Above anything else, I’m a Christian. More important than any other aspect of my life is that God has given me grace in Jesus Christ. My life, in spite of all its imperfections, can never be the same. For all intents and purposes, I cannot divide my faith in Christ from any other aspect of my life. If my life were water, Jesus would be the spout that delivers it to my glass.In fact, Jesus would be the glass also.

But, along with that comes a challenging tension that I have not yet understood or learned to balance. Though I’ve heard quite a lot of ideas—none really seem to be the whole answer.

See, I am also an artist and a business man (if those two can indeed coexist). My art is photography, and my business is in the wedding and portrait industry. Both of these are highly social in nature. As a photographer, both artistically and professionally, my ‘survival’ relies on making and maintaining connections with people wherever I meet them. If those connections do not exist, neither can my business or my art.

But that is also true of my faith. I am called to be a witness to the world of God’s grace in my life. When I meet someone, speak to someone, engage with someone in virtually any capacity, this fact cannot, does not, escape my mind.

How do these two live in tension with one another? How do I run a business and create art that glorifies God without driving away those with whom I hope to engage? I have yet to hear a simple answer.

  Today, as I sat with friends, I learned for the first time how to use Twitter to grow my business. It’s a remarkable tool that puts you immediately in touch with a vast number of people talking about all kinds of interesting things. Of course, you probably knew that already. I admit, I’m joining the caravan a bit late.

After learning to use the networking tool, it took no time at all for me to discover that, here too, I would face this challenge. A major element of Twitter is simply connecting with people over everyday endeavors. Where you’re going, what you’re doing, who you’re reading.

For me, those things are almost always connected to, if not wrapped up in, my faith. If I use the tool as most do, then I keep a world of potential clients, and more importantly potential believers, at arms length. Much like wearing a t-shirt that says, “Beware, I’m a Christian”. At the end of that day I’m engaging only other Christians and doing business almost exclusively with them.

But, on the flip side, if I don’t vocalize the ins-and-outs of my faith, I essentially deny the very foundation of virtually everything I do.

It’s a conundrum to say the very, very least. I haven’t yet found a satisfying answer to these questions. But I’m eager to hear the thoughts of friends who find their own ways to strike this tension on a personal and professional basis every day.

It’s the final day of 2009. Normally I wait too long to post my best-of lists and reflections on the year gone by. But this year, with a bit more preparation, I’ll reflect now while there are still a few hours left of the 21st centuries first decade.

So, here we go. A shotgun blast of my reflections on 2009.

Movies

I think 2009 was a good year for movies. I spent less money and time at the movie theater and instead was more careful in choosing what to spend my money on. That been said, however, I still directed most of my viewing to Hollywood blockbusters and less pursing independent works. Here were some of my favorites.

	1. Star Trek: I was never a Star Trek fan. Although, as a kid I did see a handful of the movies and TV shows. Just enough to get the gist of the characters and basic plot-lines. JJ Abrams blew me out of the water with his reboot of the series. He did it tactfully so as not to ruin the legacy of the series, but still create something appealing to newer audiences.
	2. Up: Pixar, in my opinion, hasn’t made a dud yet. And Up tugged the heartstrings like no other animated movie I’ve ever seen. It was funny and meaningful.
	3. Where The Wild Things Are: I loved just about everything about this movie. The tone, story telling, acting, writing, score—even the ending which seemed to put most people off.
	4. Avatar: Last minute, perhaps, but here’s another movie I’ve fallen in love with. While it may essentially be a retelling of Dances With Wolves set in a juiced up version of the world in Fern Gully, I have to say that I rarely see movies that can so skillfully orchestrate my emotions.
	5. Funny People: Judd Apatow has become one of those filmmakers that will pull me to the theater almost regardless of what he makes. Though his style is vulgar (to say the least) he’s about the only one making comedies worth listening to. Funny People surprised me on just about every count.

Other Notable Movies: Although I wouldn’t put them at the top of the list, there were a number of other movies I really enjoyed. The Watchmen, Terminator Salvation, District 9, Zombieland, The Road and I Love You Man were all really stellar flicks that I have every intention of watching again.

Movies I really hated: There were of course a couple moves I absolutely hated and wish I could get my 9 bucks back on. Most noteably, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Public Enemies—which had my hopes high and severely let me down.

Music

I love looking for new music. In 2009 I discovered the extreme usefulness of Last.fm in this endeavor. Their tagging system allows you to find music based on abstract ideas, like a word or feeling. Just try searching Last.fm for the word ‘happy’ and you’ll know what I mean.

Here are a few my notable discoveries from 2009.

1. Mika: Awkward, theatrical and painfully catchy pop-music from Europe. Mika is my favorite of the new music I’ve found, with what seems like an endless stream of addictive, well written music.

2. Iron & Wine: Okay, not new. But it was in 2009 that I finally developed a taste for Iron & Wine’s particular brand of slow-folk-rock.

