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Friday, March 19, 2004
In case you haven't been looking at the great photographs from the Mars rovers, especially the Spirit rover, check this out. This is a view from the rim of the Bonneville Crater. If the rover doesn't conk out, NASA plans to send it to the Columbia Hills (barely visible on the horizon on the right hand side of the photo). I think NASA needs to create some exploratory vehicles only outfitted with cameras. Wouldn't it be neat to drop a rover on the Moon, and let it send us endless streams of high resolution photos of the Earth, the surface of the Moon, stars, and lunar eclipses? The Spirit and Opportunity rovers have made interplanetary explorers out of all of us! While the scientists at NASA are enjoying the data from the rovers' spectrometers, it's photos like this one that put me on board with the space program. Maybe a private venture could put such a rover on the Moon. A remote control rover with a few cameras would cost a fraction of the spectrometer-laden rovers NASA outfitted for Mars. What do you think? (The Mars picture displayed here was adapted from an image downloaded from NASA's press site at marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040318a/07-JG-01-pan-A074R1.jpg. If you're on a broadband connection, I recommend downloading this picture from NASA...the image is huge, but the detail you'll see is incredible.) Wednesday, March 3, 2004
Last Sunday afternoon, I went to see The Passion of the Christ movie. I came away with so many impressions, thoughts, and emotions that I feel compelled to share them. This will be a rambling and random train of thoughts, but that's the state of mind I'm in right now. The movie begins with Jesus praying in Gethsemane. The cadaverous Tempter (played by a woman) stands nearby, seeking to discourage Jesus. In a scene rife with symbolism, a snake crawls from the cloak of Satan towards Christ. Even though Jesus has just prayed that the chalice be taken from Him, yet the Father's will be done, He rises and crushes the snake with His foot. The look in His eyes when He does this is awesome. I was immediately taken back to Genesis, where God said to the serpent (Satan), "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." (Genesis 3:14-15) Ten minutes into the movie, and we know what this is about.
About Satan, and about sin, maybe we'll think a little harder about taking that next piece of forbidden fruit. Under the gorgeous, appealing surface of every temptation is the repulsive, repugnant, devious Devil and his plan to rob you of life. His intentions are clear; He seeks to destroy everything God made, including you. There was a bit of emphasis placed on Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mel Gibson, the producer, is a devout Catholic, so this comes as no surprise. The scriptures are clear that Jesus' mother followed her son to the crucifixion and that He spoke to her from the cross. I can imagine that she did many of the things shown in the film. If some of this is strictly Catholic doctrine, those who are Catholics will probably understand it. To those who are not, I didn't think the Mother Mary scenes detracted from the point of the picture. The meaning of the movie, instead, is centered on Christ, the judicial trials (if you could call them that) He endured, the beating and mocking He received, and the fulfillment of His life and ministry in crucifixion and resurrection. We never see anyone receive this kind of punishment in America; there's so much you don't think about. The words in the Scripture about how Jesus suffered and died can be read in a matter of seconds, but I'll never read those words quickly again. There are wonderful flashbacks, wherein you know Christ is recalling significant moments of his Earthly life and ministry. James Caviezel played Jesus remarkably; I hope that Mel Gibson produces a Life of Christ movie with Caviezel. Those flashbacks just made you want more, to see and hear Jesus teach. We have His words in the Bible, but this just made me long to be with Jesus face to face. This is no anti-Semitic movie; the Media doesn't want people to see this, so they decided to throw mud at it. (Since when has the Media cared so much about the Jews anyway, or violence, for that matter?) It's clear that we all had a hand in Jesus' death! If you see this movie, take stock of the lifestyle depicted around King Herod. Like I said, we all had a hand in Jesus' death. Now I'll get to the heart of this for me. While I was watching Christ take those blows, while I watched Him being beaten nearly to death, I knew He was taking my place. I don't think Jesus suffered the punishment of a billion sinners; He suffered my punishment, your punishment, everyone's punishment. Sin is that bad. We truly deserve what He bore on our behalf; yet He did this for us...out of love. God came to the Earth, lived a sinless life, and then became a sacrifice for our sins just so we could be redeemed to God. He endured that suffering all the way through the crucifixion. All I could do is cry.
