Life in HDR

 

One of the few photos I ever did in HDR

 In photography, there is a process to produce a photo with High Dynamic Range.  Thus HDR.  To accomplish this, a photographer takes a picture under-exposed, at exposure, and over-exposed, and then in post-production combines the multiple photos into one photo, giving the photo a much more dynamic appearance.  

Our eyes see more layers of shadows and details but a camera can not capture that all at once,  like our eyes.  Cameras just don't have the dynamic range that our eyes do.  

    Our perception of others is much like a camera.  We don't have the ability to see the depths of light and dark in a person's life at first view.  Sometimes we're seeing them in that underexposed time when everything is dark, and very little light is visible in their life.  Other times, they seem happy and joyful, and everything is going great just a ray of sunshine. You think that person never has had a trial or hard time in their life.  And then there is the perception, that they are just middle of the road, nothing bad or good ever enters their lives, but just steady.  None of these perceptions of someone are correct.  Our 'people' viewer is much like the camera.  It can't pick it all up in one shot.  So give people some slack, and don't judge them by their present condition, it's only one snapshot and exposure time in their lives.  Our lives are so much more than that.  We have depth and shadows and light that aren't always visible in one shot.

  "So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace." 2 Cor. 4:16 MSG

Both of these shots below were taken within seconds of each other and then combined for the photo above.  Just the amount of light I let into my lens is what made the difference.  How much 'light' are you letting into the lens of your life?  Let the light of Jesus and His Word shine on your heart and life!  It will bring you into a High Dynamic Range of Life!

One of the overexposed shots I used to combine for the HDR final picture

One of the underexposed shots I used.

Dancing Alone

    

 The woman was smiling as she watched their first dance. That little little girl she’d raised now gracefully gliding across the floor with her smiling young groom.  The first time they met was on the dance floor at mutual friends wedding.  Her, a lovely bridesmaid, him the DJ of the dance.  His eyes saw her across the room, and thought how pretty she looked, and wondered what she was like.  After a few songs, he started the next song on the play list, then went across the room and asked her to dance.  In the days and months that followed, the dance carried on, until he found himself on his knee with a ring in his hand to ask this young lady if they could continue to dance together for the rest of the their lives.  She in her beautiful smile said yes, and as it’s said, the rest is history.

  But today, they danced together again but now as husband and wife.  The woman stood smiling, with a happy tear glistening in her eye.  This was the little girl she had many years ago desperately prayed to have. Now she’s all grown up.  The DJ now invited everyone else to join them on the floor as they celebrated together how God had brought them together.

    She then saw her two sons grab their wives hands with smiles on their faces and begin to glide across the floor to join in their sister‘s celebration.  They had moments earlier taken their sister’s arms and walked her down the aisle, for her Daddy was no longer here to walk with her.  Other friends and relatives joined in with smiles on their faces as they spined and glided across the dance floor.  This was a time to celebrate.  No one noticed the mom standing slilent on the side, with one eye a tear of gladness and the other eye a tear of saddness, for her arms were empty, and noone to dance with her today.  She even quickly glanced around the room for her little grandson thinking maybe she could intice him for a dance on the floor, but she never found where he was, most likely off playing with a new wedding friend some six year old game of action and fun.  So the woman just watched on in silence, with mixed emotions of joy and loss all rolled into one.  No one knowing the pain a widow feels in those moments of great joy for everyone present.  Joy and pain all mixed into one, sorrow and celebration, opposites but related.  Trying to naviagate a dance all on her own, it a world of swirling couples.  Her dance no longer found in the arms of her best friend, was only in her memory and heart. 

Water Stand Up!

  I love the story in the book of Joshua, where the Israelites are about to cross into their promised land.  They’ve been wandering around in the desert for 40 years, and their leader, who they’ve followed all those years, has just died.  Joshua has just started to lead them, and he has some pretty big shoes to fill, for indeed, Moses was a faith filled gutsy man.  He did what God told him to do, no matter how crazy.  Joshua had served under him, and now he’s to take the lead.  No wonder God repeatedly told Joshua not to fear, but to be strong and courageous.  He didn’t want to screw up and wander around for another 40 years in the desert.

  I’m sure there was a few who stepped up to Joshua and asked, “What are you going to do now? What’s the plan?” So following in Moses footsteps, he sends out spies into the land.  Joshua knew well the job of a spy, as he was one of the 12 spies that went and spied out the land forty years before.  He knew how good the land was, he had seen it with his own eyes, and now forty years later only him and Caleb were left who had seen the promised land, and it was time to go in and take it.

