So, just two days after visiting the veterinarian with my dog, Mikey, so that we could continue to frequent the local dog park to meet and converse with other dog owners, it would appear that the park has been deserted.

Both yesterday and today at the park, we sat for nearly an hour during which no one was to be found. Now there’s irony for you. Perhaps the other owners weren’t as thrilled about our presence as we were.

When I watched this video, I immediately wondered at how bizarre it looks to see the weather change so rapidly from on violent thing to another. That is some impressive natural phenomenon there. Makes me wonder how the Egyptians in the book of Exodus felt.

(Can’t see the video? Watch it on YouTube!)

It’s March. It should be cold. But the last few days have been so beautiful that my daily routine has moved to the back patio. There’s nothing quite like a good cup of hot tea, a fresh bowl of moassal, calm and brisk 60 degree weather, and God’s Word to help bring focus and reflection.

I couldn’t help but take the chance to invite you into my morning routine from the last few days… you know, before the rain starts and spoils it all!

“"History will record that 2009/2010 was the year of the demise of Christianity because it snowed every weekend and all the churches went broke." — Rev.  Dean Snyder, via my friend Chris Owen’s Facebook page

That’s very funny.

The weekend’s storm was incredible. Well, at least for this area. It was beautiful and annoying all at the same time. I’ve been lucky enough not to be stuck in the snow at all while I’m driving. Though in the passenger’s seat of my brother-in-law’s 4WD F150 we spent nearly 30 minutes driving back and forth attempting to escape an off-ramp after helping a stuck driver. We succeeded in escaping, but unfortunately the driver eventually had to ride away without his car.

The photo at the top of this page is a close up of the little stick poking out of the table on the image on the left here. It’s a measuring stick. The photograph was taken before the snow ended at about 28 inches.

And, with all the snow, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make it the subject of this week’s video blog. Enjoy.

I’ve never really been much of an environmentally minded person. Don’t get me wrong, I try to recycle when it’s not terribly inconvenient. I generally don’t litter and if possible, I usually try to carpool.

But as a Christian, somewhere in my mind it’s always seemed unnecessary to give much thought to environmental issues. If I really believe that I’m just a ‘sojourner’ in this world and that Jesus is coming back and that our world will be remade, then it seems kind of pointless. I think that most of the Christians I know feel this way, too. At least one some level.

Well, as I read in Jeremiah today, I came across something interesting. Of course, the command isn’t necessarily addressed to me, I think there are principles that could apply.

Jeremiah 29:4-7":

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

The Israelites are in exile—God has made clear that their exile is not permanent. He will restore them eventually. But he also commands them to live ordinarily in their exile and ‘seek the welfare of the city’ where they were sent.

It’s not hard to see how the idea can relate. I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t grounds for me to give deeper consideration to environmental issues.

We’ll see, I guess.

On the way in from an outing this evening, I came across this guy making a web in the walkway up to my house. A pretty heavy storm had just passed through. I was surprised that his habitat wasn’t destroyed.

I don’t usually shoot nature stuff, but I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.

As I was setting up the shot, I gently sent a mist over the web to rewet the parts that were probably going to be invisible to the camera. When I did that, the spider curled up in a ball and wasn’t looking so photogenic. So, for some reason I thought it might help to gently blow on he web from a few feet away.

This didn’t work. I don’t know why I thought it would. Instead, the spider bolted for the outer edge of the web, then eventually out towards a tree.

Frustrated, I covered my gear with plastic to keep it from getting wet and went inside hoping the spider would get comfortable and return. Obviously, it did. But while I was inside waiting, it occurred to me that one of the elements of photography that I love is the ability to control nearly every aspect of a photograph.

If I don’t like where light is coming from, then put it somewhere else. If I don’t like who I’m shooting, find someone else. Props, scenery, colors? With studio style photography, it’s all up to me. The unpredictable element of nature photography only took a matter of minutes to frustrate me.

See, unfortunately, I’m a person who tends to thrive on the ability to control the circumstances around me. Although sometimes it’s a good thing, other times It gets me in trouble—usually in the form of losing sight of the big picture.

As I was thinking about the spider and how there was really nothing I could do to get it to come back and sit where I wanted it to, it reminded me of my overall discomfort in life—the day in and day out joys and frustrations of running a business and being uncertain what the next month is really going to look like.

But really, I need to remember to take a cue from the spider on a day to day basis. Be grateful and worship, cause my life is still standing in and out of stormy weather—and that’s not something I’m really in control of.

I’ve been reading C.S. Lewis’ space trilogy. I’m on the second book right now, Perelandre. The concept of the trilogy is basically that God created, not only earth, but other worlds as well. He deals and communicates with each of them in unique ways, although always in line with his character.

Today, I was thinking about what we know of the universe, and more existentially, what we know about existence—what we know about knowing things, even. And it occurred to me that it seems borderline insulting, even arrogant, to assume that we would be the end of God’s creation. That he would have retired after creating us.

We believe that God is all powerful. The he is sovereign. That he’s creative. But most importantly, that he’s passionately devoted to bringing glory to his name. Well, what great human artist do you know of that only painted one thing and stopped?

I mean, think about it, God has already created at least once before creating us: angels. Who’s to say there weren’t other beings created before us—maybe in existences other than our own. I don’t know.

But it does seem to me, that if God has the character that we believe he does—that he’s revealed to us—it would more probable that his creative impulses wouldn’t be spent on us. Maybe nowhere in our universe or realm of existence, but it seems likely to me that God would have more than one egg and more than one basket, that he would go on creating and gleaning glory from all of it.

Of course, as to our own interaction with God, this is all pretty inconsequential. If God has continued to create capacities other than our own, I don’t really need to know about it. I may never actually have an answer. But it sure is interesting to consider.