Only one life...

I ran across this poem this morning and though I've heard the famous two lines from it I'd never heard the rest before. It was incredibly convicting to me and a great reminder. I hope it's an encouragement to you as well.

“Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
living for self or in His will;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Give me Father, a purpose deep,
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Oh let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne;
Only one life, “twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say,”Thy will be done”;
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say “twas worth it all”;
Only one life,’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last. 

— extra stanza — 

Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,
If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.”

- C.T. Studd

Of photography and much traveling... (Part 2)

So to pick up where I left off...

While I was up in the state of WA, I learned about halfway through the week that I was going to be required to be in Oakland the following Monday, as opposed to being home and getting ready to leave Tuesday morning on vacation. Needless to say, it made for a very interesting weekend as I had to fly up to Oakland on Sunday afternoon and then back again Monday in the evening. But one thing that kind of made up for it was the fact that my new camera was waiting for me when I got home on Friday night.

So after staying up until 2am checking it out (I didn't get home until after midnight), on Saturday morning I decided to try it out a bit, first in my front yard then inside then down at the HB pier in the evening. Below is just a sampling...

As I said, just a sampling. ;)

So on Sunday I did something I'd never done before. I brought my camera on the plane with me with the strap wrapped around my neck. I'll admit, I probably looked very much like a tourist but I was much more comfortable holding on to it then leaving it in it's camera case, in my carry-on. And besides, I ended up with a window seat on the flight to Oakland so I had a perfect opportunity to snap a few photos from the ground and from the air.

My plane arriving...

 The view from my seat.

A few shots from the air...

Coming in to land over the bay...

Once I arrived in Oakland as I was walking through the airport, down near the baggage claim I saw something I'm not sure I've ever seen at an airport... an old man playing classics on a keyboard. I can't actually remember what he was playing now but trust me, they were old classics.

You can tell me later if you think he was posing. ;) But I felt it was worth taking a picture.

So the rest of that evening, there weren't really any good photo opportunities as my hotel room didn't really have a view and I didn't really want to go wandering around downtown Oakland late in the day, especially after dark.

The next day however I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the window and discovered there was a lovely view of a lake.

The lake I discovered was called Lake Merritt and I'll talk more about it in a minute...

At lunch we decided to go to a hole-in-the-wall sandwich place and along the way I decided to snap a few photos of downtown Oakland.

Nothing spectacular, but it gives you an idea of the scenery in that part of Oakland.

After lunch, the people I was working with encouraged me to go for a walk down by the park and the lake. So I did. :)

Evidently the park is called 'Snow Park' which seems a rather odd name considering I doubt it hardly ever snows in Oakland due to it's proximity to the coast. But then what do I know. There were a few Canadian Geese loitering around the premises as well.

Walking further along I came upon a path that seemed to follow the shoreline around Lake Merritt. And while the lake itself was lovely enough, as long as you didn't look too closely at it, the view was rather beautiful, for a downtown area I mean.

But what was really fascinating about the lake was all the birds that were attracted to the area because of it...

Here I happened to catch what appears to be a seagull in flight.

And yet another Canadian Goose swimming near me.

And yet another seagull about to dive-bomb me. :)

The seagulls seemed to be everywhere...

And I thought this was a pretty cool action shot.

And finally, it wasn't just the geese and gulls that were enjoying the lake, but people were actually spending time in the water on this lovely Monday afternoon as well, like the people pictured below in the paddle boat. Someday, I think that would be fun to try, not necessarily in Oakland but on a lake somewhere, enjoying the tranquility of time out on the water...

Anyway, overall it was very fun to walk down by the lake and I truly enjoyed the experience. Who knew you could find such beauty nestled in the middle of a city like Oakland, CA.

That evening flying home I got a slightly different perspective from the night before, as I was now flying South instead of North so my view was to the East instead of West.

Here was one final look out over the bay as I was leaving.

And a few picturesque shots of the clouds with the sun behind my back now.

And here was a cool shot of the winglet on the plane, with a great background.

The moon rising with an interesting cloud formation to the left.

And finally I'll leave you with a couple parting shots of the sunset, as best as I could see it from where I was sitting.

And with that I'm going to conclude part 2 of this post. I realize I had originally meant to make this one post and then decided to turn it into 2, but I have now decided, due to the number of pictures and the amount of time it's taking me to finish them, that I'm going to have to make my trip on vacation to TN a part 3. So stay tuned! I won't make the mistake this time of giving a timeline for when part 3 will be posted, considering how badly I missed my previous estimate for part 2. I will just say that part 3 will be out... soon. ;)

As always, thanks for stopping by!

