Category : Pilgrim’s Chronicles

The metal doors above are slowly rusting away, so are our bodies. We were never promised that we could stay here forever, and we won’t. Now that does not have to be a downer, life is short but eternity is, well, eternity. We can be assured that after this life is over we can be in paradise with family and friends, and our Lord forever. That only takes one easy step, accept Him.

Why this theme today? I have a doctors appointment this afternoon for a general, supposed to be, yearly physical. I say supposed, because I fight going in for exams with a passion. Why? Let me make a list for you. In my past appointments I’ve been told;

You have cancer, requires surgery and radiation treatments (1982)
You need cataracts repaired in both eyes (1988)
You have a detached retina requiring emergency surgery (1994)
You have Type II Diabetes (1995)
You have a bleeding ulcer need transfusions (1996)
You have had a TIA, (mini stroke), need many tests, and meds (2003)
You have stage 2 colon cancer need surgery (2004)
You have hypertension need medications (2008)
You have a torn rotator cuff, need surgery (2010)

And I’ve survived two airplane crashes, used to white water canoe, and raced motorcycles when I was much younger, and had even less sense. Oh yes, and I fly ultralight airplanes, and scuba dive.

You can imagine why I don’t like going to see the doctor, seems it never goes well………

O.K. the bottom line is this, I’m, by the grace of God, still alive, feel great, for my age, and
love life, and serving Him. So whatever the Doc has to say is fine with me. As Paul, said,
to be here with you, or in the presence of my Lord………… I’m good either way. (the pilgrim’s loose translation of scripture)

Have a great weekend,

the pilgrim

*Photo Note: D3 and 70-300 AF-S VR

I heard an ad on the radio today, that left me puzzled. I know you’ve heard it, it goes something like this…. “Due to a turn down in the economy and major car companies going bankrupt, a special program has been developed so that automobile owners with less than 150,000 miles can get repair bills paid in the event of major failures in your automobile.” It goes on to “infer” that
this is a government program for the “general public”. It brought to my mind several questions.
How does anyone think that some benevolent agency is going to fix your car and pay all the bills?
Never is it inferred that this “coverage” will cost the consumer very much, in fact it states this
coverage is a fraction of the program offered by dealers. The tell is this, the ad states, that the participant will pay nothing for all “covered” repairs.

The question is what’s covered? It is shameful to see what has happened to our society, ad copy writers obviously know that many people out there today believe that someone is going to help them with every difficult circumstance in life. It’s not surprising since our congress, senate, and
administration have developed programs to meet every conceivable need, accept for the need for people to accept some responsibility for there own lives.

Christ commanded us to help the widows and the orphans and I believe we need to do that. I can find nowhere in scripture that urges us to invite half the population to not work, not pay taxes, and
live off programs supported by the half that do work, do pay taxes, and provide these services. We live in a country in which if you have a job, work, and pay taxes, you support the needs of the other half of the population, that is not contributing to the effort. The maddening things is that if any of the half that work and support the system, had needs, they are not eligible for hardly any of the programs they support and provide for the other half.

The car ad is a symptom, a symptom that we shouldn’t have to worry about anything bad happening to us, because someone will come along and fix it. When America was first settled
everyone had to work together so that everyone could survive. No one could stand on the sidelines and wait for others to provide for them. It’s time for society to start again being responsible. If you are young and unemployed, don’t start a family, that seems to make sense,
but we have programs that actually make it profitable to bring children into the world. Once a child is born and the parent, (notice I didn’t say parents – plural), can prove that they have no means for supporting, and caring for a child, they immediately become eligible for countless programs. No wonder some unmarried mothers produce countless children, adding layer after layer of support payments. Do I want these children to live on the street and go hungry, absolutely not. What I do pray for is some restraint in this endless parade of new members of the welfare state.

I have always thought it would be cool to have a Ferrari, but I can’t afford one. Do you think if
I bought one anyway, the government might help me pay for it, and buy me some gas??? Go figure.

the pilgrim

Have you ever gotten a song in your head that you couldn’t stop humming? Sometime over the weekend, while driving home from Nashville, I imagine, I heard an old rock classic and it stuck in my mind. This morning I woke up hearing it in my head. Then I thought about the words and thought how sad the song is. You know the chorus. “I want you, I need, but there ain’t no way I’m ever gonna love you, now don’t be sad, cause two our of three ain’t bad.”

As a child of God. we don’t have to ever accept anything less than the best, and two out of three “ain’t “ the best. Meat Loaf may have had a hit, but he’s dead wrong.

