d i m e n s i o n s

Check out this site. It's dedicated entirely to the photo capture of water droplets.

I came across this picture, edited it a little, and here, now I share it with you...

* go to google maps, and type in new York, ny.

* then click "get directions from here" and type in paris, france

* next, look at step #23

* and have a *laugh*.

With tears of gratitude, I present this humble rhyme to my Savior Jesus Christ.

However!

I find it so ironic. So amazing. So utterly stupefying... that He who gives me these words and melodies and pictures in the first place, would be pleased when I turn around and give them back as if they were something I concocted on my own.

It makes me feel like a child his/her father's arms. He gives me a page from a coloring book. It has all the lines drawn already. In fact, the picture already looks great. Then I take a crayon to it. I scribble and scribble--hardly staying between the lines, no color matching what so ever. And I turn and hand it back. How do you think a father is to react?

Anyway, this is my humble tribute. My resurrection Sunday scribbled-up-torn-page-from-a-coloring-book offering

See how He hung

In blazing sun

Throbbing hands

Blood pools spun

Birds and crows

Are found content

In flesh and blood

Of savior spent

Wrath poured out

With no relent

On Him, the Christ

The Messiah rent

Through tears of pain

Rejection found

‘Twas wrath to fill

And sin confound

Of those He saved

With thorns was crowned

Our Redeemer’s grace

And praise resounds!

I thought before I left on my business trip to Seattle, I would leave you all with some inspiration from the beauty herself, Spring!

Now, J and Andie, I know my photography could never ever even think about beginning to compare to the quality of your work! In fact, I almost didn't post these at all because your talent scares me...

but here goes nothing... (the text refers to the picture below the title :-)

While He whose flesh was torn from his body, and whose crown was exchanged for shame, hangs upon the cross in the absence of sin...

How can one stand in the absence of tears!

Do not underestimate the penalty paid and the wrath bore on your behalf!

You who murdered the Son of God, our Messiah!

...after listening to a couple sermons, I was convicted of something God spoke into my head.



To worship God

IS to pursue holiness.



Read Matthew 5:8, I Peter 2:9, Philipians 3:3

You hide behind this mask
So innocently
You wrestle with this task
Of bitter uncertainty
You're asking, "Why, why, why,
Can't I see the blue sky?"
And still the years pass you by
Without a word said
Without a word said

So confidently I can hear your voice
So evidently calling out to me
I will not fear the sting of expectations now

I will not disquise
This open flame in open skies
Are you asking for your own demise
By letting the years pass you by
Like clouds up in the sky, by and by
The years will surely pass you by
Without a word said

What's happened to this gift
Of cleansing white light
The world's gone adrift
By basking in the night
Will you be a leader or
A single ignorant follower
And let the years pass you by
Without a word said
Without a word said

I’ve been a’wander

For far too long

I start to wonder

How much time has gone

I pause to stare

At the midnight sun

And it’s then I realize

It’s been far too long

It’s been far too long

On this broken road I travel on

And though it seems I’m far too gone

Your light shatters the sky

In a glorious return

When it’s been far too long

You breathed Your breath in us

That we might come to know

That we might sing Your praise, forever

You gave us lips to sing

You gave us feet to bring

An offering of joy, to Your throne

Remember me

In light of Your mercy

Remember me

In light of Your love

You bore a crown of thorns

That we might know Your grace

That we might see Your face, on that day

My darkness turned to light

The sinless sacrificed

The ransomed now draw nigh, in faith

Remember me

In light of Your mercy

Remember me

In light of Your love

You abandoned heaven’s lights

You gave the gift of life

You offered Yourself to all, who believe

Now the angels join in song

As the saints come marching home

A nation has been formed

We are sons and daughters of the King

This crooked universe

Has only grown worse

As life descends

And truth it bends

I can’t take any more

I stumble out the door

Only to return

And face a draining sea

A great wind blows

It swallows our homes

The strong take a stand

Crowns tossed into the sand

Our light once shone

The darkness to disown

We’ll march seven times

Conquer riddles and rhymes

Daddy dear sat me on his knee

And he told me this story

About a big oak tree

That stands tall and wide

It’s roots burrow deep

It dwells by the creek

It brings forth fruit and seed

It’s leaves never wither nor fade

So I sing this ode

To the big oak tree

Let us pay our dues

To the big oak tree

God is everything we need...

...right when we need it.

God is not everything we want

...right when we want it.


How often do you get your "wants" confusuzzled with your needs?

Well, since I've been sick for almost 2 weeks now and have been physically unable to snowboard, I have decided to give you all a trip through the alphabet... IN SNOWBOARD TERMS! That's right, I have a snowboard trick and or term from A-Z (except U and X... there weren't anything for those. Poor U and X.)

Anyway, you may know some of these, but i tried to pick the most interesting ones. There's about a hundred of them right... here.

Alley-oop: A term used to describe any maneuver in the halfpipe where one rotates 180 or more degrees in the uphill direction; that is, rotating backside on the frontside wall or rotating frontside on the backside wall.

