I received this powerful and true message from my dear friend Richard Small this morning and feel it must be shared! This was presented recently to a congressional committee by a father of a child that was killed in the Columbine shootings. It was stated that it was not well received. Another black mark on our leadership in Washington, both parties……

 

COLUMBINE STUDENT’S FATHER 12 YEARS LATER !!

Guess our national leaders didn’t expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton , Colorado , was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They… were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

“Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

“The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain’s heart.

“In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA – because I don’t believe that they are responsible for my daughter’s death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel’s murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy — it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You’ve stripped away our heritage,
You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question “Why?”
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

“Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation’s history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine’s tragedy occurs — politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

“As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA — I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter’s death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!”
– Darrell Scott

 

Howl long will we ignore the real problems in our society and seek answers where there are none???!!!

 

Please pray for America,

 

the pilgrim

Well the Imaging USA show ends tomorrow, and I’m headed home for a day before I go to the next event.  This has been a bitter sweet event, spending time with a lot of great friends both at Nikon and industry friends for the last decade or more!  Monday of last week I turned in my letter announcing my retirement from Nikon as of July 1st of this year.  I will miss these folks, though I will certainly continue to see them, and I will miss the fellowship, but I’m very excited about the future with my Kelby Media buddies and Jim and the His Light family!!!  I’m even more looking forward to being home more and spending time with Sherelene after years of being apart over 230 days a year!!!

 

Life is full of new challenges, and new adventures, and I’m up for the next phase of my life.  Over the past few years God has made it so clear to me that He wants me to give myself fully to the mission He has started.  I’m enjoying sharing His love with others and always love to find and make new images while teaching to the great people He has placed in my path.

 

I’m going to ask you to do something for me.  Please pray that the following things happen over the next number of years;

 

1.  That I will stay humble before my Heavenly Father and seek to know His will for my life!

 

2.  That when I know I hear His voice that I will always be obedient!

 

3.  That I will be a great husband for Sherelene, helping her, and taking pressure off of her, as we adjust to this new life.

 

4.  That I will invest a lot of my new freedom with time in my children and grandchildren, family and friends.  Giving them the kind of love they have given over all these years of being gone.

 

5.  That I will spend more time in the word and prayer and on my knees seeking Gods direction.

 

6. That I will continue to seek what God would have me share with you, my friends……

 

Let me thank all of you that follow the blog and have prayed for me through the years, I commtt to continue to faithfully serve Him and you!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

Just when I talk myself into believing I can live without a D800, I have a shooting day like this!  I continue to be amazed just how wonderful this camera is when you use it with great care!!  Here is some of my best take from the SE Train Museum yesterday.  Some are HDR some single shots.  The web doesn’t do justice to how rich these files are with “extreme detail.”

 

 

This is why this camera is so amazing, look at this crop below out of this file above!

 

 

Wow, just amazing!  I’m really enjoying being with all my friends at Atlanta, hope you’ve had a great weekend!  What do you think Jim, is the location a winner or what???!!!!!  Join us for the Old Car Event and you can shoot this stuff too!!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

O.K., I wasn’t actually working on the railroad, I was working at the Railroad Museum, the South East RR Museum in Duluth Georgia.  I was on my way to Atlanta for Imaging USA and decided to check out this museum we will be visiting during the Old Car City event.  R.C. Concepcion came up to join me and we worked on some HDR images and checked out the place!  I have to tell you the last time I was this excited it was when Jm and I discovered Old Car City.  RC and I shared my camera and it turned out all our images went on one card so he is downloading tonight, I will prepare some images tomorrow night!  I did take my point and shoot around while R.C. was shooting and will share some of those but I can’t wait to show you the HDR images from the D800 later in the weekend!

 

R.C. got so excited he has decided to join us at Old Car City!  He has been dying to shoot there and loved the train museum, it is making the Old Car City event look even more exciting than ever before!!  So here are some quick snaps and a portrait at the bottom R.C. did of me.

 

 

 

As you can see there is a great variety of things to shoot; trains, buses, and tons of close-up opportunities!  We still have a few spots, but now that R.C. will be joining us, those will go soon!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

PS  Now after a good nights sleep I decided to take these “point and shoot” images and do my simple HDR (look alike) processing, most are done in Topaz adjust, either; Spicify or Psychedelic.  I then generally reduce the saturation which gets highly magnified in these settings.   Wallah, 30 second HDR!!  Compare to the shots above with fairly minimal processing.

 

 

While these images don’t show the polish and finish of a Jim Begley or RC, HDR, but they take 30 seconds to a minute!  Better or worse?  That’s your decision, your the the viewer, critic, and recipient of the “attempted” art!

 

And a word about breaking the rules.  These are all made with a point an shoot camera, hand held!  Sometimes, it works………….

 

Alright, this is addicting, one more, the mail boxes done in Topaz Simplify, Oil Painting filter;

 

After above, before below;