One of the hardest challenges in nature photography is distilling a chaotic scene into a handful of elements that tell a cohesive story. In other words, the natural world is messy, and the photographer's job is to make sense of that mess. Case in point: on my recent trip to West Virginia, I chose to photograph fall color primarily. It’s one thing to look at a canopy of trees with our human eyes. But taking that view and making it into a two-dimensional image is another. There

Do you ever wonder what went through the minds of people in the Bible? Case in point, David. This morning I read a small portion of Psalm 57; it is a favorite of mine. But the occasion for its writing was when David hid in the cave from Saul. Now, if you're at all familiar with the life of David, then you know that he was in caves more than once. So, which particular time this Psalm is referencing, I don't know. But I'm sure in each case, he had a heavy heart and a burdened m

Three hundred and fifty posts? That's right. But currently, I'm in West Virginia, and it's been a bit of a whirlwind. Between the big 350 and this current trip, I have some writing to do, I suppose. In the meantime, instead of writing out a full blog for today, I decided to share a couple of my old posts. I couldn't pick between these two; I just know they both struck me as posts I should re-share. So here we are. First, this post is about how God is our help and our hope. Ps

Water rushes gently over mossy-covered stones, as nearby ferns dance in the breeze. Days turn into weeks; weeks turn into months, and the small waterfall goes on, doing what it does, without a single human eye seeing it or a human hand touching it. It needs no approval or suggestions; it simply continues to do what God designed it to. I'm sure you've heard the question before: If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound? But have you ever

Over and over, a theme appears throughout Scripture: wait on the Lord. Abraham had to wait on the Lord for a child in his old age. Hannah had to wait for a child as well, as we see in 1 Samuel. David had to wait years between being anointed king and actually becoming king. The Israelites had to wait on the Lord to deliver them from slavery. The world had to wait from Genesis 3 until the opening verses of Matthew for the Messiah to come. And we now must wait for the Lord to re

Pride goes before a fall, as they say. Last fall, attempting to find an off-trail waterfall, I came face-to-face with that idea. My adventure was cut short; a coming deluge, high cliffs, dangerous footing, and a wrong approach all kept me from reaching my destination. I would have to return. Thankfully, I was finally able to, and this time I wasn't alone. My friend and I headed to the trailhead and started down the overgrown path. I had done a bit more research this time, and

Have you ever woken up and wondered how in the world you were going to face the day? If you haven't, don't worry; your time is coming. Several years ago, I was hiking with a friend. It was a much longer and steeper hike than I expected. Daylight was waning. As we trudged uphill, I reached a breaking point. Unless I got rid of my backpack, there was no way I would be able to keep going . Thankfully, my friend was able and willing to take it. My weakness presented itself ever s

Four hundred and six miles. That's how far we drove, if memory serves, one day on my recent trip. Montana is a big state, and there is a lot to see. Smoke, however, kept us from some locations. Instead, we searched all around, and on this particular day, we ended up looking for a waterfall. It wasn't one that either of us knew much about; we weren't even really sure where it was. Well, other than which trailhead to go to. We arrived with a couple of hours of sunlight left, an

I can't remember exactly what I saw recently, but it reminded me that people, myself included, find that understanding the Bible is hard. As a result, it's easy for people to put it away, to shy away from reading God's Word. I've also often seen we dumb down the Scriptures for people younger than, say, twenty-five, as if they can't really comprehend it. But I wonder, do we dumb things down for others and ourselves because it truly is hard, or is it something else? Let me expl

Not the typical photograph I would go for, but when conditions are what they are, you have to make do. Is it everyone's cup of tea? Perhaps not. But it actually is one of my favorite shots from my recent trip. It tells a story. And those are my favorite photographs. Mountain vistas, alpine lakes, wildflower meadows, epic sunsets brought on by afternoon thunderstorms. These are all things that come to the mind of a photographer when they think of the American West in summer. B

The light was looking pretty good. That's what I was thinking as we cruised along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park the other night looking for a sunset. The weather had been promising a couple of days prior. But I hesitated and opted to wait for another day. So, it would be the last opportunity to venture into the park before my upcoming trip to Montana. I wanted to make it count. A particular location I know of seemed a good option. I had scouted a couple of shots i

"Praise the LORD!" - Psalm 147:1a That is how this Psalm begins, and it is one of the last Psalms in the book. In fact, the last five each begin and end with that declaration of praise. If only each of us began and ended our days in that way. I recently read this Psalm and, while studying some footnotes, realized it can be broken into three sections. Possibly written as the Jews were returning from exile (vss. 2-3), it recounts God's care for His people through a series of ex

Recently, I heard some influencers (I’m not a fan of that term) mention a study. It showed that the most successful people share three traits. They had superiority complexes, high levels of insecurity, and strong impulse control. I'm not sure how scientific this finding is, but I suspect there is some truth to it. Think of some of the most worldly-successful people. A lot of them come across as egotistical, yet consistent in their work. But I got thinking about this in my own

I'm not a fan of goodbyes. Then again, who is? Yet, the older we get, the more "goodbyes" there are to say. Some are easier than others. The death of a loved one is drastically more grievous than when a friend moves away. But in both cases, and all in between, we can feel the pull of eternity on our hearts; we begin to yearn for the day when there are no more goodbyes to be said. In my day job lately, I've had to say goodbye to several coworkers. When you develop good connect

Imagine being in a situation where you had to be told constantly to be brave and strong. A high-pressure moment where you needed a constant reminder that you weren't alone. An extra boost when you might be facing discouragement. That was the case for Joshua. Shortly before Moses died, and even after, God consistently told Joshua, commanded him in fact, to be strong and courageous. But God also reminded Joshua that He would be with him through it all (Joshua 1:9). Wouldn't it

I love when a short, something not even 30 seconds long, packs a powerful punch. That's what we have here in today's content share. If you follow Keith Foskey at all on YouTube, you know he is largely known for being more on the comedic side. But when you hear his preaching, you see that he takes the word of God very seriously. In this short, he briefly addresses the place of works in our salvation. Short answer? They have none. But Christ's work is everything. I hope you fin

Depression is an unpleasant companion. If you've ever experienced it in any form, then you know what I mean. It likes to stand on your shoulder, shouting in your ear. It often tells you the truth, though many times it is half-truth, truth without context. As many times as I've gone through that valley, I wish I could say I've learned a lot of things, things that would be positive. But it's always an arduous season. It's always hard. It gives rise to questions, even the same q

Happy 250th birthday to the United States. It's amazing to think that, on one hand, this nation has survived for so long, yet in the grand scheme of things, it is still so young.

Have you ever asked someone why they think God created us or why we're here, why we exist? Have you ever wondered about it yourself? And what is the answer? Do you think that it's because God was lonely? Maybe you've heard that it's so that God could express His love towards something or someone. But is that what we see in Scripture? Are we left to wonder about the "why" of our existence, and, frankly, the "why" of everything? At the risk of breaking it to you too quickly, th

Today I want to share another video that I recently worked on. I know I had posted one earlier in the year, and it is still my official first video. As such, it will be posted to YouTube in the near future, Lord willing. But I also recently finished this one, and it will be titled "episode 1". This one summarizes much of what I discussed in the recent articles on the events surrounding Lazarus' death and resuscitation. I hope that you'll find it encouraging and consider likin