Exposure and Life

   The other morning I had a few minutes before a meeting, and, even though it was still dark, I thought I would take a couple of shots of the predawn sky. This was 20 minutes or so before the scheduled sunrise, but a lot of the time, that is where you get the most color and a softer hue.

   So I took a shot, trying to capture the moment when the sky was beginning to lighten, and got this:

   When I got home to look at it, I realized that the darkness had completely taken over the photo, and it needed to have had more exposure in order to make it look like sunrise.

   So, I put it in the photo application in the computer, increased the exposure and clarity and got this:

   Exposure has a lot to do with the size of the aperture opening (how much light I let in) and the shutter speed (the length of time I let the camera look at the shot). By increasing the exposure, I do both and I get a picture worth using.

   Exposure is a lot like that in my life as well. The more I open my eyes, my aperture, to the world around me, the more I can see. Of course, I can see the good, the bad and the ugly, and that is where the shutter speed comes in.

   The length of time I spend looking at something, the more effect it can have on my life. That look can be a curse or a blessing, depending on how long I look.

   So I realize that exposure is very important, to my photos as well as to my life.

   And my prayer is like that of the Psalmist, that I would let my eyes dwell on no worthless thing, but, with God's help, keep them on Him.

Reading, Believing, and Living

   Why are verses in The Psalms so appealing to most people? Indeed, why do I like to read them as the first part of my meditation in the early morning?

   Is it because they are so positive a lot of the time? The words flow in a rhythm of worship and praise, and it feels good just to read and take them in. They bring comfort and relieve suffering and grief.

   But is this all they do? Can there be more that I sometimes tend to gloss over, even in the most uplifting of this part of God's Word?

   The Psalm reading for today comes from Psalms 16 and contains these words:

"Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge"

"You are my Lord"

"I have no good apart from you"

"The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup"

"I bless the Lord who gives me counsel"

"I have set the Lord always before me"

"Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices"

"You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore"

   Even as I see the truth in these words for that early writer, I wonder if my life shows them to others. Do I live out what I read or just  mentally give a nod to them?

   It is so easy for me to read and assent, then go out and live the rest of my day without thinking of them or knowing that they are true for me, and as I get to the end of my day, realize that they have made no difference in my life at all, at least not in the way that I live in front of others.

   So, God, help me not only to read these words but remember them throughout this day and live them out. Help me to have a smile on my face and an attitude that shows that I really believe them. Help me not only to be Your hands and feet in my community, but to have Your mind and heart as well.

Veritas...Truth

   Here is the convoluted path that I took to the subject of today. Sometimes there is no telling when you start out of where you will end, and so here is my journey so far.

   Beginning before 6 this morning, I read the two sections of Scripture for today, and I also read the Moravian readings for today. In that latter text was included a verse from the hymn by Henry van Dyke, Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee, written in 1907 and published in 1911, whose music score was taken from Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

   I thought about this music as I walked in the early dawn's light. The morning was clear, quiet and beautiful and the words of that hymn verse that I had read earlier came back to mind:

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

   It was indeed a glorious morning, and a joyful walk.

   When I got back to the condo, I looked up the hymn and the story behind it. These words of van Dyke were included in the article:

"These vers­es are sim­ple ex­press­ions of com­mon Christ­ian feel­ings and de­sires in this pre­sent time—hymns of to­day that may be sung to­ge­ther by peo­ple who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that any truth of sci­ence will de­stroy re­li­gion, or any re­vo­lu­tion on earth over­throw the king­dom of hea­ven. There­fore this is a hymn of trust and joy and hope."

   The mention of truth struck me. What discoveries or theories of science might have been on his mind when he wrote that? Then the thought, what did the textbooks of 1907 have in them? What science, what history, what theories of either? Which of these would still hold water today?

   As discoveries have been made and new facts uncovered over the 100+ years since that hymn was first published, what "truths" have come out? Will even these new ones stand the test of time as new facts are discovered?

   Van Dyke talked of Christians that are not afraid that any "truth" will destroy their faith in the ultimate truth of what God has done. What is accepted by society as truth may pass away as science keeps digging, but their's is a truth that will not change.

