Monthly Archives: December 2011

 

 

This mornings devotional from In Touch and Dr. Charles Stanley is too good to pass up, let me share it with you!  I will paraphrase;

 

John 15: 9-17

⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. ¹⁰ When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! ¹² This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. ¹³ There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. ¹⁶ You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

 

Jesus is the Messiah, the Creator, the Son of the Living God, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, He is the single most powerful figure in the universe, in existence.  The earth you stand on was created in His hands!  How unimaginable is it that He wants you to call Him, your friend!   In His time on earth he stated over and over that we belong to Him and His Father and that we are no longer slaves, but His friends, His closest confidants, He held back no secrets from us.   He wants to be with us, spend time with us, show us His love and grace.

 

When I was in college I took a physics class and the professor was explaining, or attempting to explain, the word infinity. and it’s meaning. He said that if you built a rocket that could go at the speed of light and you launched it into space, it would go on forever, because space is “endless”!!  I have never been able to completely grasp that concept, though it is obviously true.  If your rocket went a hundred trillion miles out into space and then came to a brick wall, what is on the other side of the brick wall???!!!  The reason we have such a hard time with this concept is that we, as human beings, live in a world of limits, dimensions, beginnings and endings.  Everything we know has limits.  God doesn’t!  God is limitless.  Limitless in His power, Majesty, Wisdom, and more important than all of that, His love for us!

 

Jesus said His Father wants nothing more than for us to be in His family!  Christmas is the season we celebrate the beginning of this “invitation from God” to join His family.  Jesus was born and lived to prepare a way for us to cross a chasm to deep for us to cross, the separation our sin created between us and God.  The penalty for sin is death, so God sent His only Son to die in our place, and then even after sacrificing His Son, He invited us to join His family.

 

Some wondeer aloud what the big deal is about Christmas, some fight to have the manger scene removed, or refuse to use the word Christmas and substitute, “Holidays” instead.  They do all of this in spite of what Christmas really means.  God sent His son to live and die for you, that you might have the greatest gift of all, eternal life with Him….  Please accept that gift, today!

 

Merry Christmas,

 

the pilgrim

 

Sorry for the delay on this blog entry it should have been catch-up Monday, but Monday got filled to the brim on me, and this is my first chance to sit down at the computer!  I’ll make it worth your while though!  Today I have several really important things to share with you, so let’s get started!!

 

When you are finished here, please go over to the Blog – His Light Workshops, which has been compleltey redone with tons of new information.  Exciting stuff you will want to check out!

 

Now for today, I had a pro call in Knoxville yesterday, and since I worked all weekend, Sherelene went along and she Christmas shopped while I called on my customer, then I joined her and we shopped some more  Well I didn’t so much as shop as  just keep her company, but I did see some interesting things to photograph.  Our first stop was lunch at P.F. Changs, and I was struggling tying to find something shoot, until I looked up at the ceiling!

 

 

 

Next stop was a Talbot’s,  one of her favorite clothing stores.  What on earth could you find to shoot int as Talbot’s??  This is a real opportunity to see just how observant you are and how good your extraction skills are.  I am really into color and patters so let me show you some of my “finds”….

 

 

 

Below, I saw some leather gloves and the more I looked, and  the closer I looked, I knew there was a close-up. texture shot!  Here is the before and after!

 

 

 

 

O.K. the shot at the very top was in a bowl in Talbot’s!   And one last shot, one of my favorite things!!   When the lights on at Krispy Kreme!!!

 

 

What a great God, to let us do what we love an actually get paid for it!!!!!!!

 

the pilgrim

 

* Photo Note:  Yes shot with one of my many favorite Compact cameras!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                             Image by Phyllis Burchett

 

 

I love the shot above and I sure wish I had made it!  But then Phyllis Burchett is such a wonderful photographer, I’m thrilled to display her work on this blog.  I just love this image, it has such a wonderful feel to it, and honestly, that’s how I’m feeling this afternoon.  I just finished the last major event of 2011, and the  rest of 2011 will be spent doing pro calls and finishing up the years office work.  I always feel this euphoria when I know I can take a deep breath and spend more time with the family  during last few weeks of the year!  Of course the more restful time won’t last, I start back a full speed on January 2nd heading to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl and the BCS Championship game and then Imaging USA one of my favorite photo shows of the year.  So let me wind up this event and stay in Atlanta with some of the things I’m most thankful for!  Before I start,  let me revisit a quote I’ve used before, and promise I will keep using:  A man, (or woman), can have a wonderful life if they have three things;  Someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to!  Now my end of the year list to prove that:

 

1.  My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!  My life would be nothing without His love, compassion, forgiveness, fellowship, and strength.  The other day when I shared the Christmas song, Where’s the Line to See Jesus, I sat in my office and watched it for the fourth time, and with tears in my eyes raised my hands to the heavens and cried as I thanked Him and told Him how much I love Him!

