I'm missing my coast today. Missing the beach and it's helpful beauty. So just thought of sharing some of my favorite shots. I've posted some of these photos before - forgive the repetition. enjoy :)


dawn patrol is one of my favorite times


I think this was post-Haley's Commit meteor shower last year. one of the better sunrises I've had the pleasure of shooting.


post meteor shower #2


winter - beginning of '10.


I love the worn look of piers. such a great subject


this little guy was my company one morning...wanted my scone. it was so funny.


4th of July '09 - nothing like fireworks on the beach. love it.


surfer watching - a favorite type of people watching of mine.


I've had this photo for about 5 years, but it never gets old. I love the gulls.


a rainy evening earlier this year. taken with my phone and the quality is horrible, but it's one of my favorite shots. I love the serenity it carries. plus, I just happened to have this nifty little black and white umbrella with me and I put enough effort into trying to take a picture around it blowing away every second!!!
haha it was fun. I laughed with myself a lot that afternoon.

I liked sifting through all these and re-finding different ones - they brought a smile to my face.

hope they make you smile as well. Go visit a beach somewhere for me!!!


lovelove.

Two things God is continually pressing on my heart lately are: the art of intimacy with Him and the importance of endurance in the spirit.

I'm surely coming to love the former.

I'm, thus far, not loving the latter.

God has been testing my discernment in the spiritual realm. In dreams, by waking me up in the middle of the night and speaking to me, by giving me tasks that i do NOT love to do. A relentless learning process.
The other day, I was complaining to God about how I'm tired spiritually; how I don't know just how much I can take. He didn't bring a verse to mind about how in our weakness, He is strong, or how I should cast my burdens on Him, He just said 'you're spiritually fat'. To this, Jessie replied "say WHAT!?", to which He explained how I need to build my spiritual endurance. He didn't mean it harshly, it's just the truth. I'm beginning to see that, when it comes to the things that, in the end, are the only things that matter, I'm spiritually shallow. Yes, this is something that you can learn to do more and nurture, but it's also something that's in you already. You start off with a spirit, but it does not start of strong. It's something you have to build. I hope I'm the latter.

This, of course, doesn't mean that He won't help you, or that you can't go to Him with problems. He, after all, is the Teacher you're learning from. In fact, learning new things will require you to 'cast your burdens' on Him. But to do so, you have to trust Him (don't know about you, but I don't like confiding in people I don't know and trust), and in order to trust Him you have to know Him.
In the verse that says "be still and know that I am God"...the Hebrew word here for "know" means "to experience". "'be still and experience Me'" is what He's saying.

Maybe I'm confusing everybody, but what I'm saying is, in order to persevere in gaining spiritual endurance,

> you WILL have to cast your burdens on Him

> meaning, you have to trust Him

> you have to know [experience] Him

> and to experience the true character of someone, you have to have some level of intimacy with them.

I don't mean to babble. And maybe I'm not dead on with all this. It's just what's in my heart...

The whole experience of learning intimacy with God has been a great adventure. It's been awkward and tiring and weird and fascinating and beautiful. I've been amazed thus far though at how strange it's been to experience intimacy with God, when really, it's what we were made for. To look at someone on the street and follow them with your eyes and, in turn, your emotions and desires, is quite normal to most. Your flesh is not weirded out by lust. And I'm at the front of that line. But the moment the One who created Love - who is Love itself - steps in and begins to show you what true longing feels like, it's awkward.
How so very wrong.

ANYWAY...

In the midst of all this learning and 'alone time' with God, my heart has begun to sense just how important my purpose, and for that matter, each and every person's purpose under the heavens, really is. I feel as if the course of my life is going to be ridiculously not normal, if we can define such a thing.

In essence, I'm coming to realize even more how important intimacy with God is for the sake of our spiritual endurance in these walks that we're meant to walk.
Everyone in America isn't meant to move to a village in Africa or see demons and such, but I believe that no matter what you're meant for, if satan sees you accomplishing the work you were attended by God to do - or even if he sees you begin to discover that purpose in the least - he'll fight you just as hard as he fights the international missionary, the worldwide pastor, etc.

You have a physical job to do, yes. And God has instilled desires for it in your heart somewhere, just like He's instilled a dire love for photography in mine, but these jobs are not our spirits' objective. I'm not meant to simply take a bunch of pictures I can't take to our next life with me. I'm meant to spiritually fight in the ways He's meant for me to. Being a photographer is a delicious icing.

Let's find intimacy and let's use it to find endurance. Satan isn't going to like it.


love to all.

