Christmas Thoughts
I hope your Christmas day was wonderful! Mine sure was, and I would love to share with you some of the reason the entire Christmas season has been great for me this year!
FIRST: I celebrated the birth of a Savior, a friend, a guide and confidant. When you accept Christ as your Savior and Lord, your life will never be the same again. I would not want to even contemplate where my life would have ended up without Him by my side. This alone is reason for the greatest of celebrations!
SECOND: The closeness of family. Sherelene and I have had the great pleasure of being with our children and their families through out the last two weeks! The older I get the more family means to me, and the greater the pleasure of being with them!
THIRD: Drawing close during times of difficulty. Wes’s battle with cancer and Jim and Sue’s battle with cancer and the loss of Sue have both re-focused my life. 2017 was time of deep prayer and kneeling before God, praying for family and dear friends. In addition to Wes and Sue, I had several other wonderful friends all battling various forms of cancer and it was a year of constant lifting them and their families up to the Lord. It is revealing how much closer we draw to those that we are in constant prayer for!
FOURTH: The renewal of friendships. During the holidays you often gather with old friends and I had a great breakfast with Jim Haverstock, Jim Begley, Brian Stefl and Wes on Christmas eve, eve morning, what a joy to be with such dear friends and celebrate our wonderful times together over the years, and feel great for Wes and comfort Jim Haverstock! The meaning of real friendship, pulling together for each other!
FIFTH: Making future plans. While this is by far the least important part of my personal Christmas celebration, the future is still something we need to plan for it. Years ago when I first became aware of Scott Kelby I went to his blog and was suprised to find a whole section on his favorite movies, songs, hobbys, and lots of other personal stuff. At first I thought it was a little narcissistic, but on further thought, and after reading all of it, I thought it was actually pretty cool, I was interested in Scott, the person, and I expect lots of others were too, so what follows may be a little like that.
What’s next for me. In 2018 I have 10 workshops scheduled with Jack, and will do a few smaller events for Fuji though out the year. I’m thinking in 2019, I will start to cut back my travel to something like half what it has been and will be this coming year. If I’m home more what will I do with the extra time? More time in the word, more prayer time, and more personal outreach to the lost. Of course personal shooting and study will always be a big part of my life. Photography for the sheer joy of shooting and processin, (by-the-way I plan to spend this winer mastering Luminar 2018 to replace Photoshop and Lightroom as my main way of post processing!!!). I hope to teach more on line and that will be a focus as well. I plan to get a puppy, I think a golden retriever, and will name him Chester (in honor of the movie, The Kid). He will be come my best buddy, and I will take him everywhere with me! I’ve also started to seriously study cooking. I’ve invested in the proper tools and some good books and an online course on cooking and have already developed some new skills!!! My goals is to invite guests into our home and serve them some wonderful food! My family has had some master cooks and I would like to join their ranks!
So, I hope you had a wonderful and meaningful Christmas and will enjoy a blessed New year!
Blessings,
the pilgrim
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 26th, 2017 at 4:24 pm
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Wes’ recovery, your family’s continuing friendship, and all the His Light family made 2017 even possible for me. With our Lord’s grace and mercy even tragedy and loss allow His Light to shine in our lives. Thank you, dear friends.
Well, well said. Did my heart good to see you. I can see a ballgame in our future… if we can get through this nasty looking winter.
Amen Jim!!!
It’s God’s plan that we love and support one another!!!! It’s a pleasure too when it’s you!!!
Bill,I have been Praying for my Friend Dorsey Davis as He has been Diagnosed With Brain Cancer .Dorsey is a great photographer. I know Dorsey is a Good example of a true christian as are You.I Pray that God will give Him a few more years to be an example to others like You are also so please Keep
Dorsey in your Prayers.
i
I know Dorsey and will certainly be in prayer for this situation!
Bill, I was a former chef, If you want the best recipes, you have to have the right books buy professional chef books anything Culinary Institute of America will be perfect pro books cost a lot but they give you a lot more and its what the culinary traditions are all about. Thanks for an example of what God can do in my life I need to give my will up to him and let him work through me. I am still trying to hard to drive the bus in life instead of being a passenger and let God take me to where I need to be. I never really read a blog before maybe it would be a good thing for me to do in 2018 maybe you could tell me how some time Thanks MIke
Mike thanks for the great advice, I have already bought some of their books and I’m taking and online class as well! How to get out of the drivers seat and move back in the bus? It may be one of the hardest things we have to do as a believer and yet the most rewarding. We must come to a place that we know we can trust God with our lives, our fears, our situations , EVERYTHING, then and only then can we give up being the driver. Once we do, the peace that comes is amazing, God is faithful and He wants to prove to us that He has it, has it all! The sooner we make that decision the better our lives will go and the more joy and peace we will experience!
May the Good Lord continue to bless your family and your extended family, and all those who follow the blog in the coming year. I count among my blessings the opportunity to read your posts and being able to reflect on what you say….it has deepened my commitment and my understanding – of both photography and of Christian fellowship. As always, thanks for all you provide for us, and here’s to 2018 being the best year yet!!
Thank you Scotty, we all are charged with lifting each other up, and you certainly have lifted me as well!!!!
A wonderful list, Bill. Every moment of every day is precious. There is nothing more important than loving God and loving others.
You got it!!!!!!
God Bless you and yours in the coming year.
Have you tried Capture One? They have a new version out with a 30 day trial. It has some pretty cool features and I now do all my Fuji processing with it. At this point, I am still using Lightroom for cataloging and print layout purposes though but that may change given more time.
I haven’t but have heard good things about it. I hate to start learnilng a new program at my age, but I’m sorta finished with Adobe!
Yes, it is a bit of a learning curve but worth the effort especially if you are getting tired of Adobe.
I’m loving it so far!
We just drive the bus.. God decide where it goes!–Love to all-
I am a better person for knowing most of you folks!–
Love you all-JG
Happy New Year, Jack!
Happy New year Lynn, from me, and I’m sure Jack too!!!
Happy New year to you too Lynn!
Couldn’t of said it better Jack, but glad you did, I’m a wealthy man with friends like all of you!!!