Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus had been teaching the crowds and the day was getting late. He asked his disciples about where to get the bread to feed the crowd. Peter’s response was we don’t have enough money to buy that much food. Then his brother, Andrew, replied, here is what we have. Sometimes I wonder how Andrew knew that someone in the crowd had those loaves and fish.
Sometimes I also wonder how I write this blog and take these images. The words are hard to come by on my own for I was never a writer - and a lot of my images still need work. Yet they are offered to God who can make them into something that someone needs to hear and see. And then sometimes I get an image I didn’t expect or plan for - like this sunrise from our motel on the Blue Ridge Parkway. And sometimes there are words that just come. You need to remember the rest of the story - Jesus fed the crowd with those loaves and fishes that Andrew found. I am grateful for the unexpected gift of photography, something that I would have never planned to do or become. I am grateful for images like this one that speak to me of peace and hope for a new day. What will you give and trust to God this day for his service - even though it may be small and insignificant? It may not feed a crowd of thousands, (only about 15 people read my blog) but trust it to God to feed someone who needs to be fed. Prayer Lord Jesus, We offer our lives to you this day to use how for your glory. Amen
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Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High It had been a beautiful day in the mountains so we decided we would go on up the mountain to catch a sunset. The closer we got to the gap the more the clouds rolled in. We almost turned around but decided to drive on through the clouds. When we got to Clingmans Dome the clouds cleared away to the west. We had the most unusual sunset - with high clouds and then some low clouds gently touching the mountains with a bright sun in a clear sky between.
As I watched the sun go down behind the clouds this great feeling of home and safety came over me. I just knew that I was watching God create something beautiful in that sunset - the one I didn’t expect. I don’t live on top of the mountain but I can always rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will put my trust in God and he will be my refuge, my home. Prayer Almighty God I want to always live in your shadow. Wherever I live, on top of mountains or in deep valleys, you have been and will always be my refuge, my strength, and my home. Amen Even though I walk through the darkest valley, We knew the day was going to be stormy but we hadn’t been to the mountains in a long time. We went anyway. If the storms kept us from hiking we could drive to our favorite places. Having the safety of our car close by allowed me to see familiar places in a different light without fear.
Our world can be a fearful place. Evil is real and there are real dangers. How do you walk safely through stormy days? When our trust is in God and not in ourselves we can walk through the darkest valley without fear. We find safety and comfort in his presence. Prayer Lord of the Darkest Valley We put our trust in you and walk in your light knowing that in you we can fear no evil in your presence. Amen Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel. It was just an ordinary morning at the campground. The fishermen were putting in their boats and there was some color in the sky but mostly clouds. It wasn’t the kind of sunrise over water that a photographer hopes to capture. But I had still gotten up early just in case there was a chance for the spectacular. While I didn’t get the prize winning photograph I did see beauty and I had some time to just sit quietly in God’s presence.
I have come to see following Christ like this. Most days are just regular days with routine daily activities. The important thing is to just stand firm in all you do knowing that the standing firm is a way of sharing the gospel to all those who happen to see you even when you don’t see them. I have seen some spectacular sunrises and for those I am grateful; but I am also grateful for the ordinary days when I just walk quietly through my day trusting in Christ’s love for me. Prayer Lord of Ordinary Days Fill us with your Spirit so that we can simply stand firm whatever happens conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Amen Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. One of my favorite places in the Smoky Mountains is Cades Cove. As you enter the cove the valley opens up to mostly level fields surrounded on every side by tree covered mountains. For me it is a place of peace and beauty, even on stormy days. We have this same promise of peace when we remember that we are surrounded by the Lord God.
Prayer Lord God May we be open to your presence today and experience the peace and security of being surrounded by your love. Amen When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Fog settled in making it hard to see the other end of the bridge. It just seemed to disappear. Even in the fog many cars that day trusted the bridge to continue their journey. Why did they trust?
There are many times in our lives we come places where we can’t see the way forward. We can only see a bridge draped in fog. What gives us the courage to drive forward, to trust the bridge. We know the Maker of the Bridge. God can be trusted. Many times he will ask us to go where we can’t see anything but fog. We make our way across the bridge knowing that he has been and will always be faithful. What are some times that you have trusted and found God faithful? Prayer Father God We put our trust in you. We walk forward unafraid and sing our praise to the Maker of Bridges. Amen “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” When a photographer takes a picture of a waterfall, she has a choice. If she uses a slow shutter speed then the water will appear smooth and silky. If she wants to capture the power and speed of the water then she will use a fast shutter speed to see the individual water droplets. I don’t remember which one I chose when I took this image of two tiers of Multnomah Falls. It was only after I looked at the image when I got home that I realized somehow I had managed to do both in the same image. The water from the upper falls is smooth and silky while you see more of the power of the water and individual drops in the lower tier. It is a mystery that I really can’t explain.
