"Come, follow me"

I was able to get a couple of prints of one of my favorite photographs from Michigan matted and framed for the photo booth at Heritage Trace Clubhouse tomorrow night.  I will also have the same photo available in a greeting card.

I would like to share with you why this photograph was so strong even before I saw it developed.  The composition was not something I had to plan, but jumped out at me screaming the commitment and faith it takes to be a disciple of Christ.  The red vines on the grand tree by the water caught my eye at first.  Then I realized that the sweeping branch of the tree was framing a sailboat.  The scene spoke to me of the themes of evangelism and faith:  evangelism to be salt and light for the world, and faith that strengthens our Christian walk.   Jesus calls us on a path to and with Him through our storms, keeping our eyes on the only true prize.

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At the calling of the first disciples Jesus saw Peter and Andrew, two brothers who were fisherman,  casting a net into a lake.  He said, "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men."Matt. 4:19


Jesus continued to add to his disciples and traveled through Galilee teaching, preaching, and healing.  He took a time apart with his chosen disciples to teach them the Beatitudes.  There would be spiritual joy, but  suffering for those who would be fishers of men for Christ.  Blessed they would be in the kingdom of heaven, though their worldly circumstances would certainly not be pathways full of wealth and ease.

However, the good news for all of us in discipleship is that we are to..."Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven..." Matt. 5:12
because THERE, after all, is where our true treasure resides.  It cannot be earned, but is freely given; a truly invaluable future hope.

Hey Photo Peeps!


Wanted to let you know that I will have a booth of photos and cards this Thursday night at the Holiday Festival at Heritage Clubhouse: 9536 Courtright Drive, off Heritage Trace Prkwy, Keller, TX.  So if you are local followers of my blog and photography, PLEASE come see us.  I will have 8 notecards with scriptures, and several sizes of matted and framed prints that you have not seen yet.  


There will be games, crafts, food and music.  Dec. 1st, 4-8, so the Christmas decorations will abound.
I would love to see you and tell you about the stories of the photographs!


Here are a few pix you have not seen that will be there in cards or frames:

Desert Light

We recently attended a wedding in Arizona.  Our friends' daughter was married outside on the grounds of a golf course with Superstition Mountain in the background.  The weather cooperated and the event was lovely.  The light was incredible for some of the photographs I took there.

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I have had occasion to visit the area around Phoenix a few other times in the last years.  My uncle lived at Mesa before he passed a few years ago.  He took my mother and me out to Superstition Mountain to show us some of his favorite places.

Then another trip to Arizona to a wedding afforded visiting the area and traveling north to the Grand Canyon with my husband.  It was an amazing journey.

The desert blooms in its own special way.  It seems like parched land, but there is always something present that proves life.  It is a good thing to remember.  Rejoice Always, even when circumstances are telling you that death wins.  It is the great lie of the enemy.  We have, through Christ, eternal life.  We have the choice to be grateful, no matter what.  We have the ability to love because He first loved us.  There IS light in the desert, and abundant LIFE.  Praise Him!

Be Imitators of God

As we traveled the almost empty roads of Northern Michigan country we were treated with many reflections of fall foliage in lakes. Anytime I see reflections I pray that I might be looking more like Him each day. My feet walk off the path and my defiance gets me lost, until my prodigal stubborn heart again is willing to turn back from the path not of His choosing. Sometimes I don't realize I have gotten off the path until I hear some unloving thought or word come out of me.

I must say these days that it is not always love and humility being shown by Christians in the spotlight. Many times words are, embarrassingly, judgmental and arrogant. I think of the hymn verse of 'they will know we are Christians by our love.' That doesn't get conveyed when we beat folks up that don't agree with our belief.

If we boast in anything, let it be the Lord, Himself. His will, not ours, is the standard. Nobody has ever walked perfectly but One. It doesn't mean that we should quit trying to do everything unto Him; gathering grace and wisdom when we fail.

Trying to force our beliefs and choices on someone else will probably get the opposite reaction that we desire as His disciples. Sort of the reaction of 'a man convinced against His will is of the same opinion, still'. Love, humility, service; pathways of the fruits of the Spirit: those are the things of God put in us to be His Light in this world of self-will and misery.

God knows that becoming imitators of Himself takes a relationship of abandoning ourselves to Him and becoming willing to listen and follow. Nothing in the world is more worth the effort than to hear some day, "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

I encourage you to go out and be imitators of God today. Smile, be joyful, and full of random acts of kindness. Walk humbly, and boast in the Lord. Let His peace rule your heart and His light shine from it.

A Time for Every Purpose

To everything there is a season...
and a time for every purpose under heaven.

Oh, how many times I have sung those words of Ecclesiastes and 'Turn, Turn, Turn' through the years!

Sometimes we hold onto old ideas or outgrown careers because it is just easier than doing the work to cross the river of fear and do something that has been calling us to a new season. Personally and professionally I want to do everything I do unto God; and it is time to stretch myself again in how He has been letting me minister through my hands as a career to more opportunities for evangelism through my photography.

I think it is awesome how God has put in each one of us a way to carry the message of His love and grace, hope and courage, to do the things we cannot do in and of ourselves. For me, it is exciting and magical to tell you how and where I took my photographs. It is easy to share God through those stories. Many photographs I shot at the time were very strong, but others did not develop into the point I was supposed to get until I revisited them later.

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This particular photograph was taken at a rest stop in Michigan. It is the first one I took. When we were landing in Detroit it appeared that all the trees were still green. I thought we had come too soon to see the colors. But not far up the road towards the Upper Peninsula God gave me a gift of seeing the foretaste of the colors to come as we continued north. These brilliant leaves had fallen down to impress upon my spirit the promise of fall foliage to come.

Doing everything unto God has the by product of true satisfaction and appreciation of what He has put in us to do. The relationship that we can have with God through Christ is a truly amazing process. He did not form us and send us out on a rudderless boat. He journeys with us and gives us wisdom if we but ask. We do not have the promise of an easy life; but we do have the promise that He will never leave us. That is the only thing standing when all else fails; knowing He goes into every day as my guide, my shepherd.