There is a too-brief resurrection scene at the end of the movie. While watching this part, do pay special attention to the sound track. The music and percussion are every bit as important as the visual part in announcing Christ's victory over Death. You'll hear what I mean. It is clear that He had a bodily resurrection. Viewing The Passion of the Christ goes into my life's spiritual journal as one of my most important experiences to date, and I'll see clips of the movie time and time again in my mind's eye as I move forward on my walk with Christ. (Photographs appearing above from the movie and its production, online at the time of this writing, are available at www.hollywoodjesus.com/passion_photo.htm and at movies.yahoo.com.) Friday, February 27, 2004
This is the northeast flank of Round Bald, a predominantly treeless mountain towering over 5,800 feet. From here, you see Grassy Bald (rightmost in the picture), Yellow Mountain and distant Hump Mountain. (For the relief map showing the approximate location, see this interactive USGS Carver's Gap Quadrangle.) The photo presents an approximate two hundred degree sweep, encompassing the peak of Round Bald on the extreme left and the downward spire of its eastern ridge on the right. (See a larger version of this photo.) When I'm wandering around in the high country, I feel alive. The effort to climb in the thin air wakes up my body, invigorating idle and dormant muscles. A dreamscape pours into each sense: the bite of raw cold and the strength of rock; the silence that amplifies the natural sound of clouds breezing by; and the panorama that impresses even my peripheral sight. Something about such lonely places also affects my soul. I realize my frail, ephemeral presence here surely depends on God's blessing just to exist. It's so true that in God "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). God "gives all men life and breath and everything else" (Acts 17:25). Our lives are not futile and purposeless because each of us is important to God--He gives us life. He meant that life to be eternal...and through His Son, in spite of our unbelieving and rebellious sins, we can be restored to His eternal vision for us. Sunday, January 11, 2004 Lying on the rug, I strained my neck to look up at the screen. It was another winter night at Grandma and Grandpa's, watching projected Kodachrome slides in their living room. What anticipation I had before his shows! My grandparents were forever curious and explored the United States, and Grandpa would replay scenes of places I had yet to know over and over on that silver screen. Longing filled me, even at ten, to wander, to see, and to fill my soul with the incredible, intricate detail of what lay before me.
When Hale-Bopp reached Perihelion (closest to the sun) on April 1 and neared its highest point in the evening sky, I began to get antsy (the way photographers do as they worry over missed photo-ops). I'd imagined an image of the comet hung at dusk over a panorama of east Tennessee a few days before; the combined elements of city lights, afterglow, and comet were irresistible. Two days later, I kissed my wife, put the camera gear in the truck, and headed for the Roan. The ascent on Highway 143 was a blur as I monitored the setting sun, eager to reach the best vista before nightfall. Just in time, I arrived at an overlook near Carver's Gap. Once camera and tripod were set, I stood in the falling dark alone, shivering joyously and counting the seconds for exposure after exposure. My prayer that night was, “Lord, Inventor of comets and stars, Your creation still surprises and delights us! Amen.” (Photo taken on April 3, 1997. This photo is for sale and available from my Sales page.)
We’ve landed another roving robot on Mars! Since landing, its stereo digital camera has merrily snapped gorgeous images of the Martian landscape. The press explains that scientists are excited to have the machine, named Spirit, in the midst of what may have been a lake bed. Perhaps Mars was once a warmer planet with bodies of water, they hypothesize! If so, scientists say, its possible that life may once have existed on the red planet. Thus, among Spirit’s objectives is to probe dirt and rocks for ancient clues to this end. (The Mars picture displayed here was adapted from an image I downloaded from NASA's press site at marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/press/spirit/20040106a/PIA04995_br.jpg. NASA is providing thorough coverage of it's Mars Exploration Rover Mission at marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov.) Personally, I’m thrilled to see the pictures of Mars. I feel what I’m certain is the same draw felt by so many others—"I’d love to be there" (with a guaranteed ticket home). How neat it would be to explore another world, with a seemingly smaller sun and an orange-pink sky. But I wonder about our motivation for space exploration, because it seems that so many missions aim to discover that life exists somewhere else besides Earth. So if we find what we’re looking for, what does it prove? That the author of life is the process of time? Is this not a most expensive quest to bolster the claims and theory of Evolution? Just once I’d like to read a piece about the glory of God’s creation in Mars! Isn’t God incredible to make such an infinite variety of orbs, both hot and cold, with endless color and character? Isn't it marvelous just how distant everything is? And isn’t it something that people, blessed with the inventive and creative likeness of their Creator, have figured out how to land a giant digital camera on wheels on a distant planet? Better yet, they actually get better digital photos of a place over a hundred million miles away than most people get on family vacations. While this could say quite a bit about how amazing the human race is, I think it says even more about God making people "in His image" (Genesis 1:26). How different would space exploration be if the desire was to discover what else God has done rather than seeking clues to the origin of the Universe? I see no harm in looking for life elsewhere; what concerns me is the motivation to do so. So while you see stunning Mars photos streaming over the Internet from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, give God the glory for creating other stunning and extraordinary worlds. Reflect on how our limitless Creator, who spoke Heaven and Earth into existence, also made the entire, massive expanse called the Universe. Realize just how very small and tiny you really are, yet know how important you are to the Heavenly Father. While so much of Creation appears dead and lifeless in deep space, each one of us on this vibrant and lively planet has God's full attention.