When the angel Gabriel told Mary that she was about to bear the Son of God she faced a mystery. Her question, “How can this be?”Gabriel’s answer was “by the power of the Most High” and a promise that “no word from God will ever fail.” This was probably the first of many mysteries that she would face as she watched Jesus grow and begin his ministry. What we do know is that even in the face of mystery, of not having all the answers, of not knowing why, she remained faithful to her word, “I am the Lord’s servant.” Prayer Most High Help me trust you even when I don’t understand why. May I answer like Mary, “I are the Lord’s servant.” Amen Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity. Last week when I got up early to catch this sunrise I wasn't sure how much color there would be or if I would be able to create a beautiful image. The only way to know was to just get up and go. The first step of any job, photographer, writer, or whatever, is to just show up.
This short story about Tabitha in Acts is a story of someone who just showed up. We only read about her here. She wasn’t famous or important in the world’s eyes. She just made sure that the poorest of people, the widows of Joppa, had clothes to wear. She was just an ordinary person showing up with her sewing skill. Sometimes I look back on my images and my writing and I am surprised that I could ever make a beautiful image or write thoughtful words. I didn’t intend to become a writer or a photographer. I struggle even to call myself those things but for right now I am just showing up. I study and practice and go to sunrises. Sometimes the images are beautiful but a lot of them I just discard. What I don’t discard is the experience of watching a new day begin. So today I write to encourage you to just show up, to be faithful, like Tablitha, with the abilities you have right now. God is always faithful to us. Prayer Lord God As you have always been faithful and shown up for me, help me to show up today in whatever task you have laid before me, trusting you to make it something of beauty. Amen View the post for March 2 for an explanation of my theme for Lent. The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; Sunrises are quiet times. Many times you may be the only one at your location. You rise early in expectation of what you will see in the sky. Sometimes the colors fill the whole landscape while other times the sun remains behind dark clouds. There is nothing that you can do to make the colors appear or the sun rise above the clouds. You must just sit and wait in the quiet for the light to transform, little by little, the view before you. .
We need quiet times like these, times to seek God in silence. The poems of Lamentations are from the heart of one who had seen the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of God. His grief was great there was nothing he could do. So he sat in silence and waited quietly. We all find ourselves in times like this, in the silence of the wilderness. It is hard to sit and wait quietly; but, like the poet ,we can trust our God who comes to us in the wilderness. When we sit quietly with him in the darkness, he will gradually transform our hearts as the sun fills the landscape with beauty. Prayer Lord God We wait on you in the beauty of silence. Fill our hearts today with your love. Amen But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. They’re back, the daffodils in the cove; singing of joy and hope! They have made it through the long winter and came up through frosty ground. They are not native to the mountains but were brought here by early settlers as a way of reminding them of the land they left. You will likely find them close to old homesites. These I found in my favorite place to look, under the large trees close to Hyatt Lane. Every spring I journey to the mountains to find them again, sheltered under this tree. They bring me hope after long winters.
After voicing his lament over God’s seeming absence in Psalm 13, David ends his lament with words of trust. He has seen God’s goodness in the past, and like the daffodils in spring, sings his doxology of God’s unfailing love. Today I join the daffodils in their doxology. Prayer Lord God. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye Heavenly Hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in. On our recent trip to the Dakotas I I learned that this part of Badlands National Park is called “The Wall.” You can follow it for 60 miles. Which each new view I saw more of its beauty and also its danger. At the beginning of each trail were prominent signs warning the hikers to beware of rattle snakes. It made me think of the story of Joshua facing the walls of Jericho. The people had just entered the promised land and the large walled city stood before them. The instructions God gave Joshua for how to face the walled city were downright strange. Who fights a military battle by only walking around the enemy in silence for a week? Joshua had a choice to trust God or fight the battle in his own military strength. When you read the rest of the story you will see that God did what he promised and the walls fell.
Prayer Lord God When we face walls in our life that seem overwhelming and dangerous, teach us to trust you and walk where you lead. Amen Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Have you ever watched a leaf fall from a tree, followed it with your eyes from the branch to the ground? If the conditions are just right it seems to dance through the sky all the way down. It has let go of the branch and now it is being transformed into nourishment for the forest floor. The leaf has a new purpose now. Paul urges us to be like the leaves. To let go of the patterns of the world and let God transforms us into his purpose. It isn’t an easy thing to do but when we do we will be able to find God’s will and purpose for our lives.
Prayer Holy God Give us the joy of the leaf that dances to the ground as we surrender to your will. Transform our lives as we let go and find the purpose you have for us this day. Amen Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It's a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.” The disciples were following Jesus request to move across the lake to the other side when the storm hit. Sudden storms were not unusual on the Sea of Galilee but it wasn’t the storm that terrified the disciples. It was seeing Jesus walk toward them on the water. Jesus responded to their fears immediately reminding, “Take courage! It is I.” Peter got out of the boat and walked toward Jesus until he looked away and down at the stormy waters. Jesus took Peter’s hand and they climbed into the boat. The disciples’ fear was replaced by worship. It was during that storm that his identity as the Son of God became just a little more clear to them.