Consider Romans 12: 1-2
 1 Christian brothers, I ask you from my heart to give your bodies to God because of His loving-kindness to us. Let your bodies be a living and holy gift given to God. He is pleased with this kind of gift. This is the true worship that you should give Him. 2 Do not act like the sinful people of the world. Let God change your life. First of all, let Him give you a new mind. Then you will know what God wants you to do. And the things you do will be good and pleasing and perfect.
This morning’s In Touch daily devotional said it better than I could ever express, and it fell right in line with what God was giving to me as I awoke this morning, amazing, but then He’s God!
The Lord wants to give each of us an abundance of blessings. Let’s explore what is required so that we may enjoy all that He has planned.
Today’s passage clarifies the one necessary condition for receiving His best: full surrender. Every aspect of our being—body, soul, and spirit—is to be a living sacrifice. This may sound dreary, but contrary to human logic, true freedom is found only when we fully yield to Christ.
In the Old Testament, sacrifice was very common. To atone for sin, a person could bring a lamb to the altar. The animal was set apart for God’s purposes as a holy offering, and through its death, restitution was made.
When we give ourselves as a sacrifice, there is, thankfully, no need for our blood to be shed. Jesus died to atone for all our sin. But out of love and gratitude, every aspect of our lives should be dedicated to Him.
What does a surrendered life entail? Most importantly, it involves complete commitment to Christ, unaltered by the world’s influence. Our desires and old ways of functioning are no longer driving forces. Instead, His Spirit guides, and His will is the goal. Yielding to Him means following His way in attitude, words, thoughts, and deeds—and doing so unapologetically, unwaveringly, fearlessly.
You have a choice—either be content with less than God’s best, or give yourself fully to Him. Complete surrender is not an easy road; it means dying to your desires and selfishness. But remember that the Lord is willing and able to do more than we can even imagine. Courtesy In Touch Ministries
Let your Heavenly Father do more for you than you can even imagine, He’s willing and that is what He wants for you. Never settle for two our of three……
Be blessed,
the pilgrim

* Photo Note: Nikon F5, 80-200, Velvia, Serengeti Plain, Kenya, Africa.

The last few days have been absolutely wonderful. After several days of moaning about having to be away from home, sorry about that, just when you think the traveling life stinks you have a
great trip like my journey down to Nashville. Above you see the fantastic Don Nelson family, left to right, not sure who that guys is, but next to him are Mr & Mrs. Scott Nelson, Don’s son and daughter-in-law, great people, and of course Don and his wife Chris. I had the immense pleasure of catching up with them at Rotiers.

Thursday I had lunch with a great
sports shooter, Patrick Murphy
Racey. A new convert to Nikon
and we are thrilled to have him.
I’ve known Patrick for many years
and have appreciated his work,
but appreciated his open stand
for our Lord even more.

Friday morning I had another real
treat, when I got to do a Pro call
on Life Touch in Brentwood. David
Warren, a long time friend and
brother introduced me to a lot
of their people, and I met many
other great brothers ands sisters.
David ‘s boss is a guy named David
Crandall, who also, gloriously,
turned out to be a wonderful
Christian man, and our conversation
skirted back and forth between our
photography interests, and our faith.
It was a wonderful meeting.

You would think that would be quite enough blessings for one trip, but God has no bounds to His
ability to overwhelm us. Saturday, I was to teach a 4 hour workshop to customers for Dury’s
Camera Store. I love to do these teaching programs, and I really love doing them at Dury’s because their customers have always been so great. That alone would be enough, but then
God must sit up in heaven, saying to Jesus, “watch this..” I found out that Nick Coury and Terry
Wyatt of Dury’s are also brothers, and we had a great time, lots of tech talk and visiting, and then a fun workshop, with tremendous people.

So here comes the Kingdom part. What is it? It is the central theme of Jesus teaching, it’s the only force that is contesting Satan’s total rule of human affairs. It’s also a “Larger than life” view of the world. If you are redeemed, this life is simple, it’s us vs the enemy. Our struggles are not with people, but with the powers of darkness. Make no mistake, God is on the throne, reigning, and in complete control, it’s us that loose our control. If you are a kingdom person, you better put on the full armor of God. If you intend to do battle for Him, you need to get ready.

Before anyone says it, let me address it right here. People that don’t want to hear what I share, often hit me up side of the head with how imperfect Christians and the church are, (not the physical church, but the body of believers). My pastor has the perfect answer, “The church is like Noah’s Ark, if it weren’t for the storms on the outside, all of the stench on the inside would be unbearable…” Yes, we know we are imperfect…..

Being a man or woman that walks in the Kingdom, does not mean you are perfect, just forgiven and blessed……………

Blessings,

the pilgrim

The Last Shot – is just to make me smile. God gave me a wonderful earthly father, he was the manager of Coca Cola bottling plant when I was a little boy. Every time I see a Coca Cola sign
I think of how good God was to me, to let me have that kind of a father, and…….. that kind
of a weekend. When I say I’m a blessed man, you better believe it.

*Photo Note: P300 (Dury’s shot by Nick Coury with my D7000 and 24-120)