Serendipity is what this Christmas tree photo is all about. I was pretty tired after Kassi and I finished wrapping the girls' gifts, and I just sat in the recliner admiring the lights in the dark when I realized I was holding our Canon A40 digital camera. I lazily shot some photos of the tree with the flash and some without the flash as I played with various manual mode settings. This was all done handheld (without the tripod) in the cozy comfort of late night, post gift-wrapping bliss. Thinking about going to bed, I decided that I would later try using the power of digital photography to create the appearance of brighter lights on a straight-up flash shot of the tree. So another day, while working in Adobe Photoshop, I took a photo of the tree without flash (which was virtually black with just the lights) and layered it over a flashed photo. Using the "linear dodge" layer property (and a little adjustment to the scale of the lights so they would overlay the darkened bulbs of the first photo) I was able to get the shot I wanted. (Well, there were a few other steps involved, but this isn't a tutorial.) Anyway, as I turned the layer with the lights on and off in Photoshop to gauge the effect, I thought, "Hey, that would make a tacky animation." A minute later in ImageReady, I had the blinking lights GIF image you see here.
In retrospect, I should have put a couple of cute kids on the floor in front of
the tree. But since we undecorated last night, I'll have to wait until
next year for that picture.
We have so much for which to be thankful. We have a wonderful family! Kassi and I are on the verge of our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Our two girls are sheer delights and true blessings to us and others. Our needs are more than met, and we get to live in one of the most gorgeous places in the world. But I'm reminded that the grace afforded me to have such a wonderful family and life would not be if not for the mercy of Jesus Christ.
This is what we celebrate at Christmas. This is when we remember that God came into the world as a tiny person, a baby, mysteriously and completely both God and man. Though Jesus lived a sinless life, He was crucified by men. They did not know when they crucified Him that Jesus was being sacrificed for the sins of all mankind. On the third day after His terrible death, however, God resurrected Jesus--brought Him back to life. You see, all people have sinned against God. There's nothing we can do to obtain merit or favor with God--we're all rebels. The Bible says, "For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him" (John 3:16-17). God made the first move to reconcile the fallen human race back to Himself. What's left for us to do? Believe that Jesus is Who He says He is, believe that His sacrifice truly pays the price for our sins, repent of our sinful ways, and be baptized (Acts 2:38). After that, remain faithful to the Lord to the end. After death, we will spend eternity with the Lord. This is what excites Christians and why they celebrate Christmas! We have come to know the grace of Christ (getting something we do not deserve) and the mercy of Christ (not getting the punishment that we certainly deserve). Christmas is for everyone because the salvation brought to the Earth through Jesus Christ is intended for all people, everywhere. There's much more to say about what Christians call the Gospel (which means "good news"). If you don't know Jesus and would like to know more about what I'm writing about, I welcome you to e-mail me at info@jobfamily.org. Know that no one has done anything so terrible that he or she is beyond the love and redemption of Jesus Christ.
Visit Archive for Fall 2003 |
I
am most thankful for Jesus. Jesus is my Savior, Lord and King. He is
my reason for living and the Prince of Peace in my life. Yes, there have
been times I've been farther from Him than He intends, and certainly I'm not as
close to Him as is possible, but I cannot imagine life without Jesus. As
the disciple Peter once said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life" (