These are fearful times. Storms rage around us. Jesus is the only one who can step into our boat and calm the storm even though he may come in unexpected ways. When we see the storms coming we need to trust him to bring us safely to shore. Then we will bow down and replace our fear with worship. Prayer Lord of the Storm Open our eyes to see you always walking toward us. Open our ears to hear your voice calling us to not be afraid. Increase our faith and fill us with awe as we worship you. Amen In their hearts humans plan their course, I am a planner - of lesson plans, road trips, and photography outings. Planning is my way of bringing order out of chaos. Things in our world right now seem disordered and chaotic. We don’t know what will happen next. Planning is almost impossible. It is like we are walking down an unknown path not sure of where we are going or what will be around the next curve. What we do know is that the Lord is there to establish our steps. He knows what is around the next corner. His light will show us the way. When we can't plan we can trust God bring order to our chaos.
Prayer Lord, We are plan-less right now. Shine your light on our path this day and bring order from the chaos that we face. Calm our fears and help us to walk in the confidence of your love. Show us your purpose and direction for this day. Amen Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. According to the tour book the Thunder Ridge Nature Trail leads to one of the most beautiful overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway. However when we arrived at the trailhead everything was just socked in with fog. We decided to take the trail anyway and while we didn’t see the amazing view from the overlook that we expected the fog created a serene, peaceful, and beautiful walk.
In those times in our lives when unexpected fog rolls in we can choose to stay the course and just keep walking. When we wait patiently Jesus will come to us. In him we will find a joyful hope because he has proven to be trustworthy every time. Patience is never easy but our best choice is always to stay the course and he will lead us out of the fog. Prayer Lord Jesus Develop in us a patient trust in your love. Help us to just faithfully keep on keeping on when we are surrounded by fog trusting in the promise of your love. Amen For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. This lighthouse stands at the entrance to the harbor in Duluth, Minnesota, shinning its light for the ships returning to port. It must feel good to the sailors to see it as they guide the large ships into the safety of home port; sometimes after enduring difficult waters. There have been times in my life when I have wandered away from Christ. Maybe I was too busy, worried about material things, or just focused on having things my way. I know that Christ stands like the lighthouse guarding my soul. In Christ I find the safety of home. He stands ready to forgive and welcome me into his protection.
Prayer Lord Jesus, Guardian Of Our Souls We entrust our souls to you. We thank you for accepting us and forgiving us when we have wandered away. Amen View the post for February 27 for an explanation of my Lenten Project Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. You can still see the tree in the picture of the night sky. It doesn’t go away when the sun goes down. The interesting thing is that if you sit long enough in the night and watch it get dark you will see wonderful things. You have to wait and waiting isn’t easy but there is reward. Our lives can be like this and for many of us it is right now. We see the dark coming. We are crying out in the depths, whether those depths are the cause of something beyond our control or our sin. We have an assurance that our loving God is still there even in our darkest night. In him we find forgiveness. We can put our hope in the Lord and wait - for hope is an intensive form of waiting. While we wait we can serve him and he will show us how.
Prayer Lord God, We cry out for you in the darkness. We put our hope in you and wait. Show us one way we can serve you this day. Amen While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. This one-way road is one of my favorite roads in the mountains. When you pull off for a view you don’t have to wonder which way to turn you just have to follow the road. The road ahead is narrow and moves out of sight and it ends in a different place from where it starts. It is filled with beauty all along the way. All you have to do is follow the road.
Jesus’s call to Simon Peter and Andrew was as straightforward as driving on this one-way road, “Come, follow me.” They didn’t know where it would end but they did know who they were following. Jesus called them from where they were and told them that he would make them into different kind of fishermen. Following Jesus begins where you are now. You only must decide to follow the road he lays out for you. You won’t always see the road in front of you. You must trust Jesus to lead the way. Prayer Lord Jesus Give us the courage to follow you this day. Remake us into what you would have us be. Amen He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; The plant has made it through the winter and soon the bud will become a beautiful white trillium. Many people will come to the mountains in the spring to see the trilliums in bloom. It will be a new creation out of something old. Only when we have weathered the dark and trusted God to carry us through are we able to sing a new song. The new song we sing won’t be our song, it will be his song. It is when we sing his song that we bring the promise of new life to all those we meet.
Amen Lord God Open our hearts to your song and give us a new song of praise to sing for you have made us new. Amen The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. This tree has stood on the cliff at Buzzard’s Roost for as long as I have been coming to watch the sunset here, and probably many years more. It stands twisted and gnarled by the elements, but somehow it still stands. Isaiah spoke this prophecy to King Ahaz and a people in trouble. These words were meant to encourage and warn the king that he needed only to trust God to save him. Going his own way and seeking to make alliances with other nations was not going to save him. Either he was going to choose to stand firm and trust the Lord or he would be destroyed. The sad part of the story is that he chose to go his own way and Judah was overtaken. I think these words had wisdom for King Ahaz but they also have wisdom for us today. There have been times in my life when I was just about to be blown off a cliff and it was only because I held on to God that I could stand at all. So if you are having trouble standing now, take hold of the rock that can never be moved and then you will stand firm. You may come out a little twisted and gnarly like this tree, but there will be a depth and beauty to your life that wasn't there before.
Prayer Lord God When we feel we can longer stand, be our strength. Amen |
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Soli Deo Gloria,
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan
1 Corinthians 10:31
© 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Karen Milligan