  These two spies, like Joshua forty years before, came back with a good report.  It’s a “Let’s go, the land is good, and the people there are terrified of us, so let’s roll.”  So they all head toward the Jordon river. 

    The Jordon River is not a big river, it’s only on average, 33 feet wide and at it’s widest point about 60 feet wide, but in the book of Joshua it states that it was harvest time, and the river was at flood stage, overflowing its banks.  The Jordon averages about 6.5 feet deep, but there are places where it’s 17 feet deep, some sources say even deeper.

  So they camped on the banks for a few days, seeking God, and then went forth with the strangest plan.  The priests are going to carry the Ark of the Covenant into the river.  Joshua told them that when the priest feet touch the water the flow will be cut off  upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.

  Wait a minute!  Are we reliving the Red Sea crossing?  Similar, but not quite, but the same God doing it.  This time, they have to step into it, and get their feet wet.  As they step in,  the water some twenty miles away near the town of Adam begins to dam up with no natural dam.  The water stands up!  Water usually flows down, but this time, it stood at attention and stood up, and backed up. The water below where they had stepped into the river then flowed into the Dead Sea, and the riverbed dried up.  The amazing thing was they couldn’t see the water pile up, because it was 20 miles away.  But God had gone ahead, and at the precise time that they step in, they start to see the water receeding, even though it was standing up some 20 miles away.

    God sees ahead, and is working even when you can’t see it.  When all you can see is the river at flood stage in front of you, and you think you’re gonna have to sink or swim, God is already at work, twenty miles away, making the water stand up!  When you obey and step in, watch how God makes what can drown you stand up so you can cross on dry land.  God will do His part, but first you must do your part.  Step in and get your feet wet!  Do what God has told YOU to do.  Even when it seems a little crazy.  You’ll never see the miracle, if you stand on the shore and only look at the river.  Step in!  Yes, your feet are gonna get wet, but 20 miles away where you can’t see, God is up to something.  He’s making water stand up in response to your obedience. 

“The priests will carry the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth. As soon as their feet touch the water, the flow of water will be cut off upstream, and the river will stand up like a wall.”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Honey from the Rock

I made happy waffles this morning!

 Psalms 81: CEB "But I would feed you with the finest wheat. I would satisfy you with honey from the rock." 

    This scripture stopped me this morning. I understand being fed with the finest of wheat. I've lived most of my life in the bread basket of America. The Great Plains, where the wheat fields flow their golden color for miles and miles every year. We feed the rest of the nation and world. Fine wheat with a high protein content makes the best bread. I understand that. So the Psalmist was saying God would feed me the finest, the best wheat because He is the bread of life. 

But what does honey from the rock mean? I don't usually think of honey coming from rocks. That's not the usual place bees make their hives. Could it be that's the whole point of this phrase? In a place you least expect it to come from, a rock, God can bring sweetness. In those places that could crush you or make you stumble and fall, God can bring honey. 

    Today marks the second anniversary of my surgery for me. Two years ago today, I was being rolled into an operating room and didn't come out till almost 12 hours later. The surgery was not only long, but to quote the doctor in her report, it was "most difficult." As my body lay on a bed for the next few days, I was probably somewhere else. I don't know where, as I have no memories of those days up to and shortly following February 11, 2021. It's just a white cloudy fog. But finally, on February 14th, my eyes opened, and the fight to stay alive and regain all that was lost began. It was a HARD place to be, and I had already been through many hard places in my sixty years of circling the earth. But this was a new hard place. This rock almost crushed me. I remember asking my son Tyson to play me the song "Come On." by Brooke Poindexter. If you've never heard it, it's worth looking it up on YouTube. It became my last cord on the rope to hang on to. The beginning lyrics, "I can feel the eyes of heaven, the angels and the saints, all who've gone before us surround us here today...If you listen close, you'll hear heaven cheering for me... Come on, Come on, Come on, Come on..." 

     It was as if I could hear Jesus and Todd and others even here on earth cheering me on from the sidelines, "Come on! You can do this. You can win! Don't quit, don't give up!" I also remember my son's voice as he grabbed my hand and said, "Come on, Mom, you can fight this; you can live!" Those might not have been his exact words, but that's the feeling I remember. So many pulling for me to "Come on!"

    This morning, as I reflect on all I've been through these last two years, I have to smile and say that in the crushing and hardness of those rocks, there was honey to give me strength. A sweetness that's only understood once you've passed through the crushing and the fight to carry on. So I made some happy waffles this morning and played Brooke's song, "Come On." I'm finding some honey in the rock. 

Come On

https://youtu.be/nCMDH2rjnOI

Another great song:  Honey in the Rock

https://youtu.be/UiApoXKRYFc