 

2. Tomorrow I go home to the love of my life, Sherelene.  Every time I get ready to pack and head home I’m filled with excitement to know Sherelene will be there!  I can’t imagine life without her.   I don’t want to sound corny, but in the movie Jerry McGuire , when Tom Cruise said, “You complete me!”  He was speaking directly from my heart to Sherelene.  This woman has been long suffering to be married to me, but she has remained a faithful and wonderful wife, mother, and now our grandchildren’s loved “Nana”!   Sherelene is my best friend, and one of the few people I can count on to tell me the truth!  Cuddling on the couch in front of a roaring fire will be one of my most cherished activities to end this year!

 

3.  A family that is so much more than I deserve!  Scott, Diane, Wes, Rhonda, Catherine & Clint are children I’m so proud of, and Hannah, Ben, Cassidy and Cade and Elijah and Abigail are all so precious to me.  I am so looking forward to Christmas with all of them!  I’ve won a number of awards and have had several best selling books, but honestly none of that is as thrilling as having one of grandchildren hug me and say, ” I love you Papa!”

 

4.  A great group of incredible friends!  To start to name people here is dangerous, because God has blessed me so mightily   I must say that Chuck Summers, Rob Sheppard, Jim Begley, Carl Rollins, Carl Turner, Richard Small, and Jim Haverstock, Chuck Barnes and Snake Barrett have all provided endless great experiences for me.  Add to that, all our new photography friends like Raymond Jabola, Larry Williams, Chuck Daffin, Susan Scharenberg, hey the list just goes on and on!  Then there is Ricky Skaggs & Scott Kelby, what  powerful brothers, and friends they have become!  Of course I work with the best team of photography professionals and friends you could ever imagine in NPS, and Bill Pekala and Scott Diussa are the best bosses and friends.  I an mot going to go on because I surely will hurt someone, but God has done all of this for me, a lowly servant!  How very truly blessed I am!   Photography gets more exciting for me, every single day, and with the friends I have, I am challenged everyday to get better or be left in the dust!  My father once told me if you ever want to be great at anything, be friends with those that do it better, and he was right!

 

5.  Something important to do!   I am so thankful to have the honor of serving Him, and sharing all about His love with others.  The Pilgrim’s Chronicles has been one of the greatest joys of my life.  I have to take a moment to make something perfectly clear, I don’t write the Chronicles, yes I sit at the computer, and type, but the words and thoughts, the teaching encouraging, and inspiring comes from Him through the Holy Spirit.  I pray and wait on Him to reveal what He wants to be shared!!!  I am not saying this to try and make myself seem like more than I am, I say to make Him to be all that He is!  I want people to know that when words reach deep into your hearts, that it is Jesus that is speaking to you, not me!  My job as His servant is for Him to become more, as I become less.  I don’t need for people to think highly of me, after all I’m a child of God!  That is glory enough for any man!

 

6.  The expectation of so much more to come!!!  You and I have so very much to look forward to.  The chance to share His love and welcome new members into His family.  Lots of laughter and fellowship as we enjoy all experiences He has given us to enjoy!  I’m so excited about how many people are enjoying the blog, the great new friends that are coming to workshops, the great time I’m having working for Nikon, and spending time with my photography buddies, I’m sure 2012 is going to be another great year!  In the next week or so, Jim Begley and I are going to a place where there are over a 1,000 old cars!!!  That may just be heaven……………

 

Thank you for joining me on the adventure, and again, Merry Christmas…….

 

the pilgrim

 

Did I mention how good my friends are, look at this killer image by Jim Begley!

 

 

 

I’ve often heard people say, your faith thing is o.k. for you but I can do it on my own, I don’t need a god.