Monthly Archives: December 2011

 

It’s getting close now, that magical time of celebration!   This is a terrible time to be alone.  As families gather and friends come together, I bet you know someone that will be spending Christmas alone.  Consider setting another place at your Christmas table, or taking a warm meal to a shut in.  You could also find out if the local food bank is delivering baskets and contribute, or better yet, go along and find out the real joy of Christmas!  The baby that was born on Christmas Day spent His life ministering to the poor, the elderly, those in prisons, and those that were lame and  blind.  If you’ve ever wondered how you could please God, it might be to love the same people He loved, and bring comfort to those in dispair.

 

The greatest way you can share His love is to reach out to the lost.  To share His love and compassion with them, to invite them to the Lord’s table, to help them find the ultimate Peace On Earth!

 

God has set a wonderful feast table before us, and you are invited to join in the dinner.  This is your invitation.

 

In Christ,

 

the pilgrim

 

I’m sitting in my office on Wednesday afternoon, feeling the incredible glow of Christmas time!  It’s joy!  How is joy different from happiness?  Happiness is a wonderful feeling we feel when our circumstances are great.  Webster’s says a ” feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. ”    The definition for joy is the same but it contains a lot more nouns that express the depth of joy;

” delight, great pleasure, joyfulness, triumph, exultation, rejoicing, happiness, gladness, exhilaration, exuberance, elation, euphoria, bliss, ecstasy!”

 

Delight – to have such a Savior born into this world, and loving me, before I loved Him.

 

Great Pleasure in knowing I no longer face death, but eternal life!

 

Joyfulness to experience Christmas with family and friends, and relish the memories of a wonderful year!

 

Jubilation is celebrating the birth of the King!

 

Triumph over the world and evil when He died for me!

 

Exultation of His Holy Name;  the King of kings, Lord of lords, the Great I Am, Jehovah, The Prince of Peace, The Lamb of God, The Messiah, my friend and Savior!

 

Rejoicing at His birth and all His countless blessing to me and all those I love!

 

Happiness to be His child!

 

Gladness that He saved me from my sins!

 

Exhilaration that He can love someone like me!

 

Exuberance  to be filled with the energy of the Holy Spirit to serve Him faithfully.

 

Elated to be a member of the family of God!

 

Euphoric to know the Truth and the Light.

 

In Bliss to know Him as the Savior, the King, and my Lord.

 

Ecstatic to be here now, celebrating Christmas with those I love (and that includes all of  you!  After all, you are in my family of God!)

 

Jesus is truly the Light of the World, it is His Light that lights the way for us, show us where to go, where to stay, and how to be at Peace in Him.  In these last few days before the marvelous celebration of His birth, take time to pray and contemplate  how you can go out into the world and show His love, the way He showed it when He walked among us here on earth.  Ask Him to fill your heart with His love, compassion and grace.

 

Merry Christmas,

 

the pilgrim

 

It was the best of times, and the worst of times…….  It was 1991 and my dream of a life time had come true, I was the owner of a workshop company, that from day one had been dedicated to serving God and spreading His love.  In the early years we worked so very hard.  I drove up to Freeport, Maine just to meet with some management people of L.L. Bean and ask how they had built their wonderful company, and I committed to make the GAPW (Great American Photography Weekend),  just like them, very, very customer oriented.  In no time the company was the top rated nature photography workshop company in America!  It was totally a God thing!  It belonged to Him and He made it great.  We served Him by loving everyone who came and we made our stance known by holding completely optional Sunday morning devotionals.  Lives were changed, people found the Lord, marriages were healed, people turned their lives around!  It was the best of times!  Later we needed capitalization and many long time attendees, all dear friends, wanted to be part owners, so with guidance of a dear brother in Christ we became a Sub Chapter S corp and sold stock. Things went well for a while and then the workshop business started to fall off for everyone in the business, and our board started to try to find ways to “improve” the company.

 

It was suggested that maybe the Sunday morning devotionals might “offend” someone of a different faiths.  Unfortunately things got rather heated and  as much as I hate to admit it, I over reacted and in an effort to defend my position, I hurt some people.  Of course, I came to my senses, and made appropriate apologies, and relationships were healed.  Shortly after our little internal battle the workshop business got even worse because 9/11.  It became obvious that our little company could not survive if it had to continue to pay me.  To save the company, and in all honesty, I was getting tired of traveling, I resigned the Presidency and went off to look for a regular job.  The company went on without me.  I loved those early days when we  were not in any way under the pressure of “political correctness.”  I made many wonderful friends and saw so many people grow spiritually, it was all worth while, but sad to see it end for me, the worst of times.

 

Fast forward to today.  Nine years later I’ve celebrated almost a decade of  wonderful time at Nikon and in that time God has so richly blessed me with so much to be thankful for.  I decided that I missed doing workshops and wanted to get more involved in my ministry to photographers.  I love being with other shooters, and especially sharing our joint faith and belief.  So here I am again, at another starting point!  His Light Workshops is different though, I’m not trying to make a living now, I’m trying to make a difference.  I want the people that come to our workshops, tours, and events to come knowing they have a safe place, a safe place to express their faith, their love of God, and share that in a warm atmosphere of  Christian fellowship.  It’s open to anyone I just want them to know going in that these workshops will be different.  I’m not trying to exclude anyone, in fact I want to include everyone, I want everyone to know the extraordinary joy of being His, I don’t want to run anyone away, I want anyone that joins us to know they are in a place overcome with love, His love!

