In the passage surrounding the raising of Lazarus, we can learn a lot of different things. But undergirding it all is the fact that Jesus is the Messiah, that He is God, and this story proves it. John sought to prove that Jesus was who He said He was by writing this gospel. Throughout this book, he shows much evidence that proves Jesus is the God-Man. As we wrap up this series on Lazarus, I want to hone in on the central element to this story: Jesus as Messiah, and briefly wh

Over the past few months, our church's youth group has been studying the book of John. Recently, as we wrap up the school year, we have been going through the story of Lazarus. It's a fascinating story, showing us so much of the human condition; even more, it shows us the heart of Jesus. There are too many application points for just one blog post, or even several. But, there are a few I want to hone in on in this short series on Lazarus. And the first one is that Jesus loved

A common practice among photographers is applying something called a vignette to a finished image. If you're unfamiliar with that, the idea is simple: darken the edges of the frame. This helps keep the viewer's eyes focused on the center of the photograph. You can take it a step further by using a technique called dodging and burning, where you lighten or darken parts of the image to help direct the eye. It sounds like cheating, but it's pretty common and helps to tell the st

Image Credit: Unsplash The current state of this world can cause us a bit of distress, to be sure. But it struck me today upon hearing yet another piece of distasteful news that that feeling that we have deep down when we see something unjust done to another person, is a normal response to wickedness. Now, what we do with that response of course is another matter, and both sides of this must be guarded and guided by Scripture. But we all long for a day when justice will reign

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." - Genesis 1:1 If you were to ask the question: "what is the most well-known Bible verse?", Genesis 1:1 would arguably be one of the responses you would receive. It's a very familiar verse. It is also an incredibly foundational verse. Regardless of what comes next, if we stumble over this verse, we'll stumble over what follows. "In the beginning", that is, at the start of time, the beginning of creation. There was only

The last few days I have been confronted with a couple different consistent themes. One of those themes has been the use of words. The dangers of the 'tongue' is something that the Bible speaks often about. As James puts it: "So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!" "(James 3:5) I've noticed that as our culture decays, even advertisements are not free from the evils of speech

Prayer is an interesting thing. It is a vital part of our communion with God. We pour out are hearts to Him, we praise Him for His goodness and blessing, we ask for His provision, we lift up others to Him for their needs. Sometimes we pray because our hearts are full and overflowing with gratitude towards God. Other times we cry in anger towards Him, not understanding His purposes. We run to God in prayer for help in times of distress. Yet oftentimes our prayers can be mundan

I confess, I can be lazy. I know that comes as a shock to those who know me (insert sarcasm), but if I may, we all can be at times. And perhaps that's why God has seen to it that we have a lot of exhortations in Scripture on that very topic. While I kid a bit with my introduction, I know laziness at times is something I've struggled with in the past. Of course it comes in forms: how we feel affects our productivity, and in my case its often less about laziness per say, and mo

We each have a family history. Scripture shows us that from His human standpoint so did Jesus, yet He was without beginning (John 1:1). I'm reminded of a quote I've seen making the rounds lately, though I can't for the life of me remember who said it or the exact words. But it basically says that God uses sinners, but the reality is there are only sinners for Him to use. The idea being that we are all sinners, and yet God still graciously has chosen to redeem sinners and use

"Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah" - Matthew 1:16 Not much is known of Joseph. Well, I don't know much, maybe others know more. But Scripture does not mention him much. By my counts he is only mentioned some 15 or 16 times, and that's it. Of those less than 20 mentions, not once are any of his words recorded. And yet, for a man hardly mentioned in Scripture, whose words are not brought to our attention, we a

Recently I've been reading very slowly through the opening chapters of Luke in preparation for Christmas. There's really a lot of little sections to it and each of them have their own story to tell and details to add to the greater story surrounding the birth of Christ. Can you imagine how Jesus' earthly parents felt during each of these accounts? Today I read about Anna, the prophetess. It's a short passage, detailing a moment at the temple as Jesus was being presented and c

From the very beginning, from the time that sin entered the world, creation has groaned, awaiting the restoration of all things. There's a sense of desperation that permeates Scripture. Doubtless did Adam and Eve think upon the birth of their first born that he would be the promised seed, one who would crush the serpents head. Instead he continued the same pattern as his parents and fell headlong into sin. Generations came and went until Noah. Would he perhaps be the savior?

As we wrap up the week, and the month, we finish out this week's theme of thankfulness by looking at one more area that the Scriptures show we ought to be thankful for: people. "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;" - 1 Thessalonians 1:3 The New Testament example clearly shows the various authors being thankful for a variety of people in their lives, mentioning how they pray for them, thank God for them, and are thankful for the

Oftentimes, it can be easy to take things for granted. The things we've discussed this week are no exception. That said, relatively speaking, it's easy to be thankful for the good things. Relative to what? The difficult things in life. Even the secular world shows gratitude for the positive things, but Christian thankfulness extends to every area of life, even the difficult parts. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials," - James 1:2 This is a dif

As we celebrate this Thanksgiving Day, amidst the feasting and the family, the football and fellowship, whatever it is you find on this day, may we remember Paul's words to the Corinthian church: "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" - 2 Corinthians 9:15 We have so many things to be thankful for but the greatest is the fact that God has and will continue to save sinners; and that if we are in Christ, it is by His grace, so let us be thankful for that. Because of Chri

While being thankful for good things, for people, and for many other things is of utmost importance, one of the primary objects (if that's even the proper word) we are to be thankful for is God Himself. "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting" - Psalm 107:1 I'm sure you've heard of different acronyms to assist in prayer, but if you haven't, one example is the acronym A.C.T.S., meaning: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplicati

Landscape portrait of me in Yellowstone, taken by my friend, Dean. For something that I didn't get into until I was well into my adult years, I'm pleasantly surprised how much I've enjoyed photography. More than that though, I realize that I am thankful for the gift of it, and everything good connected with it. As a child, going outdoors was oftentimes a mix of fun, but also fear. Not fear of danger, but I just didn't like getting dirty. But when I was 11 or 12, a visit to th

For the final theme of November, we're going to look at... You guessed it, thankfulness. Some of this may be a slight departure from the intent of this site, but I hope you'll see that it fits in the greater context of life itself. I know it seems a bit cliche, but thankfulness is not a cliche idea. In fact, if we're honest, it's a very difficult thing, especially when it comes to the Christian idea of thankfulness which isn't just thankful for the good things, but also fo

You may recall in fairly recent years that a banana duct taped to a wall was sold for multiple millions of dollars as 'art'. More recently an artist sold, well, actually it was nothing, for a pretty penny as well. The invisible sculpture sold for over 18,000 dollars. Modern art has oftentimes been ridiculed by many for the very simple yet abstract shapes, with many saying "even I could do that!" Even some landscape scenes far 'surpass' that of reality with gaudy over saturati

Continuing our theme for the week, one of the areas closest to my heart as a nature photographer is how theology affects how we view nature itself. Is it the product of natural laws, processes that have been going on for millions and billions of years? Is it the creation of an all powerful God? Could it be both; could God have chosen to use the process of evolution and uniformitarian principles to bring about the world that we observe today?