Merry Christmas!

Posted on 2011-12-18 in spiritual.

Merry Christmas! I hope you have joined in the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.'" (Luke 2:8-14)

Each Christmas celebration may be our feeble attempt to recreate that moment of glory that blessed those shepherds, but the message is still the same. Jesus, Immanuel, is God with Us. I pray that the truth of the message of the Good News of Jesus, that is of His coming, His life on Earth, His Death for your sins, His Resurrection from the dead, His ascention into Heaven, and His free gift of salvation and eternal life for all who believe, pierces your heart and changes you forever, beginning this Christmas. He loves you!

Rainbows

Posted on 2011-11-30 in spiritual.

This rainbow appeared last Tuesday afternoon for just a few minutes. You can barely see a second bow arching over the prominent one. If there is a natural phenomenon that fills me with wonder, this is it. The photo location is near downtown, Johnson City, Tennessee, and the building is where the Central Baptist Church congregation meets.

I've titled this picture Symbols of Hope and Promise.

What does a rainbow say about God?

In Genesis, God said that when He sees a rainbow, He remembers His covenant that He will never destroy the earth again with a global flood. It is a promise that He has kept. Now, when I see a rainbow, I remember that God is faithful and indeed keeps all His promises. I feel peace and relief when I consider my forgiven sin because I put my faith in Jesus, God’s Son. I will have eternal life because of His promise.

Another thought that comes to mind is about how powerful God is. No invention of man holds a candle to the wonder of rainbows. What do we have that creates arches of colored light, breaking out all spectral colors, on the scale of a rainbow? How about those double rainbows? Yet rainbows occur all over the Earth, everyday.

God makes beautiful things. Creation persists in natural beauty in spite of the efforts of fallen men and demonic powers to destroy it.

The Lord is lord of all natural phenomena. When He created light and water, He knew that there would be refractive properties in water that, when falling through sunlight as rain, would present spectacular rainbows. He even knew that we would enjoy them. Remember that next time you think He is some old gray man sitting up in the clouds. Jesus, being Lord of all, means He is Lord of physics and chemistry too.

I believe God enjoys surprising us at unexpected times; you never know when the right elements will come together to paint the sky in brilliant color. Each rainbow is a gift and an opportunity to praise God.

Finally, I can’t help but think about how God provides when I see a rainbow. Usually, a rain has just passed, and we are grateful for rain. Rain sustains forests, makes farms grow, and preserves our water table. Water sustains life, and God knows that. He cares for us.

Thank you, Father, for showing us another rainbow and reminding us of your awesome, mighty works.

Truss Bridges and Time

Posted on 2011-11-03 in city and country.

Smalling Bridge has spanned the Watauga River for seventy years and is one of the few truss bridges left in east Tennessee. I know two truss bridges have been replaced in Carter County in the past couple of years, and another on Highway 75 near the Tri-Cities Airport was dismantled this year. The old truss bridges are coming down, going away.

As these bridges, old mills, and the railroads fade from experience and into history, I realize that if I want to photograph any of them, I have to step up my efforts. When I was a kid, truss bridges were commonplace, and they really appealed to my little inner engineer. They looked like things we could build with Erector Sets.

What I really like about truss bridges is being able to see off the bridge, see down to the river. You can feel the open air and a certain sense of adventure, danger, as you cross over. On modern, concrete bridges, you're fortunate to glimpse, over the parapet, any water a half mile downstream. While I shouldn't downplay the importance of the broad, safe bridges of today, I can point out that in our efforts to build roadways to be faster, safer, and efficient, we're losing the experience of travel for discovery's sake. We just want to get from point A to point B quickly, in one piece.

There are a couple of "take away" thoughts I like to share with you. First, I encourage you in your travels to seek out new routes you have not explored, even if you're just driving home from work, just for discovery's sake. Find some old things that would be new experiences for you.

The other is, in your walk with God, do you always "go" the same way? Would your life be different, maybe a little more adventurous, if you sought God at every turn? What if you spent more time reading through the Bible (and not just the popular stories), and a little less time reading this week's bestseller? What if you spent five more minutes a day in prayer?

God didn't intend for us to take a spiritual freeway to Heaven; He wants us to take time—lots of time—all our time, to be His and to be in His story.

Sean and Mary's Wedding

Posted on 2011-10-23 in wedding.

Several years ago, my wife worked four years at a camp that Ed and Debbie Somerville directed in Bostic, North Carolina. Our close friendship with the Somervilles has continued all these years, even as they and their eight children were called to start a Christian camp deep in Mexico.

Most of the Somerville children are grown now, and we've been able to visit them occasionally since three of the children have been living in Spindale. The eldest, Mary, became engaged early this year to Sean McAfee, and I was honored when she called me a couple months ago about being their wedding photographer.

Mary and Sean are a joy to be around. You'll be able to see that from the photos (you can browse the gallery above by clicking on the first thumbnail). They both love Jesus and serving Him. They're just bubbly, happy, and thoughtful people. I can only imagine what greater impact they will have on the world now they are united.

Their fall-themed wedding was the largest I've had the pleasure to cover. Mary had six bridesmaids and a flower girl; Sean had eight groomsmen. The wedding was traditional, with the ceremony held at their church, Father's Vineyard. We had opportunities for formals before and after the ceremony on the church's spaceous stage. Afterward, their reception was held in the youth center gym.

