time of worship and singing, Katherine Scott ended the 3 hour concert with a song featuring some pretty epic slides.  I was taken back by the visual picture that was created by the deapth of the slides and the words of the song.

It was a great night of praise and worship and definitely a time to renew spiritually while in a corporate setting.

the love of a father

I spent last week up in North Carolina visiting friends, and while there I captured this image of a “father/daughter” moment.  I love seeing pictures of “love” and this one reminded me of my fathers love for me, but even greater is God, my heavenly father’s love for me.  I’m taken back by it every day!

A Piece of Magic

Sometimes all that you need in life to cheer you up is a little piece of magic.  This week I was able to take my soon to be fiance Natalie to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.  It was her first time there as well as her birthday.  We were able to celebrate this occasion in one of the most magical places in America.