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Ps 8:3-9 (ESV)

Of photography and much traveling... (Part 1)

It has been quite a while since I've written a post I decided it was time to get with it and write another. This time I've decided to do something a bit unique, by narrating the story that has been my past two weeks and letting the pictures tell the rest of the story...

(And just a quick note about the pictures... So I actually purchased a refurbished Canon DSLR camera prior to these two weeks. A Canon Rebel EOS 600D T3i, if you were curious. But it didn't arrive before my first trip up to Longview, WA. So I made do with my Canon Powershot S3 IS and my iPhone 4S camera for that week. Once I got back from WA, the majority of the pictures after that were taken with my new camera.)

So to begin, as many of you may know, I travel quite a bit for work. Just this year for example, I've had the privilege to visit such places as Syracuse NY, Santa Monica CA, Sandpoint ID, Dayton OH, Denver CO and Indianapolis IN just to name a few. So it was no real surprise that I had a trip up to Longview WA scheduled the week before I was to go on vacation back to Murfreesboro TN in late July. Perhaps a little annoying, but not surprising. Anyway, I decided even though my new camera wasn't going to arrive in time I still wanted to see some of the sights in the area, especially Mount St Helens...

And see it I did. Wow! It was such a surreal experience. In fact it brought back memories of the first time I saw the Grand Canyon as a little kid. It completely took your breath away and made you almost doubt your eyes that what you were looking at could possibly be real. And so I decided, this wasn't a moment to be wasted, and I was fortunate enough to find another photographer there willing to take my picture with my camera with the volcano in the background...

Perhaps it wasn't the wisest decision in hindsight to be leaning against a wooden rail like that with a huge drop-off just beyond it. But I wasn't really thinking about that at the time.

But that wasn't all there was to see, oh no, far from it. One of the things I noticed as I was driving the last few miles to the lookout point was how many white stumps were sticking up from the ground amongst the greenery. And though this next picture doesn't quite do it justice, it should hopefully give you an idea.

Sadly, Spirit Lake was hardly visible from where I was and I didn't have the time to make the long hike over to see it. However, one other thing that really completed the picture of what incredible force was caused by the eruption was the hillside littered with white tree trunks, still left there after all these years.

And getting away from the incredible scenery for a bit, there were other things that I as a 'city boy' don't see every day. In this instance seeing the wildlife in that area was absolutely fascinating to me...

First off, a family of little chipmunks, that were nice enough to pose for me. ;)

And then, a few hummingbirds happened to be flitting around nearby, though they weren't nearly as photogenic as the chipmunks...

Sadly, this was the only picture of one of the hummingbirds that really turned out at all. But the chipmunk decided to come over and pose for me one last time even closer up.

And as if that wasn't enough, as I was leaving to head back, this absolutely gorgeous sunset greeted me as if to wish me a fond farewell...

Overall, I couldn't have asked for a lovelier or more picturesque afternoon/evening to visit.
But that was only the first day...

The next evening I decided, at a friend's suggestion, to drive in the opposite direction from the previous day towards the Oregon coast and the towns of Astoria and Seaside.

The first stop of the evening was at the Astoria Column, which looked almost like a lighthouse overlooking the town of Astoria, the Columbia River and the Oregon coastline.

It was quite a unique tower with murals carved into it and a winding staircase on the inside that took you to the top if you so desired. Of course, I couldn't visit it with out seeing the view from the top so up I went. The number of stairs to the top were a few more than I originally anticipated and I was slightly winded once I reached the top. But the view was quite worth the climb.

The view of the town, the bridge and the coastline with the sunset coming on was breathtaking to behold.

And while I was up there enjoying the view, another fellow with a camera commented to me that if I had a good lens, there was a deer that had wandered out onto the grass just below the tower.

Thankfully my above average point and shoot camera had a pretty good zoom on it and I was able to get a couple fairly good shots of the deer from the high vantage point.

I then went back down to ground level and took another shot of the deer, but she didn't cooperate as well for this one and I didn't want to waste anymore time waiting for her to pose for me so I left it at that.

The reason why I was in such a hurry was because the sunset was already starting to develop and I wanted to get down to the city of Seaside prior to losing my opportunity to photo shoot it. And somehow I happened upon a beach, coincidentally named Sunset Beach and there spent the next hour or two with my camera enjoying the sunset.

It was such a lovely evening to just sit and bask in the beauty of what unfolded before me.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the pictures for that week as the next evening was spent visiting friends I hadn't seen in probably 10 years, that I had actually kind of forgotten lived in that area. I will get to Part 2 of this story, where I visited Oakland for a day and spent a week in Tennessee on vacation, hopefully later this week sometime.

Until then, thanks for stopping by!

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Ps 19:1 (ESV)