Photo Album: Beak to Beak

With March coming to a close, Spring is in the air, especially in the animal kingdom. Here's a picture of a couple of brightly colored Lorikeets at Busch Gardens enjoying each other's company.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

With St. Patrick's Day being celebrated this week and all, I thought I might celebrate the Irish side of my heritage by posting a favorite Irish tune performed as only the Muppets can. Enjoy.

Artwork: Tree Frog

Lately I've been working on a couple for projects for my Advanced Photography class the have to do with photographing toys (mostly frogs like the one above) in natural environments. The combination of nature and these artificial objects made to mimic nature as seen from their point-of-view has interested me in a number of ways. One, of course, is the fact that I get to play with toys as part of a class. Here's a photo that I liked but for various reasons didn't make it into either of the frog-related series I've turned in this semester. 

Chuck Busts a Move!

My puppet Chuck can be a bit on the shy side around people, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to bust a move. Enjoy this brief sampling of his dancing skills!

Listening to Jesus

This past week or so has been a busy one especially in terms of my involvement in Intervasity Christian Fellowship at USF. Last weekend we had our Spring Leadership Conference, and it was an enjoyably laid back experience. It was good to once again get away from campus, hang out with friends, and spend time really seeking God together. I have to say that I didn’t feel the type of “mountaintop experience” that I experience from time to time at such conferences but I do feel like I received a word from God. I feel he was trying to tell me that while I've been going through the motions of Christianity lately I’ve started neglecting the most important part of being a Christian: my personal relationship with Jesus. Like Martha, I’ve been running around (planning Bible studies and attending various meeting) but haven’t taken the time to just be with Jesus for myself.

In addition to things like praying and reading His Word with greater regularity, one of the ways that I felt Jesus was leading me to strengthen that relationship was to be more open with my faith. It was good timing too since the next week Intervarsity was doing our Proxie Station displays (God always has such good timing, doesn’t he?). Through these stations, I got to talk about the Gospel of Jesus and how it intersects the injustice and brokenness of the world one-on-one with over half a dozen people. While nothing miraculous happened in those conversations, it felt right to share the hope of Jesus with others in an open, honest, and loving way. This wasn't the first time I had done these stations, but I'm still pretty new to doing one-on-one witnessing so I was definitely still outside my comfort zone. One of the aspects of the stations that stuck out for me was the first board where the person going through it puts a dot of paint next to injustices they or someone they know have experienced. Just recognizing the degree of injustice and brokenness that goes on among the people or in the friends or families of people we see everyday is a major reminder of why we all need Jesus. It’s funny how we all feel at times that God is so distant (at least I know I have), but sometimes when we take the time to slow down and listen He shows up in all sorts of places whether it’s at someplace like Spring Leadership Conference, or in a quiet moment of prayer by yourself, or in a chance conversation with a complete stranger.