Because its 3:25am

Hilarious

For the record

I had a great description of all that I want to share on this blog. Because I have not posted in such a while I do not know how to use wordpress, and thus deleted it. I had a myriad of good words (mostly just “myriad”) and some clever list. So this is the abbreviated version of me telling you that hopefully this blog will see more action in the up and coming weeks/months/years….

Sincerely yours,

carter

Hermeneutics?

Here is a Christian hermeneutics quiz that I found on a website. You should take it and see where you are on a scale between conservative to progressive.

If you could answer the 20 questions, I’d love to know what your score is and your sweet new title from the test. Put your results in the comments section.

both A and B?

When I begin a blog post, it all starts from the title. Then works it’s self down and by the end of the post I have no idea of where I began, but I did have a great title…. In other news, the John Lennon question got a whopping 2 comments! (much more than I imagined) So I thought I would do a small survey and ask a question for everyone who visits.

I am currently studying communication theory and learning people’s definitions of what communication is. Some say that it is the act of transmitting ideas, others say that it is the response to ideas. The beauty of definition and interpretation is everyone’s is usually slightly different from someone else’s. I say beauty because it requires us to communicate for ideas to be expressed. In my text they are discussing the different definitions of communication and the definition that they pick as their’s is one that they create based off of the other definitions. So now with the question…..

Should definitions be…

A: concrete

B: relative

C: both A and B

…….

When you watch television, you never see people watching television. We love television because it brings us a world in which television does not exist. -Barbara Ehrenreich

Imagine what it would be like if TV actually was good. It would be the end of everything we know. – Marvin Minsky

John Lennon

You know, I don’t agree with all of John Lennon’s ideals but one thing I do love (besides his music) was how he was able to influence an entire generation (maybe not for the best) but he did it. So today while I was studying I turned on my John Lennon album and then that sparked me to do a little search to see what Christians thought about ole John. This was what I stumbled upon. Where do we draw the line to support something good, rather than being strongly against something bad?

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

return

Two summers ago I had the chance of a lifetime to share Love and Hope (and le bom boms aka. candy) to the people of Nepal. I might have the opportunity to return this summer. There is nothing more in this world that I would rather do with my life, but there is so much time and growth between now and then. So for now I am in waiting….but what could be a better position?

When there are three days to a weekend:

1. Friends from out of town come to visit to throw frisbee and sleep on the floor.
2. There is more time to throw a frisbee.
3. Churches have pot luck lunches on Sunday.
4. Hot air balloons fly. (homemade ones do not) Along with Fireworks and celebration for the Electric City.
5. Dance parties happen in parking lots (with howie).
6. Clemson plays and everyone gets free pizza.
7. Cashiers at Wal-mart story time of the 5 shopping carts of beer ($1128 to be exact) that they recently sold.
8 . Dog whisperer marathon.
9. Anamaniacs DVD’s.
10. Good Pictures.

To write with light- title credit to Joshua Longbrake

Life happens quickly. One minute we are hitting the snooze on our alarm clock. Before we know it we are setting the alarm for the next morning. A day has passed with no events, no memories, and no thoughts to ponder. Our lives are valuable and yet wasted by mundane living. There is nothing new under the sun…except our perspectives.

Photographs throw monkey wrenches into our average perspectives. They take ordinary sights and make them extraordinary by changing the viewpoint or framing of an object. The subway car on our way to work made into art by focusing on a single seat, or the motion of the car.

A photograph is a silent memory. It is a captured image, stored in a box until time has past and those thoughts behind the image can be developed into memories. Light is captured by the camera at a fracture of a second and an image is made concrete. A photograph is not an entire new creation it is beauty out of the ordinary.

Ansel Adams, a photographer that captured landscape photos of the American west commented on the beauty that was before him saying, “Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” God’s beauty is shown through photographs by illuminating his creation before the photographer’s eyes. The photographer is being used as an instrument to capture the beauty of the place in time and revive the mundane perspective.

A photograph tells a story. A portrait shot tells a story of a person without one word ever being spoken. We see the eyes of the world through the photographer’s eyes. When we view a picture of an African child smiling at his very first piece of chocolate, we are able to connect with this child. We can feel his emotions, see his thoughts, understand his excitement and for a moment know him, just by seeing his face.

A photograph is a prayer. When the shutter clicks it is a reminder to thank God for creation. Each photograph is a reminder of life and for the place and time that we are given to take a photograph. We are refreshed with the memories of the beauty of creation and the visual reminders we have with each photograph.

When we share our photographs with others we are sharing the beauty and the knowledge that we have been given by God. A photographer rejoices in a beautiful picture because of the ability to share what is before their eyes and their new perspective on life. A photograph brings the knowledge of these moments into our minds and gives us a new understanding of what can be seen.

I visited the Taj Mahal today. I also was in time square, and got soaked by Victoria Falls all through photographs that I have taken. When we change our perspectives and absorb the beauty of our life and look at it with open eyes, we will not only have brilliant photographs but we will make memories our days.