 

Now this morning at 4:15 a.m. apparently God was up, and He said up and at em’ to me.  I awoke and got my iPad and wrote out what He was giving me, and now I will share it with you.   This is living proof of God’s sense of humor, and the answer to my concern on how to let people know what we are all about, enjoy;

 

 

His Light Workshops Disclaimer

The attending of a His Light Workshop may lead to the following symptoms or reactions: elevated joy, increased faith, feelings of unrestrained laughter, compassion, and love!  In certain participants the following have occurred; desire to know and serve others with God’s love and grace!  Participants are WARNED that it is possible that the following might be experienced; spontaneous worship,  praise, and prayer.   His Light Workshops should only be attended after consulting with the Great Physician.  The ownership and management does “not” disavow any of the warnings here with contained in this statement.

 

 

On this December 20th, 2011,  I find myself in the very Best of Times.  I’m at peace with God, my family and friends, and my friends include those that disagreed so many years ago on the right way to run a workshop company.  But this is fresh start because this little company does not belong to me!   It belongs to Him and it will be used to serve Him until He brings me home.  My friends, life is strange when I was young I thought success was getting what you want, now years later I understand, success is wanting what you get!

 

In four days it will be Christmas Eve, my prayer for you is that you will want what you get!

 

In Him,

 

the pilgrim

 

When I was a young man in the 1950’s I can remember hearing my Dad and Grandfather say that phrase.  As I grew up I heard a lot of others say it and after a while I just accepted it as fact.  To this day, I still think it holds a lot of weight.  In photography we spend a lot of money on camera bodies, lenses, accessories, tripods, ball heads, and on and on.  Even if you had more money than you knew what to do with, you still want to spend it wisely! How does this old quote relate to camera buying?   Let’s take the illustration above of three current Nikon cameras; Top, the Nikon D3s our best professional high speed camera, second down is the Nikon D7000 our top DX DSLR, and at the bottom, the Nikon Coolpix P7100, the most advanced, performance Coolpix.  The D3s sells for around $5,300. the D7000 for around $1,200. and the P7100 for around $499.  That is a large spread of pricing.  Can you apply that old saw to these three cameras?  Do you really get what you pay for?

 

Before we tackle that, let me state a pet theory about the value of anything to the buyer.  I think there are several factors that will answer that question, the buyer says; I like it.  I love it!  I want it!  I need it!  I can afford it!  The combination to your answer to those questions will determine what you buy.  Is there a difference between theses three cameras?  Is there a difference between a S Class Mercedes and a Ford Focus?  Of course, but the real question is how much do the differences mean to you?  If you budget for a new car is less than $20,000., there is no sense in even test driving the S Class.   We all know where to draw the line on what we can afford and that answers much of the question.  The problem comes in when we “can” afford any of the choices.  Admittedly it’s a good problem, but a problem none the less.

 

O.K. let’s break this down.  if you “need” high speed, very heavy duty build quality, the ultimate in imaging quality, especially at high ISO and you can afford it, the D3s is the ticket, no question about it.  If you don’t need the super high speed and buffer of the D3s, and don’t shoot at very high ISOs on a regular basis (I consider very high ISOs above 1600), then the D7000 will do you very nicely, and at a great savings in money and weight to have to carry around!    If you just want a near pocketable camera that will give you great images, but will not break the bank the P7100 is real steal at less than $500.  Can you see the difference between the images made with all three?  Yes, but, it will depend on a number of factors.  If you shoot very high ISO, above 1600 a lot, you will definitely see the advantage of the D3s over the other two.  If you travel a great deal and carry your camera over you shoulder all the time, you will definitely feel the difference between the D3s and the D7000/P7100.  If you mostly show your images on your computer, in emails and small prints, small than 20X24, you will not notice hardly any difference between the three!   If you make a living shooting billboards and making 4X6 foot prints, the D3s will be a big, big advantage!  Now if you just won the lottery, or had a great year with your investment portfolio, buy all three!

 

So do you get what you pay for?  Yes with qualifiers.  Can you make wonderful images with all three cameras?  You bet.

 

Now it’s almost Christmas and you are probably wondering why there is no spiritual content to this blog entry!?  You just didn’t read far enough!

 

There is one time you can get something of incredible value, that you don’t have to pay for at all!  Jesus has paid for it in full already!  Your salvation, your forgiveness, your acceptance into the family of God are all arranged for already.  That present is already wrapped and is under your tree, ready to be opened!  You’ve received an invitation, especially if you have read the blog more than three times……. to accept that gift.  All that is required of you is to realize you need it, you truly desire it, you recognize Jesus as God’s Only Son.  The last part is the hardest for man, to bow down and ask Him to come into your life.  If you do, you will get the most valuable thing you have ever received and you will get what He paid for.

 

Merry Christmas,

 

the pilgrim