   There seems to be all sorts of relative truths out there and temporary ones as well, but I will trust in the God that has placed that ultimate one out there, the one that will still be there when it is all over.

   And my prayer is that God will help me to discover all that and live by it. If I can't know it all, I can still trust in the One that does.

   Amen

Thank You

   Set the scene:  It is 5:15 in the morning, dark outside and quiet inside..

   The question: Do I get up, and if so what do I do?

   The background: I was inspired yesterday when looking at some photos that my neighbor had posted on Facebook, and I wanted to see if I could do some of the same. She's good and hard to follow, but I had to try, I thought.

   I usually give some thought each night before dropping off to what time I want to get up. Last night was no exception and I thought about 5:30 or so would be right. If the weather looked good, I might go down to the lighthouse area and try some night and early morning shots. After I determine a good wake up time, I pray (selfishly maybe) that if this is what God wants me to do, He will wake me up. Now I don't know theologically about that type of prayer, but, for me, it gives a boost to rolling out.

   I did not want to just run out the door and begin shooting, I wanted to at least tip my hat to God and pray for a minute or two and look up one of the readings (probably to see if I was really supposed to venture out). Here is a verse from Psalm 5 this morning:

"O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch."

   In the morning God hears my voice and he calls on me to sacrifice and watch. I'm not exactly sure about the sacrifice part, but I do like the hearing and watching.

   That sounds like a "yes" to me, so I check the weather and find out that currently it is partly cloudy and not raining. Could be a good morning to shoot.

   Here I am at the pier/village area before 6AM. What will I find? I am watching..

   The first image is that light coming through the trees.

Then there is the beach area with a brightening sky in the background.

   Then it is back up the steps and looking east again.

   Then I start to pack up and head for home, but first..

   Then a thought, "I may not be as good as my neighbor at this stuff, but I am sure glad to be alive this morning. A Chamber of Commerce type of beginning to my day, and gratitude is my prayer. Thank You God for all You have done."

The Impact of a Shared Piece of Bread

   Here are a few of the book titles I have read over the past few months:

   Of Windmills and War (a true story of the feeding of Dutch people at the end of WWII)

   The Secret Rescue (an untold story of American nurses and medics behind Nazi lines in WWII)

   A Town Like Alice (a story of a British girl trapped in Malaya in WWII)

   The German Suitcase (a story of the Holocaust)

   The Thin Red Line (WWII)

   Guests of the Ayatollah (Iranian hostage crises in 1979)

   There seems to be some sort of pattern here. They are all historical in nature, most about the WWII period, and most all are about events or people that the general public has never heard of or about.

   Why do I find these types of stories so interesting?

   I think it is because of the lives of so many that are woven into any main story line. There is a tremendous amount of actors under the rock of any event, and we do not even see them until an event is brought out in the light of day.

   Take, for example, the book I just finished reading yesterday, The Secret Rescue. The narrative contains the names of many people, some famous from history, such as Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower, but also those others in the story that had a part, but whose names are only known to their family and friends.

   And there are others that took part in that whole episode who are not even named in the book. Let me illustrate.

   The historical event takes place in Albania, a backwater country even today, near the end of WWII. A planeload of American medical personnel has to make a crash landing in a remote part of that remote country. They spend two months wandering about a mountainous landscape, trying to evade the Nazi enemy and get back to Allied lines in Italy. A little known event, in an out-of-the-way place, tucked inside the greater story of that Second World War in the 1940s.

   What intrigues me about this story are the many lives that are touched and whose own individual story lines intersect in this one time and place. From the personnel on the plane, to the people looking for them, to the secret Allied agents on the ground in that country, to the partisan fighters, to the villagers in remote areas; all play a part, and without each one the story does not unfold as it did.

   Who might be the most important in the tale? Was it the ones on the plane, the pilots that got the plane down in that area, the freedom fighters and the military who got them out, or the unknown villagers who shared some of their meager food supply to keep the Americans alive in those winter months in those Albanian mountains? Without each, the story does not happen.

