For lots of reasons. Not the least of which being huge windows wide open…
with no screens.
We’re safe, and snug, and thankful in Torre Pellice. More in the morning. 🙂
Unsatisfied By Average
The Musings of a Stubborn Believer
Category: photos (page 9 of 11)
Here we go, on wings of prayer.
Thanks for upholding us, friends…
Eternity will testify to the weight of your prayers.
We’ll always be indebted.
Because my heart is full, but my hands are empty. My pockets are empty.
My words are empty.
I lie on my back trusting weight to white cotton rope.
And I stare up at glistening green needles against blue.
And I wonder.
24 hours and I’ll be in Atlanta.
24 more hours and I’ll be in the Alps again…
Large loom the many lessons that have recently precipitated out of rough water around here, but these two are paramount:
All that is human is flawed; futile. And,
Heaven alone is worth living for.
Then Lord of Glory, fill your people through our emptiness…
With Your Own overflowing heart.
“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.” Romans 1:1
I set out to read Romans 1 today,
and I never got to verse 2.
Here’s the sermon in three words…
Paul– Called; Separated.
— * — * — * — * —
Just to set the record straight, I do like taking pictures.
The reason I don’t call myself a photographer is because I lack in the hardware dept.
But every once in a while, some friend puts their Canon (sorry guys) strap around my neck, and I go to town…
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| up in the fire tower, getting the briefing on the last conflagration |
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| 10 cents if you can identify that logo. |
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| view from the tower |
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| faces: my favorite shots |
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| the county seat from above |
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| more briefing in the tower |
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| pretty faces |
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| making merry with the dogs leash |
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| candid |
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| another Canon friend |
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| to turn chain into ribbon… |
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| attentive eyes and a friendly face |
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| that would be her Canon strap around my neck. (thanks Jessie! :)) |
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| [Seán’s] photo of the week |
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| friends |
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| the top |
a few more photos in the web album
Just a few days ago, it seemed so far away.
I know the smoke is making eyes water in Iowa, 1,000 miles away. And I know that the flames have left blackness half the size of the state of Rhode Island, (and counting fast) where last week were the most beautiful forests to be found a day’s drive in any direction.
It makes me sick.
But it still seemed far away.
Even two days ago as I stood in uniform with a stethoscope around my neck, eyes and throat burning in acrid smoke and blowing dust, watching 10 trucks and two dozen men battle 300 acres of flames while 4 other fires burned simultaneously in our district with less attention (from one brief dry thunder storm)– even then, I could look past the crest of Arizona’s third tallest mountain where the aspens put on their show right after the first frost, and see the smoke…
distant.
But distant is changing.
My lungs are on carbon overload.
Ash falls like snow from time to time.
All day we listen to the radio call signs of people we know by first name, in gear for the inevitable.
A fire that started 70 miles away is now barely 30.
And most of the time it is too horrendously windy to use the 20 helicopters and 8 slurry bombers at the disposal of the thousands of brave men trying to fight it.
And most of the time it is too horrendously windy to use the 20 helicopters and 8 slurry bombers at the disposal of the thousands of brave men trying to fight it.
The Nebbletts flew over the fire themselves tonight. (thanks, Google Earth) and then over to the place they call home, and then back again.
And then they fell serious.
And in a moment, it was as if everything around me came into focus.
–Like all at once I could see things I wasn’t able to, when the fire seemed far away…
Treasure. Simple. Things.
Treasure the frying pan you’ve scrubbed so many, many times. I looked at ours long and hard when I pulled it out of the suds this evening. There are plenty of people that left home this week wishing they had room in their car to take theirs as they fled.
Treasure the worn corners of the cozy rugs that testify of life lived in your house.
Treasure the worn corners of the cozy rugs that testify of life lived in your house.
Treasure the dandelions that audaciously grow in the gravel of your driveway.
Dandelions are better than ashes.
Treasure the steaming bowl of soup.
Treasure the down in your pillow.
Treasure the eye’s twinkle.
Treasure the blue sky.
Treasure life.
Treasure life.
Tomorrow it might not be here.
Or at the very least, it might be very very different…
and if you think about it, please pray for rain…
“I have a dream.”“I have a dream that one day–
Some day soon…
…there will be a thousand soldiers of the cross where there is now one.”
“That on every corner of the globe, a fire will overrun the land.
And that from whatever corner of the earth I am in, I will hear a rumble…”
“And I will say: ‘I recognize that sound’…
‘That’s my God.’
‘That’s my God!’”
That’s my dream.
And I’m watching it come true.
*from closing comments, Walla Walla Youth Weekend 2011
I have formulated a new definition for harmony…
It’s what happens when you mix life and love.
And the harmonies captured here today certainly consist of the love of more than 6 musicians…
Somebody’s been praying.
And we’ll always be indebted…
We’re at 7 of 14.
And we’re smiling.
Thanks friends… 🙂
If I was not formerly convinced that I have no light to shine, no song to sing, and no love to give of my own, I am now. But that is just fine… Why would I want to love with my feeble little heart when I could learn to love with His? Or sing my tuneless human compositions when I could be singing the songs of Heaven?
No comparison.
Now, I’ve said for some time I wanted to be a reflector… But I’ve learned something of late…
Not all reflections are created equal.
Some reflections are worthy
Some things are best absorbed…
Reflect light.
Reflect only light.
Pray for us this week… And stay tuned for samples while our next CD takes shape… 🙂
Sunset.
My favorite color.
(That’ll be on a quiz someday. :))
Few things stop me dead in my tracks more quickly or rivet my soul more completely than God’s fingerprints across the western sky.
I always, always linger…
And if I’m compelled to tear my gaze away before the color is gone, my heart lingers. My heart sings…
Sometimes there’s a twinge of loss too… After all, the day is gone.
But there’s so much to be thankful for.
Well, I watched a “sunset” today.
The last teenager in our house turned 20.
And my heart is lingering.
Our day started early– or late yesterday, as the case may be. I got my first “Happy Birthday!” in way before you were awake this morning between blasts of my siren at herd after herd of obtuse elk on the highway.
But it’s been a happy day…
Happiest because of the joy we find in a God Who is faithful. . . and sister and daughter who is following where He leads.
And also happy because in the gather darkness that necessarily accompanies a sunset, we have begun to learn things we never could have learned in the light.
The next dawn is still shrouded in mystery.
But we’re all-out excited.
Excited about the altars that await us…
And the promises that sustain us.
And the joy of Jesus being All Sufficient.
It seems I’m seeing more sunsets in life of late…
Saying more goodbyes to yesterday.
But that’s ok.
The stars are coming out now.
we kinda went “all out” this year, and planned a once-in-a-lifetime surprise party with beloved friends and neighbors…
Chantée’s brainchild, the product of several girls’ culinary art and creativity.
Thanks for loving Jesus, sweet girl…
All photos: © Joshua Nebblett
I’m reminded…
In death, there is life.
Though pain, and toil, and sacrifice are the lot of the soldier,
And though it may appear that for this time he gets no pay,
Remember that God has not asked anyone to serve Him here
without promising him an inheritance hereafter…
There has never been a night
that was not followed by the morning…
“With the sovereignty of God is bound up the well-being of man. The glory of God is the joy and the blessing of all created beings. When we seek to promote His glory we are seeking for ourselves the highest good which it is possible for us to receive. . . . God calls for the consecration to His service of every faculty, of every gift you have received from Him. He wants you to say, with David: ‘All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee.'”
God’s Amazing Grace, Feb 22
Photo: Joshua Nebblett
Photo: Joshua Nebblett
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