3. Cinema Rock: Groups such as Corner Stone Cues, ES Posthumas and Globus were discovered in 2009 and I’ve fallen in love. Music that sounds like it should be in a movie, but is never officially attached to any particular theatrical release is right up my ally.

4. Rosie Thomas: In close collaboration with Sufjan Stevens, Rosie Thomas’s album These Friends of Mine is beautiful. It’s difficult to decide whether it’s solemn or simply melancholy, but either way it’s one of my new favorites. Especially worth checking out is her duet with Stevens titled Say Hello.

5. Damien Rice: Not a new name, but prior to this year, I’d never given him much attention. Damien Rice’s albums 9 and 0 are sweet and sad set on the backs of catchy, slow melodies, it’s a wonder I didn’t find him sooner.

Other Notable Music Stuff: I also rediscovered my love for the work of Pedro the Lion, Bright Eyes and The Rocket Summer.

TV Shows

I’ve spent more time watching TV shows this year that I normally have. In 2009, I watched the entire Friends television series, finally saw Freaks & Geeks, Entourage and It’s Always Sunny in Philedalphia.

But two stand out as most notable shows.

	1. Community. The new show on the NBC Thursday night lineup is about a hodgepodge group of students at a community college. It’s brilliant through and through. It’s self-aware and witty, but not without a cheesy charm.
	2. Dexter. No, this isn’t new, but it was in 2009 that I watched all four seasons and now eagerly await the arrival of the fifth in fall 2010. I have no hesitations in saying that Dexter is the best drama series I have ever watched. Even better than House.

Business

In 2009, Petruzzo Photography finally began to blossom. I shot nearly three times as many weddings in 2009 as I’d shot in my entire career leading up to that point. With referrals spreading and me honing my understanding of the business world, the possibilities are expanding fast and I’m excited to see what will happen in 2010.

In 2009 my business website was hacked and completely destroyed. Most likely as a result of a (since patched) hole in the Wordpress software, which the website is built on. The damage forced me to rebuild the site almost from the ground up. This time geared more toward my target wedding market.

The redesigned website also paved the way for me to begin accepting credit card payments.

Family & Personal Life

My niece turned 10 this year and is fast approaching teen years—for which I should leave the worrying to her parents—but I take the concern upon myself anyways. My nephew turned two just weeks after we all got the news that my sisters is pregnant again, so before he’s three there will be yet another niece or nephew in my life.

Hobbies & Personal Endeavors

It was this year that I discovered Hookah, or Nargile. A middle-eastern tradition of smoking a molasses soaked tobacco, called moassel, which is filtered through water. I’ve fallen in love with the social aspect of the hobby, but also found a perfect companion to private study and recreational reading.

In the end of 2009, I officially and finally took the plunge in to AT&T’s cell phone network which has finally allowed me to use the iPhone. It is by far the most valuable tool I’ve acquired since my Macbook Pro, or Cameras before that. No other piece of portable electronics even rivals the everyday  usefulness of the iPhone.

This year I also made a more pointed effort to learn to play guitar. I failed—perhaps to dust off and try again?

Church Life

In the beginning of 2009, church life was on rocky ground. By the end of 2009 church life in any official capacity is virtually non-existent. A combination of disillusionment with the institution of the American church and an uncertainty about which direction to go has left me, at the end of 2009, between ministries again.

It was this year, in 2009, that I also came to grips with the fact that I have no interest in serving the Church vocationally as a pastor or leader. Though I still find myself kicking against the goads of respected friends’ opinions. This one is to-be-continued.

In Conclusion

2009 was productive, yet not without it’s difficulties. I have a lot of new ideas on the docket for 2010, but to avoid clichés, I will avoid actually using the term “New Years Resolution” in a sentence.

But more on next year, next year.

This year, my family is having Thanksgiving dinner at our sister’s new house. My sister (who is now pregnant with her second child) and her husband moved into the house a few months ago and this Thanksgiving dinner is the first family even they’re hosting.

To make things easier, we’re all brining a different portion of the meal. The picture you see at the top here, is my contribution—two apple pies. Having made a third for general eating, I can say with confidence, these pies are amazing.

So, happy Thanksgiving everyone. Enjoy your time with family if you have it. And, on a more serious note, Psalm 97:12:

“Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,and give thanks to his holy name!”

I am an occasional poster at a Christian site that will remain anonymous. I joined years ago then only recently began posting again. Upon my return, I’ve discovered something unsettling.

The ads. Here’s a few I’ve come by in one visit.

Now, I’m not one to to call out websites for no reason. In fact, this could even be construed as gossip. But I’m not so much talking about the website where I encountered these ads. I’m talking about the church that accepts them.

If the church is wherever believers meet, then displaying ads on a community website for Christians is, in effect, like putting these ads up in your church sanctuary.

