Spring Is Here

So with spring officially here and no more snow, I decided to throw out some new pictures I've taken over the past month. I'm really enjoying taking pictures and am having fun with it. Whether a career or just something on the side, photography has really caught my eye. Though it seems like I'm not gonna be going into photography for the long run.(I'll talk about that next time.)

Here are some of my favorites from my latest ventures.

My dog, Oliver

The cats, Rachel, and Herbert
Waterfall in Laconia

Awesome structure thing I found near the waterfall

Some cool tracks

Puddles

What better to close with my nutty bro, Sam
(Picture taken by Beth Crandall)

Soli Deo Gloria

Of all the things in my life, amazing or painful, You Lord, are the most precious. You reach into my life and speak to my soul as you direct the ways I go. You are The Eternal Story, the Holy One, and You fulfill all my needs. You forgive me and cleanse me over and over. You wash away my sins with a mighty wave, never to see them again. You love me beyond anything, and You cherish me for who I am. Your love goes further than anything, and by your everlasting grace, I am saved. I am held back from death, and instead lifted up and brought into Your Holy place.
Time passes, and everywhere I go, it leads to You. To say that the world cries out the evidence of Your name is an understatement. You are everywhere. The universe declares your majesty, by night and day. I will not worry, for You control the world, you have the blueprints to my life and You know all that I am, and all that I'm going through. I will wait on you Lord.
I ask for Your direction, and Your guidance. I pray that I would not stray from Your word, but instead be built up by it. I ask that I would glorify You with everything I do. It's all about You. I pray for protection against my enemies, and wisdom to reach out to them.
Lord, I am so unworthy. I tremble. Your majesty is beyond words and I lift You up with the utmost glory. I want to lose everything for You. You are worth it all. Nothing else matters. You are all I ever needed, and You fill me up. You are God, and You rock my life. Praise You!
Soli Deo Gloria! Amen.

Unfailing Grace

God's grace is so good!
I recently have sorta been knocked on the head with it though. Sometimes, I go through times where I wonder if God really does forgive me for my sins, whether I'm even worth anything to Him. I feel as though He is there for anyone else, except me. Leading me to feel alone, and unworthy(Though we are unworthy of His love. Glory to Him for giving it anyway!). And though the obvious truth is that He is there for me, I almost unknowingly become blind to it. I bring God down to a level as to where I imagine He is a God that breaks His promises of total forgiveness. And when I do that, I struggle, and I feel distant from Him.
This then leads to confusion, and a more increased feeling of aloneness. I become numb to the obvious fact that He is there, whether I want Him or not. I push Him away even though it's the last thing I want to do.
But thanks to his constant reminding, and patience with me, He reveals to me His love, and how much He gives me in spite of my sin. His patience is unrivaled! He sees me continue to fall, lie, and just plain be so unworthy, and yet He forgives, and forgets, and just reminds me of how much He loves me. And man, that goes a long way. I know I'm bound to fall again in the future, but these experiences help to remind me, and get me back on track.
This leaded me to realize something. I'm blown away by the fact of how often we live our lives oblivious to the grace that is placed on us. What honestly is stopping God from throwing us all into Hell and starting over? What are we really worth? What have we done to earn His favor? The answer is nothing. We sin so much, and in such terrible ways. Yet, by His grace, and love for us, we live on. He has made us, and although we go against Him by our very nature, He blesses us, and gives us so much more than we deserve. It really is an incredible thing. Humbling to say the least. How can we boast of anything? We don't deserve a thing, let alone life itself.
However he loves us, and He fights for us. He is there when we need Him, and He is there when we don't think we need Him. It's unfailing grace, and unfailing love, and He has given it to us freely. With open arms He accepts us as we are, washing us and making us new again.
For that, I follow Him with a humble heart, understanding that there isn't anything I can do that will turn His love. Knowing that He has the blueprints for my entire life in the palm of His hand, and He remains the great Author of our lives forever. Amen.

Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth

My church recently started playing the song 'God of Wonders' during our worship session. I really got into the song, and quickly learned it on the drums. Coincidentally, we just finished Family Life's The Truth Project, and they incorporated the song with a cool video. I liked it and happened to stumble on it on Youtube. Enjoy. :D

The Pale Blue Planet

Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch a DVD called 'Indescribable' with my Youth Group. It was incredible.
It took the example of a vast huge universe created by God, and truly put in context. Sure, I figured the vacuum of space was wicked big and insurmountable. But, this movie showed me how much there is, and how much more there is. Ugh, it hurts my head thinking about it, but it's great at the same time.
One particular portion of the video caught my eye, when it showed a picture taken by Voyager 1. What happened was, when the spacecraft was drifting out of reach of our control from here on earth, the NASA dudes had Voyager 1 turn around for one last series of shots. It took sixty consecutive pictures as it spanned across all of where it had come from. One of the pictures, labeled The pale blue planet was beamed back, across space, from the spacecraft to Earth. And it really struck me. Here it is.
What appears to be black space with sun rays bouncing off of the spacecraft is actually a lot more. It's hard to see, but in the farthest right ray of sun, there is a tiny tiny blue dot in the middle of the light, It's earth, taken from over 3 billion miles away.
This is an enlarged shot, showing the bright spec, suspended in the light. What hit me, was how, deep deep in space, a piece of machinery was able to capture a picture of Earth, showing how small it really is, and how unimportant it is. That although so many lives, wars, people, and events have transpired in the history of our entire existence, we are nothing but a small pixel in an image so vast.
I was so taken aback by the thought, that after I got home from the movie, I raced out and got more and more information on the picture. It fascinated me so much. This picture should define how we live our lives in Christ.
All sin is rooted in selfishness, and doing things for ourselves. But how the heck can we even dare boast of ourselves, and think of sinning when in reality, and all honesty, we are barely even a blip in space. How can we dare betray His name? In His awesome glory? Yet, we all sin, and we are all truly pathetic creatures. Even on our small pebble in the sky, barely visible, we spit on the name of God and defy him with everything we are.
But, what took me the most, was that even in our bitter defiance, he rains down a beam of golden light on us. He came and died for us, giving us a chance to live with Him forever. The whole universe declares His glory, day in and day out, never ceasing. But we are corrupted by sin. And us, being basically the most rebellious thing in His creation(Yet the most precious to Him) are covered by His love. Wow. It just fell upon me last night.
The fact that even in our sin, our selfishness, our insignificantness in space as a whole, we are the most important thing to Him. That picture only more clearly clarified that for me, and I'm thankful for it. Praise God! :D