Blog Header - August 25, 2010

I took the photo for this blog header one week ago. This is the view from Skyline Drive at about 4:45 am. I love the intense blues at that time of morning (night?).

It’s Friday - The Pool Is Now Open!

 

Waiting on the true source of comfort

Traveling the twists and turns of business life is never fun—especially in a severe economic downturn. And once again I find that I have looked at my own efforts as the way to get ahead. You’d think I’d learn at some point that all of this is in God’s hands—not mine.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.

And so, I will worship while I’m waiting.

 

“I will give you rest”

T

he never-ending roller coaster of life continues....

Last week was difficult. In fact, it was so difficult that it’s difficult even to put it into words. It was a tough week. Forget the literary excellence of It was the best of times; it was the worst of times, it seemed to be one of those worst of times weeks.

So as the end of the week approached, I began to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. At 3:30, I typically begin to shut down my computer and pack up my belongings to head to the bus for the commute home. And this week I had Friday night plans. As soon as I was to arrive home in Front Royal I planned to head to a friend’s house to play some music. I was looking forward to the release.

The week had become increasingly stressful as each day passed, and Friday was a microcosm of the entire week—it began bad and got worse as it went along. My work seemed to place heavier and heavier loads on my shoulders. Clients seemed to be particularly difficult taskmasters. But I kept my sights focused on that 3:30 light at the end of the tunnel. The seconds were counting down—I was into the home-stretch. And then...

@ 4:45 am

At 3:28 I received a phone call asking me to work on a project that evening. Work was to be sent to me at some unspecified time in the evening and I was to turn that work around so it could be distributed to the team that night. In other words, the light at the end of the tunnel was just extinguished.

@ 5:15 am

So I told my wife that Saturday would begin early for me. I planned to take my camera and tripod up into the Shenandoah Mountains early on Saturday morning to take pictures of the sunrise. I thought the solitude would help relieve some of the stress. And it did. The solitude allowed me to focus on the spectacular light show that God displays every morning. It seems God understood the modern American psyche with its short attention span. The beautiful colors of a sunrise last for about 30 minutes. So you need to be watching for it or you’ll miss it. And at that time of morning, that light show seems to be intended for just a handful of people. In fact, this past Saturday it seemed that God put on this light show for me alone. Not one other car passed me as I stood in the center of the road taking pictures with exposure times in the minutes rather than fractions of seconds.

@ 5:30 am

I felt the stress slide away. I pondered the magnificence of our great and majestic God. And I praised him for his glorious creation.

@ 5:40 am

I returned home a little bit before 7:00. Our family ate breakfast and then headed out to run some errands. Then we returned to Skyline Drive as a family to drive the mountains together. It was a good day.

And then it was Sunday. We sat in church and listened to the encouragement from the pulpit—encouragement that it seems was intended for me almost as directly and uniquely as the beautiful sunrise God had provided one day earlier:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Matthew 11:28–30

Later in the day

Wow! Thank you, God!

More pictures from the day.

 

Blog Header - August 18, 2010

I took this header photo at the Warren County Fair a few weeks ago. None of us had ever been to a truck and tractor pull and we had a blast. This truck was typical of the trucks in the event. They were pretty amazing.

It’s Friday - Weird, but fun, Voca People

Okay - their choreography looks like it was done by an invalid fundamental Baptist with Hyperactive Disorder, but their vocal harmonies are quite good.

 

Adagio state of mind

We have had a string of overcast and rainy days—very welcomed due to an overly hot and dry summer that has parched the ground and left the water tables low. But rainy days tend to impact my emotional and mental state and the recent days have put me in the mood for Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.” I hope you will enjoy it with me.

And another one to continue the thought.

J.S. Bach - Air on the G String
Uploaded by halfnislife. - See the latest featured music videos.

 

Blog Header - August 12, 2010

A few years ago a friend from work asked my wife and me to take some pictures of her daughter. She and her husband invited us to their house to take the pictures. We set up our portable studio in their garage, but ended up taking many pictures in the gorgeously landscaped yard.

I took the picture for this header when they were showing us around their back yard. They were walking toward me holding hands and looking very happy. When I raised the camera to take the picture the wife began laughing and it resulted in this fun photo.

To our military - Thank you!

I found this video on Facebook. It’s a heart-breaker, and it made me want to say a heart-felt thank you to all those men and women who make the sacrifice to serve our nation, to keep us free, and to promote justice in the world.

Thank you.

 

Portico musings

S

itting on the porch.
Feeling the cool breezes and listening to the rustle of leaves. Contemplating ... almost nothing. After a very difficult week, full of dishonest people pushing against one another in the never-ending dance of corporate futility, I have finally returned to my home. God has provided a beautiful, cool day with a refreshing breeze and deeply textured sky as the setting for today’s rest. Thank you God—my rock and my refuge.

Margaret Mitchell – Gone With the Wind

They topped the rise and the white house reared its perfect symmetry before her, tall of columns, wide of verandas, flat of roof, beautiful as a woman who is so sure of her charm that she can be generous and gracious to all.

I have always loved porches and feel tremendously blessed to now be living in a home with three porches and a spectacular view of the Shenandoah Mountains. The lack of traffic sounds (replaced by the sounds of summer insects and the distant sound of an impromptu pick-up baseball game) heightens the pleasure of this peaceful pastoral scene.

The week has come to an end. The work is done. The weight of the world, but for a moment, has been lifted.

These fancies arise in the soul—alas, how rarely. Only at epochs of most intense tranquility when the bodily and mental health are in perfection, and at those mere points of time where the confines of the waking world blend with the world of dreams.

And so I capture this fancy, where all that we see—or seem—is but a dream within a dream.

Edgar Allen Poe