Where is the church that she is okay with this?

As I said last week, I’m currently reading Dane Sanders’ Fast Track Photographer to help inspire some new thoughts on my photography business. He has quite a lot of interesting things to say. And today, I read something particularly pertinent, no just to a business in the technology industry, but to the endeavors of the church as well.

Sanders writes:

“If you embrace our times with an open mind, you will have a dramatic competitive advantage. Just remember that the day will come when things will change again. An attitude of staying creatively adaptable may be the single most important asset in extending your lifespan as a photographer…”

The landscape of the photographic industry is in a unique place historically. It won’t operate the way it used to and no one really knows what exactly it’s going to change into.

The church is in almost the exact same place. Although, we shouldn’t be competing with each other.

Thanks to massive changes in technology, our culture interacts in a way that is almost completely different from how it used to interact 10 years ago. And, no one really knows how it’s going to interact in six weeks, let alone in another 10 years.

The church is severely dwindling in its ability to reach a culture (not to imply that it is our approach that solely sustains our effectiveness). However, it’s hard to deny that it’s in part thanks to most Christian’s unwillingness to engage the culture in the way that the culture engages itself.

What does that mean exactly? I don’t fully know. But I’m betting it includes (but is not limited to) things like engaging in social networking technologies, not on a corporate level, but on a personal one. Many, many churches are attempting to build a corporate presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. But almost no churches are encouraging their members to sink themselves into these technologies personally.

But that’s where the culture is engaging. It’s not about having bible study in a Starbucks. It’s about going there yourself and doing what you do there. It’s not about having a Facebook page for your young adults ministry, it’s about having the whole young adults ministry on Facebook—from the members (who probably already have Facebook) to the pastors and lay people (who probably don’t).

This is just one (big) way our culture is operating, but the church is failing to. It’s nothing like how we used to do things, but it’s not going back to how it used to be (at least not any time soon). And, like Sanders explains, it’s not going to be like this forever. It will change into something else, and we must change with it.

As the church, we need to abandon our ‘culture’ and be a part of the larger one. It may look completely different, but at it’s core, failing to do so isn’t much different from failing to introduce yourself and build a relationship with the new neighbors next door. In fact, often, they might be one in the same.

I photograph a lot of weddings and these are by far my favorite.

Not because the message is really insightful (it’s usually not), and not because I like acoustic hymns (I do). It’s because there’s generally a different spirit about the reception.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I enjoy my job. I enjoy it a lot. And just about every wedding has it’s challenges and it’s fun parts. But for my personal preference, weddings between truly practicing Christians tend to be the most exciting for me.

I think the reason why is that genuine Christian community tends to operate a lot differently than ordinary groups. In most weddings, when the dance floor opens up, people have a couple drinks and start to cut loose. It’s fun. They’re having a good time and who can blame them?But when community of Christians get on the dance floor, it really feels like a community effort; Like everyone is dancing with everyone.

In addition to that, it seems like Christian communities seem to get the celebration aspect of things. Like it’s not only a great chance to dance and have a good time, but the good time and the dancing is really part of the excitement and celebration of the new union.

So, for me, I really enjoy when I get the chance to photograph weddings in the midst of Christian communities. And for Marty and Chelsea who were just married tonight, I wish you happiness and satisfaction in the Lord.

Christians do a lot of things that I think are strange. Heck, I guess I do a lot of things I think are strange too. But there are few things I find particularly silly. The one I mention today, I mention only because it’s come up in conversation a few times recently and ever since I became a Christian, I can’t help but find myself continually dumbfounded by this unofficial tradition.

Christian Bachelor Parties

Maybe it’s just where I live, I don’t know, but the Christian take on the tradition of bachelor parties (sometimes going  by a different name) is possibly one of the stupidest Christianized traditions that I know of. I for one would be really, really upset if my closest friends decided to throw me one of these—in fact, if any of you are reading this, make a note of it.

Traditionally bachelor parties focus on all the exciting things the bachelor is forever going to have to give up after his wedding day. Boozing, strippers, wild late-night antics, etc, etc. Of course, I wouldn’t care for one of these either. But the underlying point is an event focused on showing the groom a really good time.

Christian bachelor parties are, well, pretty much exactly the opposite. Somehow the bachelor usually ends up naked, humiliated and to compound that, he’s usually left stranded somewhere. I vividly remember the playfully violent use of wet pool noodles from a bachelor party some years ago.

This is something I simply cannot understand. What the heck? The rest of the time we’re all about love and encouragement and building each other up (or at least we’re supposed to be), but when a brother in Christ is taking, literally, one of the biggest steps of his life, we express our endearment with nudity and humiliation? Even if it is all in jest, why is that our choice of jest?

This is something I can’t wrap my mind around and I’m not going to keep trying. So, if you want to keep your clothes on for your bachelor party, I’d pick your best man very carefully; I know I will.