{"id":3432,"date":"2011-10-20T14:13:44","date_gmt":"2011-10-20T14:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=3432"},"modified":"2011-10-20T14:13:44","modified_gmt":"2011-10-20T14:13:44","slug":"reflecting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=3432","title":{"rendered":"Reflecting………"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Over the last few days I’ve received a half dozen emails from people that attended the New England Tour. \u00a0Almost all of them have expressed the same points; they had a great time, learned a lot, made some wonderful images, but most of all were blessed spiritually. \u00a0As Col. Hannibal Smith of the A Team used to say, “I love when a \u00a0plan comes together….” \u00a0My desire for His Light Workshops was that people would come to find great fellowship, great teaching, wonderful locations, and most of all, \u00a0to be guided into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, \u00a0and their fellow photographers. \u00a0As I expressed in yesterday’s blog entry, one of the greatest joys for me as a workshop leader has been the great fellowship with my co-conspirators in these tours and workshops. \u00a0 With the divine intervention of God, the plan has truly come together!<\/p>\n

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A few years ago, as I started to think about retiring some day, I wondered what I would do when I could set my own schedule. \u00a0I didn’t want to go sit on the porch and read a good book, though short stints of that seems like a pretty good idea, no I wanted to stay active. \u00a0 But active at what? Well, I’ve been a photographer my whole life and I am more excited about it than ever, so I certainly wanted to continue to do that. \u00a0More importantly, in the last dozens years I’ve been drawn closer than ever to my Saviour. \u00a0I’ve experienced an intense urging from God to serve Him more faithfully, to follow His lead with more discipline. \u00a0I’ve been called to Obedience. \u00a0In the time that I have dedicated myself to rely on His strength, to answer His call, and \u00a0I’ve had the greatest peace and joy of my entire life. \u00a0I have been more blessed than I ever thought imaginable! \u00a0 The wonderful people that have come into my life have brought me great strength and companionship.<\/p>\n

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I’m often asked by people that have wandered onto the Pilgrim’s Chronicles, “How do you live like a Christian and find this joy!!??” \u00a0My answer is simple;<\/p>\n

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1. \u00a0Know that God is real, that He knows \u00a0you intimately and loves you more deeply than you could ever understand.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. \u00a0Know that He loves you so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to pay the price of your sins. \u00a0Because of this ultimate act of love you can now be free from any penalty by accepting His free gift of forgiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. \u00a0Once you have accepted forgiveness, you can live a life free of guilt and condemnation, and you can enjoy the indescribable benefits of being a child of God. \u00a0 Peace, Joy, Forgiveness, Grace, Comfort, and Fellowship.<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. \u00a0Having received such a rich inheritance, you can now love others with Christ’s love and lead them to the same wonderful life you’ve found \u00a0in Him!<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why would someone step out into the public light and share this kind of information? \u00a0I there risk in being so open? \u00a0Regardless of any risk I cannot hide the Light of the World under a basket. \u00a0This is the Good News of Jesus Christ, and it cannot be hidden from view. \u00a0His light streaks through all efforts to hide it! \u00a0I not only would not try to keep it to myself, I couldn’t. \u00a0How great is my love for Jesus? \u00a0He took away all that was terrible about me, and replaced it with His Love, and Grace, I would never go back to the life I knew before. \u00a0For the rest of the time He gives me here on earth, I will try to love others with His love, and \u00a0urge them to come to know Him and accept Him! \u00a0Is their a risk? \u00a0Yes, I would be eternally ashamed of myself if I failed to share His Good News………<\/p>\n

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the pilgrim<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last few days I’ve received a half dozen emails from people that attended the New England Tour. \u00a0Almost all of them have expressed the same points; they had a great time, learned a lot, made some wonderful images, but most of all were blessed spiritually. \u00a0As Col. Hannibal Smith of the A Team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3432"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3435,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3432\/revisions\/3435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}