Monthly Archives: September 2012
James 5:13-16
New Living Translation (NLT)
13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
There are plenty of biblical directives about making ourselves accountable to one another. But for many, the idea of revealing personal information seems restrictive or even an invasion of privacy. Such confession seems a hindrance to the pursuit of pleasure, prosperity, and prestige. Most people prefer to keep to themselves and not involve others in their business.
The Bible, however, makes it clear that Christians are to support each other in this regard: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).
Accountability in the body of Christ is a biblical principle. People avoid accountability for various reasons, including pride, ignorance, fear, and self-reliance. This is a dangerous approach to life. Our Enemy knows our weaknesses and how to exploit them. But we can prevail with the support of friends. There is strength in the body of Christ.
In this mornings In Touch Daily Devotional, Dr. Charles Stanley talked about accountability, and I’ve included some of the devotional and the Scripture above. I believe that one of the greatest weapons you have, as a Christian, to fight the enemy is to be accountable to others and have others be accountable to you. We “are” our brothers keeper, and if we do in fact love others we will want them to hold us accountable as well, and we will be willing to do the same for them. At first hearing that you are holding others accountable, it may sound like you are being judgmental, it is, in fact, the furthest thing from that! When we love fellow believers, we want the best for them, God’s will for their lives. If we see them taking a path that leads away from God, it is our responsibility to help them. Who among us would let a little child wander close to the edge of a cliff? Of course we would run to protect a child from danger, and we should do the same for our Christians brothers and sisters!!!
None of us can walk this path alone, we are too fragile to ward off all the danger on our own, we need the prayers, concern, and caring intervention of those that love us, and God has placed friends, and other believers into our lives for just that purpose!! When Jesus sent out the disciples, he sent them in pairs, a clear signal of even His concern for His servants. He commanded us to “Love One another.” If you truly love someone, you will be there for them, through thick or thin, offering to pray for them, assist them, and reassure them of God’s love, and His ever presence in our lives! It is not only one of the greatest responsibilities we have, it’s also one of the greatest honors!
In Him,
the pilgrim
Photo Note: This was one of my favorite images from Reno, I applied a little Glamour Glow, seemed like jus the right touch, hope you enjoy it! D800 – 24-120 VR F11 7 stop HDR.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 18th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
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I gave my self permission to blow off the sunrise this morning and get some rest, and I sure feel better! Four straight 4:00 a.m. roll outs were a little much for me. When I did wake up this morning, still to early, my body is still on East coast time, I had time to think about the week and I made mental notes about some things I wanted to share with you folks! I would like to do it as a series of Lists on various subjects!
The image above is of a WWII era Mustang first flown around 1940, and a F22 Raptor that went into service in 2005. These two airplanes cover a part of aviation history that almost mirrors my life span, 65 years! I was born February 9th, 1946, so I’m now 66. This is the Heritage Flight that is done at most every air show, honoring our military pilots. It’s an amazing thing to see, below is another Heritage flight from a previous year that includes a P38 Lightening “Glacier Girl”!
When we come out to Air Shows and the Reno Air Races, most of my friends love to shoot planes in flight, which is not my strong suit, but a couple of years ago when the Blue Angels were performing I got the shot of a lifetime! When the two lead planes fly right at each other at 500 mph, you try to fire the shutter just as they are nose to nose, but not appearing to touch. In the shot below, I got the entire rest of the team circling around and directly under them!!! Dumb luck on the rest of the pack, even a blind squirrel finds and acorn every once in a while!
So on to the lists!
Ten Reasons a D600 and D7000 might be the Dream Team.
1. They are near perfect in size and weight, both well built, and not a burden to carry!
2. 16 and 24 mega pixels is more than enough for 95% of everything you will ever photograph!
