CAMERA

Christ alone. My rock. My redeemer. My delight. My focus.
It's so absolutely wonderful when you're trying to snap a shot and you have this core subject you wish to portray and bring out, so the camera makes these funny noises as it works on figuring out how to make that one subject pop.  Then!  When all goes well, you have this picture of this one great subject, shining beautifully while all the background is blurred.  That is the most important part and it is the clearest and most outstanding.  In life, I want Christ to be the focus.  He stands out; beautiful, radiant, and focused!  Sometimes I make some funny noises as I try to figure out where the focus of my heart stands, but in the end I remember! He ALWAYS holds my heart and soul.  It's Christ alone.  He is the focus.  And THAT is a good picture!
Aperture: man's attempt to recreate the human eye.  It's not nearly as close, but I'd say they did a pretty good job.  Using aperture, I can decide exactly how much light I want to come through the lens to be recorded onto my image.  I think that's pretty terrific, but Jesus has an even better way of letting in His light!  He illuminates life through His ever-steady presence; shown through His word, His blessings, His people, His creation, and all of the above.  He hit the nail on the head when He said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" in John 8:12.
Manual setting: Bah!  Can be quite the confusing, crazy, cool thing at times.  SO many options, so many choices, so many things to fix, so many things to change, so many things to figure out!  Manual setting is like the choosing to make the process of taking a photo all the more confusing and difficult, but- such a prettier image you have in the end!  Same with life: I choose to put my life on manual mode, completely make every single area of life entirely vulnerable to God's control.  He could change, alter, challenge, eradicate any single (big and little) part of my life at any moment!  Maybe a bit uncomfortable at the time, but I know that He has a much prettier image in mind.
Exposure is a challenge.  In the most vital moments of photography you have to decide, how long am I going to keep this eye of the camera open?  How much light needs to come in?  In the most vital moments of life, a decision must be made: are you going to let Christ in big time? Slow the shutter speed, beg Him to bring in all His light and completely consume your life.  Or only keep your eyes open for such a tiny amount of time that makes all of life dark and shady?  In the middle of night you can leave the shutter speed open for so long that even in the midst of the complete darkness, light will shine through and beauty exposed.  In the midst of the darkness, let all of Him in to take over and reveal the beauty of Himself.
Red Eye: cool stuff.  Some one's eye can so completely turn red and such a sweet person can suddenly look entirely evil.  It's quite scary.  But!  There's this great thing in photography that lets you remove the red eye, and makes the person look just as beautiful as they really are without adding a vampire effect.  Sooo much in the same way, but sooo much bigger: Christ removed all the red eye in the world when He, the most perfect, amazing human being/100% God there ever was, gave Himself up to bare every item of our yuckiness on His holy back.  He didn't just bare it though, He took the punishment.  Because He loves you.  That could blow your mind if you let it sink in for about 2 seconds.
Adventure: while shooting in your very own mother's garden or in the great Alps of who knows where, photography can be such a grand adventure!  A challenging, fun, incredible adventure.  Living with Christ is an adventure.  Whether I'm sitting at my desk trying to get beyond page one of The Odyssey or  struggling with the items of my heart or living life in the jungle among lions, snakes, and bears (oh my!): it is an adventure.  Christ is always present and the fun never ends!  He's always letting me explore His heart while challenging my own.  And just when the adventure seems to be a leeetle too much (like I can't really get over this hill, please let me drop dead right here type stuff) He gives the wings that are like eagles and reminds me that He is the one that knows how to soar, even when my soaring has taken me smashing into the ground.

Mm.. so how about a picture?  THAT is the hard part.  About a million pop into my head.
So how about something cool?  Going out in the early morning, and somehow, the sun turns out like THIS:

BAM!