Blindside: A term given to any rotation where the rider has oriented him/herself "blind" to his/her takeoff or landing and must stretch to look over their shoulder. Such a technique usually increases the difficulty.

Corkscrew 540: Sideways backside 540, also called a barrel roll.

Double grab: Basically, doing two separate tricks while in the air. One goes off of a jump, grabs the board one way, then grabs it in another way, then lands.

Eggplant: A one-handed 180 degree invert in which the front hand is planted on the lip of the wall and the rotation is backside.

Fakie: Riding backwards.

Gay twist: Halfpipe fakie to regular 360 spin with a grab.

Half cab: It is the freeriding version of the Caballerial in which one rotates 180 degrees from fakie to forward off of a straight jump.

Indy air: A true "Indy Air" is performed backside with the rear hand grabbing between the bindings on the toe edge while the rear leg is boned. The term "Indy" may also be used to simple describe the location of the grab.

Japan: The front hand grabs the toe edge, the front knee is tucked and the board is pulled up and the back is arched.

Kicker: A name for a jump ramp. Kickers usually have the property of throwing you up into the air rather than giving you distance.

Lien air: The front hand grabs the heel edge and the body leans out over the nose. Essentially a method on the frontside wall. Named after Neil Blender.

Mashed potato: An Alley-oop air on the backside wall of the halfpipe where the front hand grabs the toe edge in the front of the front foot and the back hand grabs the heel edge in front of the front foot behind the back.

Nollie frontflip: Springing off of the nose while going off a jump and leaning forward, allows you to do a frontflip.

Ollie: A method to obtain air by first lifting the front foot then lifting the rear foot as you spring off of the tail.

Phillips 66: An invert where the rider approaches the halfpipe wall riding fakie, plants the rear hand on the lip of the wall while doing a "front flip " and lands on the transition riding forward.

Quarterpipe: A halfpipe with one wall; a banked hit.

Rippey flip: Straight back flipping frontside 360 , with a method grab (Jim Rippey).

Sato flip: Halfpipe trick done by Rob Kingwill (Sato - Japanese for "sugar" ). Kind of like a frontside McTwist. Rider drops in fast, riders up the transition as if doing frontside 540, pops in the air and grabs frontside, then throws head, shoulders, and hips downs

Tail wheelie: To ride solely on the tail of the snowboard with the nose in the air.

Vertical: The vertical top portion of a wall in a halfpipe which allows the snowboarder to fly straight up into the air and not' out of the pipe or into the pipe.

Wetcat: Todd Richard's signature pipe move. An inverted aerial where the rider performs a 540 degree rotational flip. Then, an added flat spinning 360 degree rotation is thrown making the completed rotation of 900 degrees.

YETI: (noun) - Large hairy humanoid creature said to live in the snowy mountains, such as the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada's.

Zonk: Hit the wall...

Aren't you just totally pumped to go snowboarding!?!

When I was much younger, I “ran away” from home several times. I remember one instance quite vividly; I was about 5 or 6 years old and I was angry! For some reason I wanted to show my mother I didn’t have to stick around the place. I could just leave at any moment… and so I did. It was a beautiful, warm day—probably about 70 degrees or so; perfect for such escapades.

This time in particular, I made it a block and a half away (almost to my best friend’s house). It was at this great milestone that I realized I was not receiving the gratification I thought I would. No one was screaming, or crying, or groveling at my feet, begging for my return. After standing in one spot for several minutes, hoping that time would build the tension I desired, I returned home. Wow, that was the most boring trip across the street I can remember!

Anyway, think about what God sees when we run away. I mean, picture billions of your own children running back and forth from party to party.

Well, okay… let me rephrase. Think about two armies; one good, and one bad. You’re supposed to be on the good side, but every day after battle; every Sunday after communion; every morning after a sacred quiet time, you run over to the “bad guys” and you play games with them. You start drinking with them and eating with them. You share battle strategies. You may even gamble your own armor away. After a night of fun, you return to your own camp.

The early dawn is just beginning to rise. On your way to your tent, you see your leader across the encampment, between the rows of mostly empty tents. Only a few loyal soldiers were still around. You catch eyes with your King and all He does is look at you. You begin to feel the guilt and filthiness of what you’ve just done. The food and wine from the night before suddenly turn to ash in your mouth. Everything you once thought satisfying has lost its flavor.

It’s times like this that rouse a fear of what might be done with us. We know Christ died for us and took the wrath that was ours, but what if God did what we deserve. It is these repeated times of betrayal that pose us timid and self-conscious before God. It’s amazing how our attitudes toward Him and affect His reception of us—the prodigal son! The hypocritical and proud will find Him cold and distant, while the penitent and contrite will find Him as He truly is—merciful, generous, and kind.

It’s such a mystery! A.W. Tozer puts it all in perspective…

“The greatness of God rouses fear within us,

but His goodness encourages us not to be afraid of Him.

To fear and not be afraid—that is the paradox of faith.”