   I think about this as I walk this morning. My life intersects with others on a daily basis, and what is my response to them? Will I be like those poor inhabitants of that poor country in that episode of history, the ones who risked their lives and meager food stock to help, or will I be one of those unnamed peasants who locked their doors and refused?

   This book was not written from any religious perspective, in fact it seems deliberately left out of the narrative, but God was active in those events, just as He is today. He had a purpose in all of those lives back then, and He has today.

   When I think of how a life today could have been impacted by a person with a scrap of food shared with another some 70 years in the past, it boggles my mind. Just because one shared, one nurse lived to care for another who lived, and each person affected by that act of kindness could take their place in the overall plan of God's story. Multiply that by the number of people who were saved because of that one episode, and you have millions of lives affected by one person and one piece of bread. Amazing.

   Would that I would be open to others today, for reasons that I cannot even know.

 

Passing Shadows

   I am sitting in my den/office/spare bedroom right now looking at the blank screen of a malfunctioning TV. I can still get a picture, but the color is messed up somewhat, and I have been looking for a solution. It has taken far too much of my time to get a service man to look at it and determine either the cause, or the remedy, or both.

   Now I got all of that done on Thursday, the 11th day after the problem began. The rep told me that it could not be fixed, and that, since I had an extended warranty, they would replace my tv with a new one. All of that is OK, and probably good news, but now other things take my attention.

   Do I junk the old one, while it still works enough to use? What size new one do I get? If I leave the old one here in this room, what do I do with a new one?

   Then there are other concerns: I have been doing all my watching from the Internet, so do I spring for cable to get all the shows I want to see, especially since it is football season again? Do I go to the Sky Angel network, a Christian alternative to regular cable, so as to miss all the bad stuff on tv? Do I just plug along as I have been doing?

   Then I think in the midst of all these questions, would not my thinking time be better spent in some other way. I pondered all these tv questions for a couple of hours this morning, even on my walk and through breakfast, so that I did not even sit down to think about God until now.

   I recognized all of the above as I sat down to read, pray and write. My prayer was for God to help me see through all the distractions, to help me get to right decisions, even on mundane stuff like tv, and to get my life focused on Him as it should be.

   Then the verses from Psalm 144 just a few minutes ago:

"O Lord, what is man that you regard him,
or the son of man that you think of him?

Man is like a breath;
his days are like a passing shadow."

   In the long term scheme of things, what is important, what is lasting, what is worthwhile?

   The answer to any of the above is probably not tv.

   So, I pray again, for the ability to see right priorities, and not to waste my passing shadow on things that are not eternally worthwhile.

   Can I work this whole thing out? God willing.

   Thy Will Be Done

West, South, East and North, All of It...

   There were these verses this morning from Psalm 131:

"O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul"

   And I wondered about them, and what they might say to me, as I went out to walk. Even now, as I begin to write, I am not quite sure about that, but maybe i will be more enlightened before I finish, or maybe I will just have to come back to them over and over during this day.

   So, I walked, and I looked. What did my sleepy eyes behold?

   A full moon in the west, clear and bright in the early sky.

   A billowing cloud formation in the south, a light shade of gray for the most part, but a bright pink on the top where the sun was striking it from below the horizon.

   A brilliant orange, yellow and pink sunrise in the east, just before the sun came up.

   A sky filled with several shades of bright blue.

   And, right at the end of my walk, as I paused before going in, I glanced to the north and there was a partial rainbow, just a short arc of colors stretching from one cloud to another.

   Two thoughts came to mind:

   1. I should have brought my camera this morning, and...

   2. Does all of this mean something that I should know, or feel, or see? Is God trying to tell me something through all these visual images? Am I supposed to put it all together and write about it?

   Then as I reread the verses above, they seemed to say "when you see these beautiful scenes in the sky, they may not be there for anything else but to cause you to be glad to be alive and to be able to enjoy them. Think about that for awhile. You have looked to the west, south, east and north. Be sure to take in the whole picture."

   So, I relive these images in my mind, and I know that I am blessed, and I am grateful to God for such a beautiful morning and for these thoughts and mental pictures to carry with me into this new day.

   But, tomorrow I may take my camera anyway.