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.

I shot a wedding on Friday on the Eastern shore of Maryland. The picture to the left is of me shooting the bridal party on some rocks overlooking the water. The photograph was taken by Felipe, a friend of mine who would like to get into the professional photography market and therefore was taking the opportunity to assist me at a wedding. Kudos to Felipe for taking a great picture—and making my job a little easier.

Well, to get right to it, this post comes partially from a lack of other ideas and partially from my father’s suggestion.

I, William Petruzzo, am seriously afraid of snakes.

I think it comes from a good friend of my mother’s. I know that sounds weird, but understand if you will. When I was youngster, my mother and this woman were best friends. They spent pretty much every day together as my father and her husband were at work. (I don’t remember any boxed wine, but I can only assume it was there somewhere).

Well, this woman had just about the biggest snake phobia I’ve ever heard of. I mean any kind of reference to snakes would send her into shivers. Pictures would upset her, rubber toys would cause her to yelp. Unfortunately it was hilarious and frankly, as a 9 year old boy without a television, there wasn’t really a better source of entertainment anywhere in the house.

Well, I’m pretty certain that justice—perhaps some kind of divine karma even—has finally been served. I can barely stand the thought of snakes, let alone the real thing. When I see them in movies, I usually have to look away. They just freak me out.

(Although, I take solace in knowing that Indiana Jones and I have something in common).

But to bring things home, during yesterday’s wedding, the unthinkable happened. Situated just behind the perspective of the picture above, there’s a dock where wedding ceremonies are held. On one side of the dock is a beach and on the other side is a pile of rocks—much like the ones seen in the picture.

During the ceremony I was using the rocks and the beach as a way to get more interesting angles of the couple getting married without being too distracting for the guests watching.

While the couple was taking their vows—nearly ready to exchange rings—I ran from one side of the dock on the beach, to the other side where the rocks were. I wanted to get down there and into position quickly so that I was sure not to miss their first kiss. I hopped down and before my feet landed on the rocks, I nearly had a heart attack.

There, on the rocks below me, was perhaps the largest snake I’ve ever seen outside of a zoo. It appeared to be a little smaller around than a baseball bat and easily six feel long. It was very dark brown. My feet landed less than a foot away from it and in a position that was nearly straddling the demon creature. The moment my feet hit the ground, the snake frantically slithered off and disappeared into rocks before I could see him get away in the water.

The second I hit the ground, I literally had to throw my hand over my mouth to keep from letting out a ridiculous school-girl yelp which would  have inevitably marred the couple’s picture perfect ceremony. Needless to say, I had to get off the rocks to continue shooting. Paranoia, apparently has a grip like a vice. Somewhere in my mind I was convinced that the snake would have to come back for revenge sooner or later. For what, I’m not sure, but he would definitely bring his buddies. I couldn’t handle that.

Out of necessity, I got myself back together quickly so I could return to the task at hand. But neglecting my phobia then has taken its toll. Now, I’m forced to deal with it very slowly and at all the least opportune times. Like when I’m driving to a shoot or in bed trying to fall asleep. Those damn things could be anywhere!

Its all made me think of Mark 16:18:

“And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

God I hope not. I think maybe next time I’ll just do my coping right then and there and save myself the days and weeks of phobic anguish!

I would have to consider myself quite the impressive liar if anyone was convinced I cared much about Earth Day. Or really environmental concerns at all. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not out to kill the world. I’m just not spending twenty-five dollars on a bag of rice to make sure it didn’t spend an extra three hours on a truck.

I don’t litter and I prefer to carpool whenever possible. I don’t like the idea of the world getting hotter and the penguins putting on sunscreen. But I’m also not dropping any money into the little “save the rainforests” bucket at the grocery store. I don’t know. I suppose I can’t pretend to care about something if deep down I simply don’t.

So, I suppose here is my solute to the Earth:

Way to go Earth. Good job putting up with our crap. I’ll keep recycling what I can and best of luck dealing with what I can’t. I hope there’s no hard feelings. Talk to you again next year.

I would suppose if the Earth were a cognoscente being that could hear and understand these words, it would be quite offended. I wonder how Christmas’ respective cognoscente being feels when the millions think this very same thing on his day—every day?