Transitions

 

There are times in my life where I go through seasons. Just like our regular seasons on Earth, changes happen and transitions take place. Since I was Baptized at the ripe old age of 30, I have had multiple ebbs and flows. Seasons where I'm hot as fire for God and other times where I'm so cold I wondered if my Winter would ever end. I've gotten into a season of Fall, much like our current season outdoors, I'm experiencing some cool days and some warm days but my days are never full on hot as the desert sands. 

I'd say I'm confident in where I'm at in Him. I've written about it before and I'll do it again, God loves me. He loves me because He is love and I can either except His love through Jesus or I deny it. I except the fact that I can have hot on fire seasons and I can have warm ones but I doubt I'll ever swing into Winter again for the simple fact that Winter is death and gloom and hopelessness. I will forever feel God's love in my life no matter my current situation because it's not my situation that dictates my status with Him it's my faith. 

My faith in who God is and what He has done for me makes my existence what it is, which is confident. With confidence and faith I can say, I'm loved. With that same note I can wait till God has something else for me to do. 

With the people in the Bible, we only see highlights, cliff notes as you will, of their accomplishments. Take Moses for example, we don't see an every day or week or monthly run down during his time in the wilderness away from his people. He lived as a nomad sheep herder under his father-in-law. For thirty years God waited until Moses was ready to be used. When Moses came to the point where he didn't want to reign, God said now is the time to reign. 

God uses life to prepare us for His uses. We, so many times, force are way into serving God on our terms and in our way, style and comfort. When we do that we are not the empty vessel He requires, nope, instead we hold onto our control. Moses heard he was supposed to lead his people. He knew his purpose and he was going to carry it out his way. When he failed in his way, God set him on the stove of life to simmer in his juices till he was tender and usable. Take a tough piece of meat and cook it all day in a crock pot and you'll know what I'm talking about. 

So, I'm stewing and simmering and waiting to see what's next. I'm not reading or watching videos or praying or much of anything. I'm letting God be God for a change. He knows what He's doing and if He so chooses to use me in a mighty way, then so be it. 

For the foreseeable future, I am transitioning into more of a photography role. I've loved photography for a long while and recently have made it more serious in my life. Each of my blogs begin with a photo that I took. I'll probably mix descriptions and what I was doing to get the photo along with religion and my personal walk. So again a transition. 

The photo above was taken in the Greenbrier area of the Smoky Mountains National Park. If you've not visited that area of the Smokies, I highly recommend it. This little river was coming down to join another at my feet. The two prongs are the primary rivers in the Greenbrier area. It's been so dry in East TN that I wasn't too sure of the water actually flowing. I have just learned to do these types of photos by using an ND or Neutral Density filter on the lens of the camera. It blocks light a varying degrees depending on the strength of the filter. The reason you use them is so you can take a bright scene and darken it so you can get a long exposure shot without making it too bright. 

I wanted about a three to five second shot to give the water a smooth texture. However, without the filter, the longer you hold open the shutter to do that, the more light you let in. If there's too much light, then your picture will be way too overexposed. So, a filter is needed if it's too bright. Now, if the scene is dark, no filter is needed. 

For instance, I took the below picture without a filter yet it was a cloudy day, in the woods and early in the day.

One other thing, you've got to use a tripod and a timer. Any movement during the 3-5 second or more photo could ruin it and make things look out of focus. Most cameras have a timer on them, use that to take the photo, 10 sec, so you can back away from the tripod and let the camera do it's magic. I say back away for one reason. I tapped the tripod with my foot one time during one and well, it was ruined. Thank the Lord for digital film, mistakes don't cost you like they did with real film. 

I've rejoined a local photography club, one I used to be a part of but had a less than great camera at that time. Now that I've upgraded, I have rejoined with my Dad and I won first place at our last meeting with the one at the top of this post from Greenbrier. I don't say it to brag as I know I'm not a top photographer by any means but I was impressed by the simplicity of the shot. I drove 30 minutes on a last minute decision because I wanted to try the long exposure shot. It was mainly practice shooting. However, tweaking the shots in Lightroom I quickly fell in love with them. So, I submitted them for judging during our monthly meeting and viola! 

All this to say, try. Just try. It's my issue that I've dealt with for so long now, trying. I don't try because of that self defeating voice saying you're not good enough. It'll turn out to look like garbage or it'll not function right if you try to fix it. It applies across the board with all our lives. Lack of trying keeps our butts on the couch and not seeing the world. Lack of trying keeps us complacent and in a world of regret. I am now beginning to try more and I must look at failure as the thing it is, which is practice and a journey. 

I think I'm done for now but I wanted to leave with this. Transitions to anything that is unfamiliar is scary. Just try and ignore the voice and keep trying. A child doesn't learn to walk in a day.

To God be the Glory!