Promise Advent should be a time of preparation. Advent should be a time focused on friends, family, and the hope for coming change. But.. sometimes life gets in the way.  In this case, I am pushing hard up against a delivery deadline (2 days from today) and we are not sure how many more layers... Continue Reading →

Welcome Winter is coming earlier this year.  If you have been following all of my photos in my Advent postings, you may recall that we are one of those "odd" families that welcomes winter and all the beauty snow brings with it. As I left the house this morning, the world was that type of... Continue Reading →

Example Funny how hard it was to settle in on a subject to represent "example," (an example example if you will). We live in a world of examples.  We use them all the time to explain ourselves.  We use them to demonstrate new concepts.  I cannot begin to enumerate all the times I have written... Continue Reading →

Table I didn't want to do the obvious, even though today's communion table at Chrysalis (a local Lutheran youth gathering) was beautiful in its simplicity and its personal connection to all those in attendance. I didn't want to go where I was certain everyone else would go with today's theme, even though the tie to... Continue Reading →

Disturb This was supposed to be an easy photo day.  But, as I was setting up my shot at the baptismal font with someone posed to introduce a disturbance by tapping the surface of the water, I overheard, "seems like everyone is taking that shot today." I couldn't knowingly take the same shot someone else... Continue Reading →

Adversity We live a life of relative ease and comfort in this country. I struggled, therefore, with how to best depict adversity.  Had I had the time, I could have easily found adverse conditions by going into D.C.   Had the weather been better, I could have found at the corner of 355 and Shady Grove... Continue Reading →

Accompany Today was not a good day. I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go with today's theme.  I had two knee jerk concepts—a photo of Paul on piano and Anna on clarinet working through the music we hope to prepare for Xmas Eve and a photo of Anna and I as I accompanied... Continue Reading →

Patience   If you have ever stopped at a gas pump that was running so slow that you could see the 10ths of cents roll by, you know what an excruciating experience that can be. Now, imagine what that is like with a 30 gallon tank. Now, imagine that you know you are running a... Continue Reading →

Hero Advent in this country in these days is a bit of a paradox.  We are asked to be prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of something better.  But instead, we find that the preparations for Christmas induce nothing but stress—undermining the Advent experience. This morning, I chose to actively try to buck the... Continue Reading →

Lead Advent is a time of hope. Hope is predicated on a belief that the tomorrow will be better than today. If tomorrow is to be better than today, then it will be our youth that must take us there. It has been my joy, through scouting, to have a front row seat watching young... Continue Reading →