Soooo I'm staying in MN for about a month with some grand friends of mine, just outside of The Twin Cities. I've been to the Mall of America once before, but Sarah and I took ALL day yesterday to scour the mall top to bottom. I didn't have my camera with me, but my handy dandy iPhone was present, as is the usual, so I decided to document pieces of the day and share. Enjoy!




our first order of business: fuel up. I ended up having 4 of these delicious iced coffees throughout the course of the day. It's not my fault they're only 54 cents per refill and flavor is free.


We got there just as the mall was opening, so there weren't many people. The theme park was certainly a ghost town early on - kind of cool.


Yes, we are at the largest mall in the US, yes this is the first store we graced, and yes, reading material was indeed purchased :) (though People Mag was not, as was intended, b/c they didn't feel the need to carry the latest issue, which had a great photography article in it I was looking forward to - just sayin')


documentation of my high disapproval of Sarah's purchasing a Sparks novel. Dear John, no doubt. Forgive me, he's not a favorite, by any means.


We did not go here today, but to all my fellow southerners, if you've never been to a Caribou Coffee, get on a plane and find one. They're kickbutt!


I was entirely excited about the mall yes, but a leading motive of mine, apart from spending time with my dear Sarah, was to enter the doors of this gallery once more. I may've peed my pants a little when I saw it. Photographers, if you're not familiar with Rodney Lough Jr.'s work, check him out. Amazing stuff, to say the least. http://www.rodneyloughjr.com/


Apple Stores aren't in high quantity in SC, so to find one was fun. I got to try my hand at an iPad. Nifty little thing!!


such a trip wouldn't be complete without a quick duck into a Disney store.
One of my favorite Toy Story characters. We share a name. We share many traits. this chick knows what's going on.


Cue kid-in-candy-store exclamation from Jessie...which embarrassed friend, Sarah, I'm sure.


colors colors colors!!


One thing I'd never had the pleasure of experiencing before my first MofA trip was...dun dun dun - Ragstock. fell in love, as was expected. My brothers call me a hippie. I don't entirely agree, but I did find a crazy great dress for $6 on this rack and then saw the sign up top. made me laugh.


in the course of the day, we stopped in to see a movie (in the mall theater, which, incidentally has it's own floor, yes. [maybe this is not very fascinating to anyone but me]). Killers. GREAT movie. you should see it!


I personally didn't think this looked anything like Marilyn.

Random.


what kind of day would it be without at least one bathroom pose, hmmm?


what kind of day would it be without at least one odd Magiquest mirror pose, hmmm?


I kind of thought this looked like Dora was trying to take down the ferris wheel, which made me laugh (again, maybe this is just me).


I got a bit loud when I found this shirt. Would've gotten it, but miss thing didn't know where the proceeds would go. eh.


People-watching definitely took place - what better place to do it!? It's my favorite.



There you have it, a random, odd, slightly pointless post of my massive mall day. The mall itself was grand. fun. etc. But the smaller things were better.

Like my laughing hysterically at the mall cop on the little stand-up roll-y scooter thing, and Sarah looking around like she didn't know me while I attempted to stealthily run after him to get a picture (I failed).

And then Sarah's little episode in the theater..... alls I can say is "AHHH! it tastes like poison!!!!" great laughs were had.



love to all.

First post since my vow to continue sharing my life with you, whomever you may be...
It'll be short, as I am packing fervently for a trip and running out of time faster than that. But Thoreau said, "Write while the heat is in you", thus this rambling...

An epiphany has just hit my head, or my heart, rather. Seems as though it's hit my head many times in the past, but I suppose my heart has just come into a place to receive it.

I have joy (not the epiphany), yes. And I share it with others (not it). But I'm choosy as to whom I bless with it. I realize I've felt as if it's mine to control.
(cue epiphany...)

It's not.

God gave me joy. Something that, as a child/teen, was sparse. Something I strove for. I was prophesied over in July of last summer that I would begin to experience great joy in the next few years in my walk with God and in my walk with others. OTHERS.

I have. It's begun, and I love it.

Why do I feel like, just because somebody has hurt me, broken trust, etc., I have a right to withhold contagious joy from them? It seems such a trivial understanding, once you understand it. gah, that's annoying.

Bill Johnson said you can't simply experience "Kingdom Joy" Spiritually. It will find a way to manifest itself physically as well.

Otherwise it will die.

Joy is given to a person for that person's use and enJOYment (<--see what I did there? baha), yes, but it was also meant to be used as a tool in your "spiritual tool belt", if you will.

I like my joy. I don't want it to die.

Don't let your joy die, please.


Oh and another thing (afterthought, sorry), if you don't have joy, and you want joy, try giving yourself away.

Give time. laughter. love.

love someone. love love love more.


serve. give joy to someone else. it will come back.