Tag Archives: blogging

Weekly Photo Challenge: Do I Really See Me?

Posted on by under Photography

This week’s photo challenge from the Daily Post is:  SELFIE.

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This shot was snapped in the lavatory of the YWAM building in Amsterdam! I know a little strange…right? But I think all pictures with me in it are a little strange any way you slice it. I think most of us feel that way when it gets right down to it. I find myself wondering  if the reason  it’s hard to look at ourselves is because it’s easy to deceive ourselves about who we are until we look into our own eyes.  Soren Keikegard said,

“The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss – an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. – is sure to be noticed.” 
― Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death

I think I may start taking more selfies just to practice seeing the real me.

Check out more selfies at

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/weekly-photo-challenge-selfie/

 

Share Your World 2014: Learning To Be Content and Having a Bit To Go

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

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So Cee’s post this week has me thinking about my level of contentedness. I like to think of myself as a pretty content guy. You know, ducks and water and rollin’ off the back and all that. But as I looked at Cee’s questions this week I realized I might not be as contented as I first thought.  Paul the apostle said: Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. 12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Phil. 4:11-13 NIV

I realize I have a ways to go before I get there; So thank you Cee! I am going to use this post to practice my contentment affirmations! What an opportunity!

If you had a choice to live anywhere would be your preference salt water beaches, forest, fresh water lakes, hot tub, ski resort or desert?

I love each of these locations but God has given me a great home in North Central MA. I get the privilege of living in a coniferous rain forest. We seldom have anything close to real drought. The weather changes regularly so I don’t have time to get bored and the four seasons show themselves in full splendor. I am sixty miles out of Boston and just a little farther from Providence. The rocky beaches of the Atlantic are only an hour to my east. The Green Mountains White Mountains and Berkshires are all within a day’s drive. That means hot tubs and ski resorts are all just around the corner!

What was your favorite toy as a child  . . . and now?

My favorite toy as a kid was my magic set and now I would have to say it’s my Kindle. I recently thought my Kindle was broken and I was pretty sad about that but I prayed and guess what? It turned back on!

Which do you prefer sweet, salty or both at the same time? 

Both at the same time. Salty chocolaty stuff is really yummy. Dunkin Donuts here in MA started selling Salted Caramel hot chocolate this year Yum Yum!

Would you prefer snowy winters, or not, and why?

Oh heavens! This is where I have to really work to bring up the level of contentedness I am an enemy of the cold. As we await the arrival of Winter Storm Nikka and her foot and a half of snow I am bolstering my attitude with thoughts of salted caramel hot chocolates! By this time tomorrow this will be me.

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OK now that you have read my bit pop on over to Cee’s page and see what her other subscribers have said.

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/02/03/share-your-world-2014-week-5/

 

A Word A Week Challenge: Putting It All In Place

Posted on by under Photography

This week Sue has given us the word CONTEXT  to work with.

If you want to see how other authors have dealt with context go visit Sue at

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-context/

Context is defined as- the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.

My daughter’s trip to Thailand for her senior internship was done in the context of her desire to spend a summer in Africa. The trip to Thailand was all but paid for though, so she took it never expecting to find God in the midst.

Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context. Margaret J. Wheatley

Determination, energy, and courage appear spontaneously when we care deeply about something. We take risks that are unimaginable in any other context.
Margaret J. Wheatley

She did find God though. In that place on the other side of the world from where she thought she would go, God  gave  her over to discoveries that filled her with passion and courage to try new things.

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Reinhold Niebuhr

Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith.
Reinhold Niebuhr

On the surface she couldn’t make sense of what God was doing or how this series of events worked toward His plan. It may not have been Africa but she still got to ride elephants. She also got to do many of the other things she thought she would be doing in Africa.

In the end location or specific situation may not make much difference to God’s plan for our lives. These things may affect how the plan is carried out but they won’t change the plan. God is the larger context in which we live. Trust Him.

Have you ever been in a situation that seemed to go against what you thought God wanted to do in your life only to discover it was part of His plan all along? Tell me about it!

Then check out the video on this sight. Context is key!

http://steve-says.net/2014/02/01/you-put-your-context-in-your-context-out-in-out-in-out-shake-it-all-about/

Share Your World With Cee Cee: Am I an introvert?

Posted on by under For Family & Fun

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We have been given some fun questions regarding introversion this week. To find out how Cee’s other contributors responded go to

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/01/27/2079/

Here are my thoughts:

 

Do you recharge your energy by going out with friends for a good time or by spending with quiet time alone?

I spend a lot of time with groups of people. While I do have a few friends that I can gather with to recharge, many times when I am in a group I end up doing ministry work. I think this has more to do with who I am than with the demands of the people. That said I usually find it necessary to withdraw from society and to hide in order to recharge.

What is the most number of blankets you’ve ever had on your bed?

I think six.

You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you never met. Would you attend this party if you were to go by yourself?

I would absolutely attend by myself.

Do you like talking to people on the phone? Or do you prefer voice mail or email?

I do prefer e-mail because it helps me to be more concise and thoughtful in my use of words. Many times though a face to face is the only way to go. You cannot communicate tone in an e-mail.

 

I think this pastor falls on the side of introversion. How about you?

Life’s Little Contradictions

Posted on by under Photography

This week’s challenge from the daily post is JUXTAPOSITION. 

Life is a constant tension don’t you think? Maybe it comes from the fall of man in the beginning; But maybe it is just the way God made things to work. Perhaps the constant pulling of opposites upon one another in the world is what creates balance.

Could it be that eternity pulls on time to create sabbath?

Maybe Man’s free will poses side by side with the sovereignty of God to manifest true consecration.

Perhaps the everyday pushes up against the outlandish to give us diversity.

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Maybe the serious connects to the silly to grant us the gift of laughter.

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And it just might be that rest and rush are often found side by side to remind us that life’s choices always lie before us. It is our duty to embrace and rule them rather than be ruled by them; So today take a moment to stop your running. Set aside the stress and just listen for a bit to life’s music!

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to see more juxtapositions go to

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/photo-challenge-juxtaposition/

Finding Hope In a Cold World

Posted on by under Photography

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Hidey-Ho, Fun Foto Challengers! This week’s foto prompt from environs west of me and from the land of Cee is FOUND IN NATURE. This year I am taking a bit of a different tac with all  my blog prompts. I have decided to take the prompts and give them new names so as to speak to the audience about what the prompts really say to me as an individual.

I was listening to the radio this morning and the announcer was telling her listeners that the average temperature here in the U.S. is twenty-five degrees colder than normal. It got me thinking that the world is getting colder not just physically but in other ways more spiritual. Still no matter how cold the air (physical or spiritual) around us gets, if we look hard enough we can always find hope.

Black Oaks, Immacualte Heart Of Mary church Winchendon MA

Black Oaks, Immaculate Heart Of Mary Church, Winchendon MA

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” 
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

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Rejoicing In the Cold

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, 
Whispering ‘it will be happier’…” 
― Alfred Tennyson

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Forest of Ingleside, Winchendon MA

“Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be…” 
― William Wordsworth

I hope you enjoyed the photos from nature I found. I pray that one of these quotes filled you with a renewed hope in the world. Remember it’s not what is happening just now but what we hope is to come that counts. Nothing is perfect. As Leonard Cohen quipped, “There is a crack in everything.That’s how the light gets in.” But  I think the mysterious writer to the Hebrews said it best.

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Heb. 11:1

Hey! Keep the faith fun Foto Challengers and as you do check out Cee’s other contributors at…

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Found In Nature