3. Both cameras use the fantastic and cheap, MN-L3 Wireless Remotes, translation, zero movement!
4. Both cameras allow the use of all the legacy Nikkor glass!
5. The D7000 has the smoothest release and is the quietest DSLR we’ve ever made, we’ll see on the D600.
6. Both have 100% viewfinders and good magnification.
7. The frame rates are 5.5 and 6 frames respectfully which is good enough for everything except extreme action.
8. Both shoot 1080P video and the D600 is fully ready with multiple frame rates, and mic in and headphone out, and HDMI!
9. Both cameras use dual SD cards, so you can finally stop having to carry Compact Flash cards, and they both use the same EN-EL15 battery!
10. Here is the kicker, if you buy this fall you can have two killer bodies for only around $3,100.
Five Reasons why I will always have a D800 (until it’s replaced with something better!).
1. I can’t live without that industry leading resolution!
2. I have to have that incredible gradation (see the images from the last two days!!)
3. The color, saturation and dynamic range is superior to anything else I’ve ever used!
4. It’ just feels so good in your hands, just enough heft, but not too heavy!
5. At $3,000 it’s simply one of the best values in the history of Nikon cameras!
The Five Most Important Reasons I Do This Blog!
1. I’ve found the greatest secret of life and I can’t keep it just to myself!! God Loves me, He sent His Son to die for me, and I’ve accepted Him, and I’m now forgiven, free, and filled with His peace and joy!!
2. A daily relationship with our Heavenly Father leads to deeper spiritual growth, which leads to a life better than you could even imagine.
3. When you love God and give Him your life, it frees Him to bless you beyond measure, which in turn allows you to bless others with His love and peace.
4. When you trust God with your life, he empowers you to forgive others. When you forgive others it opens the door to them finding their Heavenly Father, and life eternal.
5. I love sharing the great joy and peace He has given me, I want everyone to experience this wonderful life changing event!
Six Things I wish I could do:
1. Go home and be with my wife! (I love what I do, but I miss her when we are apart!)
2. Be able to do HDR like Jim Begley and R. C. Concepcion.
3. Know 10% of what Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski know about Photoshop and Lightroom!
4. Have 10% of Jay Maisel’s ability to see graphically!
5. Have 10% of the knowledge of Bill Pekala about Nikon, Nikons, and the photo industry!
6. Find some chocolate that has 0 points on weight Watchers!!!
Have a great weekend!
In Him,
the pilgrim
P.S. If you have enjoyed the aviation stuff this week, you need to get the incredible new iPad app from Moose Peterson called Taking Flight! It is exceptionally well done, way to go Moose!
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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 15th, 2012 at 6:04 pm
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This morning I found myself back in the vintage area wondering what on earth I was going to photograph after two straight days in the same spot. I decided to go for details and more specific, gradation, the transition of tones. One of the outstanding qualities of the D800 and, I imagine it will also be true of, the D600 as well The smoothness is simply lovely! I have to say that the D800 has made this kind of work a real pleasure, and I am pretty sure that I’m going to feel the same about the 24 mega pixel D600!! Enjoy and God Bless!
After the great time I’ve had shooting with Bill Pekala, I felt this had to be the final shot for today! Thank you Father for such a great life and such a wonderful group of friends! Miss you Sherelene!!!! And as always, check out Bill’s work from today, link above right!
the pilgrim
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This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2012 at 9:35 pm
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The much rumored Nikon D600 is finally a reality and a good reality at that. Keep in mind that only a few years ago a 24 mega pixel DSLR was $8,000.!!! If the developments that have allowed the D3200, D800 and D4 are incorporated here, and I’m sure they will be, this is going to be a groundbreaking DSLR! I expect to have mine next week and I will do a thorough test and share my thoughts with you. For now I am very impressed with the decisions we made on this camera! It is not a stripped down model and includes most of the major feature that I love the most about the D800. I see it as a great camera for anyone that does not need the 36 mega pixels of a D800 or the speed and ruggedness of a D4. With a magnesium frame (top, and back), it should hold up to good steady use. The shutter is a Kevlar blade model that has proven to have great performance as well in previous camera.
I can’t really say more now until I shoot it, but dont be shocked if I don’t have glowing comments then!!
the pilgrim
the pilgrin
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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 13th, 2012 at 11:34 pm
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