Number 12 looks just like you.

Humility

Clay is from the earth. It is grey, or a rusty red. Depending on where it is from. As I grow I realize that without humility, we become stoneclay. You have no say in what God makes you into. You are clay. So often, we try to interject our own wishes into who we are or what we become. We try to change ourselves instead of asking God for it. We lose sight of it all. You need to submit yourself unto the Lord.

I look at those who struggle. I see that instead of humbling themselves at the will of God, they become angry, vengeful, and like a bull in the brambles they simply cut themselves up to the point of death. Instead of realizing that the throns are in fact there, and they can hurt you, they push them through instead of thinking. It's hard to explain and I, above anyone else becomes stubborn. I have to push myself out of the mindset that I'm in control of my own fate.

I think that sometimes, with sins that are chronic in our lives, we realize that our heart can still sin. And it does. Instead of submiting yourself to God and accepting his will, and asking God to change you, and getting into the word of God and giving every drop of your heart into change we try to gimmick ourselves out of it. We try to change ourselves.

I guess what I'm saying is prettty radical but that's humility. Realizing your dependence upon God, realizing the limbo that man exists in, that's humilty. Subjecting yourself to God and his will. It isn't easy. As humans we think that we are independent. And if you want to think that, go ahead. I think that without humility in a Christian walk, you can't get past certain brambles.

THe happy part of humility is rejoicing in how God shapes you. Recognizing his power Seeing that there is fact a light at the end of a tunnel. Looking back at how you've changed and thaking God that he changed you. I wish I could give you a few Bible verses about it.

Rom 12:16 minding the same thing toward one another, not minding high things, but yielding to the lowly. Do not be wise within yourselves.

Mat 20:26 However, it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant.
Mat 20:27 And whoever desires to be chief among you, let him be your servant;
Mat 20:28 even as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

If Keeter doesn't like this one I'll take it down!

Archive Station

Delicious!

I dig it

Not great, but i like the colors

Or this one?

Connie isn't very good at making friends.

The Pier

Conners!

Stars

I think that in the life of every man, woman and child, there should be a moment where you look at the stars and ponder the place of man in the universe. I remember when I took this shot. I was at my best friend's house. I had walked a mile on a balmy summer day so I could hang out with my buddy. I remember seeing the fireflies dance their sweet little dance around the willows, and the way the sun began to sink so peacefully. I had taught him the other night the art of astrophotography. Astrophotography is when you place the camera on the tripod, point it to the sky, and open the shutter to let the light from the stars sink into your celluloid. You need to keep it open for a long time though. It can range from seconds to minutes to hours. I remember lying down, and the way the damp grass felt on my back after walking. I looked up, and you never really see the stars in suburbia unless you lie there for a while and let the white droplets sink in. If you try to rush it, if you try to focus on seeing them you'll never see it.

A lot of people don't know the story of Job, but there's a verse that really struck me. What happened to Job was that Satan said to God, "He only worships you because you bless him". So, because God knew Satan would fail, he said, "Go ahead and test him". Satan destroyed everything Job had, he slaughtered his family, killed his servants, and at the end of it all, Job says, "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord."

That's just the first chapter. The rest of the book is his mourning and the contemplation of sorrow. Sometimes, he becomes arrogant, and becomes ignorant to his place in the universe. But, in a sobering moment, one of Job's friends say to him

Job 35:2 Do you think this to be right, you that say, I am more just than God?

Job 35:3 For you say, What will it benefit you? And, What good shall I have more than if I had sinned?

Job 35:4 I will answer your words, and your friends with you.

Job 35:5 Look to the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds; they are higher than you.

Job had to contemplate his place in the universe. He had to look up at the stars, and get straightened out. Look at what is higher than you. God who created the stars and his creation above us. I've thought its very sobering to look up at the stars. To realize how small we really are. But also, it's very comforting. To realize how small we are yet the same who made the stars loves us.