Category: Photography

Nothing

On By Charis PsalloIn Flowers, Photography2 Comments

nothing too hard ch

Jeremiah didn’t get it. Essentially He complained to God, “You asked me to go pay good money and sign legal documents to purchase a piece of land that you already told me will be captured by foreign invaders. I can see the destruction that’s coming; you made me a prophet, remember? This does not seem like good stewardship to me.”

“You don’t get it because you’re too short-sighted, Jerry. I have a plan that goes beyond your generation, a plan that will bring long-lasting peace and prosperity and a renewed relationship with me. You weep and wail and get depressed because you see the immediate pain of loss. I see the joy of restoration,” God answered.

“You just prayed, ‘Ah, Sovereign Lord, nothing is too hard for You.’

Were you even listening to yourself? I’m asking you an obviously rhetorical question here. ‘Is anything too hard for me?’

Care to answer?

Trust me, Jerry.

….And that is not a suggestion.”

(My very, very loose paraphrase of Jeremiah 32)

 

Presently

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography2 Comments
April in Alberta
Winter is still holding on in Alberta

The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.

– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

 

Giving It Up

On By Charis PsalloIn Art, WaterLeave a comment

Henderson reflection oil

“Lord in my confusion all my strength is giving in.
My adversary’s everywhere.
It seems that there’s no way to win.
Then, I hear Your voice all through me
Telling me this battle’s Yours, not mine.
I have no choice left to me, but to yield to Your design
As You take it from my hands what can I do
But lift them up in sacrifice to You?

O Lord, Your loving kindness is everlasting,
That’s why I sing.
O Lord, Your loving kindness endures forever
And You are able to deliver me.
Deliver me!”

(From Song of Deliverance by Marty Goetz)

 

Shelter

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography2 Comments

IMG_7537 bird's nest

I went down by the creek to look for pussy willows. Instead, I found a nest from last summer.

The inborn urge to fly thousands of miles to a place never before seen must be incredibly strong to make a bird want to leave its familiar nest.

When my friend was dying of breast cancer she told me, “Every day I long to see Jesus more and more. I can’t wait to see him.”

And then she left, leaving her earthly shelter, her broken dysfunctional temporary shelter behind.

The most vital question to ask about all who claim to be Christian is this: Have they a soul thirst for God? Do they long for this? Is there something about them that tells you that they are always waiting for His next manifestation of Himself? Is their life centred on Him? Can they say with Paul that they forget everything in the past? Do they press forward more and more that they might know Him and that the knowledge might increase, until eventually beyond death and the grave they may bask eternally in ‘the sunshine of His face?’ That I might know him! — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

We know that if our earthly house—a mere tent that can easily be taken down—is destroyed, we will then live in an eternal home in the heavens, a building crafted by divine—not human—hands. Currently, in this tent of a house, we continue to groan and ache with a deep desire to be sheltered in our permanent home because then we will be truly clothed and comfortable, protected by a covering for our current nakedness. The fact is that in this tent we anxiously moan, fearing the naked truth of our reality. What we crave above all is to be clothed so that what is temporary and mortal can be wrapped completely in life.  The One who has worked and tailored us for this is God Himself, who has gifted His Spirit to us as a pledge toward our permanent home.  In light of this, we live with a daring passion and know that our time spent in this body is also time we are not present with the Lord.  The path we walk is charted by faith, not by what we see with our eyes.  There is no doubt that we live with a daring passion, but in the end we prefer to be gone from this body so that we can be at home with the Lord.

(2 Corinthians 5:1-8 The Voice)

Every miraculous healing is a foretaste of what God has planned for us. Healing is wonderful, but it is only a sign pointing to the day when the ones Jesus Christ bought with His own blood will no longer need healing, because our frail bodies will be replaced by immortal resurrected bodies.

Go-between

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, SkyLeave a comment

IMG_0119

“Human beings seem to have a perpetual tendency to have somebody else talk to God for them. We are content to have the message second-hand. One of Israel’s fatal mistakes was their insistence on having a human king rather than resting on the theocratic rule of God over them. We can detect a note of sadness in the word of the Lord, ‘they have rejected me from being king over them’ (1 Sam. 8:7). The history of religion is the story of an almost desperate scramble to have a king, a mediator, a priest, a pastor, a go-between. In this way we do not need to go to God ourselves. Such an approach saves us from the need to change, for to be in the presence of God is to change.”
― Richard J. Foster

One Thing I Have Asked

On By Charis PsalloIn Mountains, Photography7 Comments

mt fisher light sunflowers ch DSC_0306

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation—whom shall I fear or dread? The Lord is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, [even then] in this will I be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple.

For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock.

And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; in His tent I will offer sacrifices and shouting of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. (Psalm 27: 1-6 Amplified)

Anticipation

On By Charis PsalloIn Flowers, Photography4 Comments

potential

When our characters are refined,

we learn what it means to hope and anticipate God’s goodness. 

And hope will never fail to satisfy our deepest need

because the Holy Spirit that was given to us

has flooded our hearts

with God’s love.

(Romans 5:4b,5 The Voice)

potential in pink

I couldn’t decide, so I posted both photos. Which do you prefer?

Dressing in Layers

On By Charis PsalloIn Photography, Trees and forests4 Comments

IMG_7491snow forest gold creek

Our days are a kaleidoscope. Every instant a change takes place. New harmonies, new contrasts, new combinations of every sort. The most familiar people stand each moment in some new relation to each other, to their work, to surrounding objects.  –Henry Ward Beecher

We are in a season here in the southern British Columbia Rockies where one day it is spring and the next day (sigh) winter again. I’m packing for a road trip and I don’t know what to take – parka, jacket, hoodie?. The weather report includes predictions of a wide variety of experiences which will require flexibility.

It strikes me that when we live among people we care about who, like us, are in a process of change, great flexibility is required. When we’ve made adjustments and developed the habit of tip-toeing around someone’s idiosyncrasies, attempts on their part to change can throw off our own sense of equilibrium. Yes, we want to encourage change, but now we need to readjust. Sometimes we are not prepared. Sometimes we don’t have the appropriate clothing at hand.

Relationships between people who desire to follow God and live out their identity in Him are never static. One day it is spring, and the next it’s back to winter again. We need to be kind to each other, and be flexible. I’ve heard it’s wise to dress in layers.

Headwaters

On By Charis PsalloIn Mountains, Photography, Water4 Comments

columbia lake south

This thought came to me as I drove home past Columbia Lake. As I crossed over a very ordinary little bridge spanning a small stream  it dawned on me that this is the mighty Columbia River that eventually supplies water for the hydro-electric power that lights the night and for the irrigation systems that produce food for much of the north western USA. I read somewhere that the Koine Greek word translated as “head” (as in Christ is head of the church) in most English versions of the Bible, carries the connotation of the source or the head as in headwaters.

The source of the headwaters of this river is a beautiful lake in the Rocky Mountain trench. The little Columbia River is backed up by something much greater than itself.

 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.

(Ephesians 4:15)

You cannot give what you have never received. It is not authority or recognition of position or honour flowing back to a leader that makes them great. It is what flows out of a person that makes them great -and a great leader knows his or her Source.