Moon rise? What?!

This was my initial reaction last week-- after taking some pretty okay pictures of a sunset, I was stunned to see the moon peaking its enormous white noggin right over the Santa Ynez Mountains. It was glorious! Here's the pics...

Cool, arsty stuff part II

These couple pics were taken literally moments after each other, taking place just this past Thursday.

These remind me of a scene from C.S. Lewis' "The Magician's Nephew," in which Digory and Polly jump into a puddle to make it to Narnia to witness its creation by Aslan. Such a good series if you haven't read The Chronicles of Narnia.

Man I love having my camera back :)

Cool, artsty stuff

Okay, I'm in a picture-posting mood I guess. Here's a random assortment of pics, all taken in the past week.

First three are from Yosemite, first one was just a tree with a hole in it, the second was a gateway to an unexplored, icy winter wonderland, and the last contains a view of the mountains through a "window"of exploration. I'm def in a weird mood huh? Haha.

Sunsets?

In case you haven't noticed, I finally have my beloved camera back :) Good as new, it's a refurbished one, which I could care less as long as it captures God's beauty for me. For the record, it definitely has. Here's some sunsets I've been able to enjoy the past couple of days.





I may be biased, but the composition on this photo below is pretty good eh?



Transition: This is an entirely new sunset, taken just this Thursday. This was a beauty.

Yosemite Pictures

This past weekend, I spent 3 wonderful days in the mountains near Yosemite National Park. About 100 of us packed our bags and took it to the highway up to Calvin Crest Conference Center in Oakhurst, and it was a beautiful escape. We suffered through 70° days (but with nights in the 30s!), and as such, the snow was melting, but still beautiful.

We were able to go sledding, zip lining, play street soccer, and enjoy great worship/devotional times. On that Sunday, our penultimate day on our retreat, about 10 of us formed a three-car train to make the 90-minute trek to Yosemite. Since it was warm in the mountains, I stupidly mused that it would be of similar circumstances down in the valley. As such, I wore only a thermal shirt with shorts. To my surprise we endured temps as low as 36 degrees!! Yoikes. But it was a nice test of manhood, hopefully the ladies appreciated it as they laughed at me. Haha.

Besides that quite chilly day in Yosemite, I had an immensely awesome time, and I can honestly say that was the best weekend of the year. Granted, we're barely 1/12 of the way through it, but I think it'll hold up for awhile. But this summer will probably take the cake-- I only got one word for it: Disneyworld :)

Anyway, here's some of the pics from that awesome weekend!

A New Year, A New Chance To Appreciate God's Greatness

The First month of this year has been absolutely a blessing so far. My perspective on things has dramatically improved over the past couple months, which is so great. I'm beginning to connect with God on a daily basis, and worship sessions I have been apart of have been amazing for the past couple weeks. Worshiping God is prolly one of my favorite things to do, and it helps me feel a little bit more intimate with the Lord.

With the right combination of explosive music and convicting lyrics, I feel at One with my Creator and I forgot about all the "religious" aspects of my existence that turn me off from actively engaging myself with God.

Being apart of a pretty strong Christian community here in IV, I can bear witness to the "holier than thou" card... which to be honest completely disgusts me and actually acts as an inhibiting influence in my desire to have a relationship with the Lord. Lately, though, I've been able to get past that and focus on having more of an interactive relationship with him, and that has greatly improved my morale and is slowly (hopefully) working to unveil my purpose in this world.

We all need more of God, especially those who have no relationship with him whatsoever. I was recently convicted during a retreat with my Christian group on campus (called Real Life) to Oakhurst, near Yosemite (pictures coming soon!). One of our morning devotionals looked at the book of Matthew 5: 43-48, concerning love for your enemies. But the segment that really got my attention was, starting in verse 46, was the fact that we will not get any additional rewards for loving the people that love us. It's too easy, and following Christ actively is not meant to be "easy" or safe. We serve a dangerous God, marked by the many instances where Jesus goes against the grain and does not stand down.

My life is kept very much safe, I am a rational thinker; meaning I meticulously weigh the potential costs and rewards of any decision I make. This line of thought has certainly kept me from pursuing worldly things such as alcohol, drugs, sex, etc. But I also have fallen victim to this line of thinking in sinful, worldly ways as well that I'd prefer to not list as explicitly. One element I am willing to disclose would be the friendship circle that I have, as I have fallen victim to loving only those that love me. That's too safe, and that is not what God has intended for me for sure.

Verse 47 in that passage certainly struck me as well, "And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that?" This resonated with me because I have fallen subject to this behavior, I will readily say hello and take an active interest in somebody I have known previously, but if there is somebody in my social bubble who I do not know, I prefer to basically ignore their presence.

However, after this weekend, I have challenged myself to be a bit more bold, taking it step by step. As such, I've met prolly over a dozen new people in just the last couple days and it has been such a blessing!

Hopefully I can continue in this pursuit, because I am trying to be "perfect" just as "[my] heavenly father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). :)