Back on point……………….

O.K. Friday’s blog might have not been such a good idea. I was frustrated after a bad day of flying on Thursday, coming back from Las Vegas, and I vented. Most readers thought it was funny,
one reader didn’t. I got an email from a flight attendant frustrated and angered by my comments. While her email rant to me was filled with some good points, she blew it when she ended it by saying, “you can’t imagine how hard it is to deal with idiots like you on my flights!” O.K. I think her frustration was starting to show. First, even when I’m being treated rudely on a plane, I never dish it back. I try to accept that the person may be having a bad day and try to return their rude behavior with kindness, even if I would love to fire right back. My point on Friday, which I don’t think she got, was that as a Christian man, I have a responsibility to rise above normal human reactions, and respond like Christ instead of react like I would otherwise.

Living the Christian life is not for sissies. I don’t think you can do it in your own strength. Let me rephrase that, I can’t do it in my own strength. One of the most troubling scriptures for me in the entire New Testament was when Jesus, advised us to, “turn the other cheek”. For many years I couldn’t see how when struck my someone, (verbally or physically), I could offer the other cheek as well. I was falsely thinking that I had to be able to do that in my own strength. God never intended for us to be “good enough” to do what we must do in His name. Jesus reminded his disciples repeatedly that only through the power of the Spirit would they accomplish their mission.

Living the Christian life is not about entering a training program where you become super human. Living a daily walk with Christ is about TRUSTING Him, not asking Him to make you all powerful.
If you were all powerful you wouldn’t need God. No, God wants you to need Him, Love Him, and communicate with Him. The best news is that God’s plan works!

When someone hurts my feelings by a cruel remark or inapropriate act I can’t respond the way I should, but with Christ’s help I can. How could we ever expect others that don’t know Jesus to want what we have, if we don’t respond any better than they do. You are all missionaries, and your message to the world is how you act, what you say, and how you respond when someone treats you in a bad way. I know it’s not easy, I’ve failed many times, but it’ worth it because someone’s eternal salvation is hanging in the balance. Help them make the right decision.

Father please help me, I don’t want to fumble the ball!

the pilgrim

*Photo Notes: Close-up experiments in prep for upcoming classes.
Top, Colored Pencils, D700, 200 Micro Nikkor, F40 @ 1.6 sec. ISO 200
Next down from top: Cheese grater with colorful napkin reflecting in it’s side.
Idea inspired by Paul Van Allen of Nikon. D700, 200mm Micro Nikkor F32 @ 2.5 sec. ISO 200
Directly above: D7000, 200 Micro Nikkor, F11 at 1/800th of a sec. ISO 1600
(Cooking oil in water, lit from below with a 200 watt incandescent bulb in a reflector,
reflecting Amber CD.) Idea from Bryan Peterson’s Youtube classes and his book on
Close-up photography.