The convergence seemed to cause a little bit of a stir over the past few days. I missed the full thing, but did get to zoom in and get a faint photo of Jupiter and Saturn.
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From what some are saying, it wasn't nearly as spectacular as they thought it would be, other however sharing pictures of a brilliant light in the sky.

It's been called the "Christmas Star", though I doubt that it was what the wise men followed. I certainly believe that God could've created His own star for His own Son's birth.

What I find to be amazing isn't so much the convergence itself, but the fact that even with my limited 150-600mm lens I was able to make out the rings of Saturn, which by the way is roughly the same distance from Jupiter, as Jupiter is from us, give or take 100 million miles!

More amazing still, is the fact that God would 'bother' to make something a billion miles away and many times larger than our own Earth. He is magnificent.

But it's Christmas and that's what I want to talk about briefly.

They say that the last time this convergence happened was about 800 years ago. I believe them, as God did give us the sun, moon and stars to keep time, right? So I believe these things are generally like clockwork, not that I'm an astronomer. 

"God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:17-18

What else is amazing is that Isaiah wrote about the virgin birth of Jesus almost the same amount of time before His birth, as the last time we had this convergence, roughly some 700 years.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

In fact the coming of Christ was predicted, prophesied about, and foreshadowed all throughout the Old Testament.

But the reality is the plan of Salvation through Jesus Christ was not a reactionary response on God's part to the rebellion of sinful man. Acts 2:22-24

"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know- this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." Acts 2:22-24

It was always the plan. God is all knowing, and He is sovereign.

So as we marvel at the wonders of creation, and we enjoy this time of year, if you've never bowed the knee to Christ, what a wonderful time to come to saving faith in Him.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Winter is a tough time for photography in my opinion, locally at least. We don't get a ton of snow around here, which can leave the mid Atlantic a little dreary looking. I don't mind it personally, but it isn't quite as photogenic. Maybe that's an excuse.

It's been a while since I've posted a blog or anything. I can't say I have any really good reasons. However, just like with the seasons, winter sometimes roll into life. 

For reasons I can only chalk up to the fact that we live between Genesis 3 and Revelation, it seems that some people, myself included, tend to fall into things like sadness and depression a little bit easier than others.

It is a comfort to know that the Bible is filled with people that went through darker times of life. Sometimes it was by their own making as in the case of David with Bathsheba. Others it was because of things outside their immediate control as in the case of some like Paul in his despair of the Corinthian church, or some of the many perils he endured. Even our Lord wept, even in anguish in the garden.

Even some more modern heroes of the faith like C. H. Spurgeon dealt with depression for much of his life.

Of course we have to be careful. Scripture is very clear on the sin of worry and such. Grief, sadness, times of trial, are not sin in and of themselves. However when we begin to question the goodness of God, then we are entering into bad territory.

Where am I going with this? Frankly I think it's simply that I have found myself to be in a rut of sorts. I've kind of lost my way.

I don't know what happened in my case. I suppose it's a great deal of "me". Laziness, lack of trust, even my own pride. Yeah, I can definitely look at the sin in my life as reason. 

Things of this world, this year especially, have been hard to swallow. It's easy to get angry, and sometimes it might even be righteous anger. But it's also easy for that to turn into bitterness, and a lack of trust in the sovereignty of God.

But I don't want to act like I've got it together, or that I have all the answers. This is my second draft of this, and the first was a bit more 'open' perhaps. But I do want to be open here. Transparency is something that I've been confronted with recently.

Check out this video on Youtube from Wretched Radio.

Again I'm not writing this presuming to have the answers, I have none outside of Scripture. I do however want people to know there is hope in Christ. I know I struggle with this fact at times, I'm thankful for His grace... Oh I hate that I presume on His grace though. Yeah, transparency, right?

So a winter season in life? Yeah I suppose so. As in Psalm 88, the only Psalm I know of that doesn't have a 'happy ending', I guess I am unsure of the outcome of where I'm at. But I do know, at least in my head, that there is hope in Christ. And I know that He is growing me.

But instead of talking about this more, I really just want to share some helpful resources with you. I'm sure some reading this are going through something similar. Others probably know someone who is.

Eric Davis wrote a great article on the Cripplegate, here.

Tim Challies at his website also has several great articles including this one, here.

A couple months ago, I wrote an article about pressing on. Looking back at past moments, but not staying there. This is somewhat of a part 2 to that.

There are moments in life that stand out more than others. I can't say I understand that, but it's just how it is. 

The most important moments in life, the most impactful, are the most memorable. Things like marriage, birth of children, a new home, even a new dog are among those moments.
Sickness, death, hardship, sadly those are also among those moments. 

In these moments we can experience times of growth, too.

My photographic journey began almost ten years ago. On vacation with friends, I took some casual family photos for them. I had learned some basic tips on videography composition a little while back and applied that to my shots. For some reason they loved it.

They were not great photos, but it made them happy and gave me some encouragement.

However it would be a few more years before I'd really want to pursue photography. Oh, I tried portraits and youth sports photos, but it wasn't my cup of tea. And eventually my camera made it's way to a dusty corner somewhere, and I didn't really think much of it

This was actually the second photograph in a series of shots I took in the spring of '14. For whatever reason (providence), I gained a slight re-interest in photography. With this particular shot, I had recently read an article on how to get 'sunstars', and while stopping by the house for a moment to get something, the low sun caught my eye.

I tried the tip for the sunstar (think I used f/22!), composed the shot, and here it is.
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There's pluses to the shot. No it's not going into a museum that I know of, but it received some accolades from my friends on social media. That was enough to encourage me to continue. That was a pivotal moment I think for photography for me.

A few months later I went on another trip to the beach with those same friends from before. A couple mornings I pushed myself to get up early for sunrise. I had been quite inspired by some shots of the beach by one particular photographer, and I wanted my own shot of the ocean.

This morning I woke up and pushed myself to ride my bike up to the beach, carrying my camera bag with me. However upon arriving, I was greeted by grey skies. 

It appeared quite dismal. My patience was non existent. 

Oh but then it happened. Keep in mind I never really experienced great stormy sunrise skies. The sun started to shine through a small clearing on the eastern sky. It was exhilarating for a few moments, most excitement I ever had with photography up to that point. 

It was a lesson for me. Patience, trust in God's timing, things like that. But that was the best shot I had ever taken at the time.
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The years went by. Life happens. Opportunities come and go, some taken, some missed.

I can't lie, photography has been a source of challenge for me. Yes the actual photography itself is a growing process. But the personal things that have arisen during the time have been much more of a challenge.

It seems that the lessons I learn, I almost immediately forget. Anyone else do that?
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But it does cause me to think about boasting in weakness, because it shows God who is so strong. And His grace, amazing.

Finally, though there are loads more photos I could examine, this one here is my most recent 'best shot' in my opinion. The jury is out on that, but for me the experience and result exemplify my journey with photography. Personal struggles, weakness, total inability, yet a faithful and true and sovereign God who loves me. 

Our lives are made up of moments, big and small, and I believe we can learn continually in them. But to learn rightly our eyes need to be on Christ, and our minds in His Word. Like Paul in Philippians 3:12-14, we can't rest on past success or dwell in past failures and pains. Our moments do not define us. Those in Christ are defined by Him and His righteousness and His worth.

​Who knows where we go from here, but here's to moments that bring Him glory.