The reception was great fun; the gym was transformed into a reception hall, and when the couple arrived, the guests erupted and the party was on! You could see the pleasure in Sean and Mary as they received an endless stream of congratulations and love. Food was followed by dancing and toasts.

Photographers have favorite photos; mine from this wedding are one from their formals and the other from their recessional.

Sean and Mary were exuberant as they came down the isle. They walked down that isle in triumph. In the background, the pastor was applauding, and, if it isn't saying too much about the photo, how lucky can a photographer be when the light streaming into the back of the church casts shadows of their "I Love You" hand signs on the ceilng of the church. Actually, I'll go so far as to say this was a "God thing".

My other favorite was a spontaneous moment as the couple and I were working on taking pictures of their rings. I think it was Sean who said, "How about this?" and they just grinned, flashing those "I Love You" hand signs at each other.

I love photographing weddings, and this one was a special blessing for me and my family as we were able to reunite with old friends, witness a truly joyous day in their lives, and see Jesus glorified.

You can see and order prints of all the wedding photos at ericjonjob.smugmug.com/Weddings. Just click on Sean and Mary (you can get the gallery password from Mary or me). If you want to order canvas gallery wraps of any of their photos, just contact me at 423-297-4000 or through my Contact page.

Promises for the Overcomer

Posted on 2011-09-22 in spiritual.

In the book of Revelation, a prophecy directed to the seven churches in Asia, Jesus gave many stern admonitions to those early Christians. His admonitions touched on their moral issues and failings, yet He followed each with a promise to those who overcame. Meditate on these promises:

Are these not incredible promises? The rights, the privileges, and the gifts promised by God to His children for being overcomers seem too good to be true! No king, no billionaire, no celebrity on earth can even dream of this sort of treatment. Never for a minute doubt the depth of God's love and the extent of His plans for you.

But when you go back over Jesus' warnings to the seven churches, sadly, you can see things haven't changed much. Unfortunately, Christians often permit the very world that Jesus overcame to unduly influence them for evil.

We get it backwards sometimes; Romans 12:21 reminds us, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Since sin has no place in eternity, how can it have a place for Christians now?

Take the following, then, as encouragement. Yes, as Christians, we still have struggles with sin. Sometimes, we surrender to monumental habits, even addictions. Know this: God wants you to be an overcomer and experience victory over sin in your life.

When you became a Christian, God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in you. His power is inside you, that same power Who was present in Creation and Who raised Jesus from the dead. You are in a fellowship of other believers, other overcomers, who are ready to come alongside you to help you overcome too. And Scripture reassures us this: "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Sin and rebellion are not in God's eternal plan. It is God's will for His children, Christians, to overcome sin, and He provides us the means to do so. It is a work that He does in inside us, making us like Christ, changing us, struggle by struggle, victory by victory.

Will we become perfect in this life? Is it faithless for me to say with a sigh, probably not? For it seems that the more one overcomes, the more one sees in his heart that also needs to change. Yet you will also find that success breeds success.

Are you tempted to gossip? Overcome! Does a habit control you? Overcome! Are you sometimes a dishonest person? Overcome! Do you yet fall short of the glory of God? Overcome!

Discouragement, despair, and unbelief do not come from God! No, encouragement, faith, and belief come from the Lord. He believes in you. Never give up. Be an overcomer!

Our Need for Mercy

Posted on 2011-08-14 in spiritual.

Everyone needs mercy! Without mercy, people face intolerable circumstances, realized fears, overwhelming loneliness, and even death. In books and cinema, plots often hinge on decisive moments of power and weakness, where one pleads for mercy, and the other cruelly denies, or graciously extends, mercy. The tension between judgment and mercy is ingrained in humanity, and its roots are found in God.

God is both just and merciful. The two qualities are inseparable. You cannot throw out the element of His mercy and revel in His judgment, but the world is full with people who live to remind others of how bad they are and to pronounce self-righteous, eternal damnation. On the other hand, you cannot disregard the aspect of His justice. A God who only shows mercy is believed to welcome everyone into the Kingdom, regardless of their morality and beliefs.

In the beginning, God declared that the price for sin would be death. Yet, the first people sinned and set an unfortunate precedent. We cannot deny our personal responsibility for going against God, and we all face the kind of "death" that God's justice requires—eternal separation from God in Hell. This reality makes me uncomfortable, because my acts of disobedience against God, and there are more of them than I can even remember, indict me before Him. There is nothing I can do to clean my slate. In Ephesians 2:1-3, this couldn't be made clearer:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

Why do we need God's mercy? Because without it, we are objects of God's wrath. But again, God is both just and merciful. While inescapable judgment awaits the sinner, forgiveness of our sins and salvation come through belief in God's only son, Jesus Christ. Ephesians continues in verses 4-7:

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Those who believe in and live for Jesus are saved from their sins and have God's promise that they will have eternal life with Him in Heaven. When you consider the mound of sin each of us has piled up, God's mercy is incredible, unimaginable, and unfathomable indeed! Finally:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

It is at Easter that we remember the very act of God which reconciled us to Him. God's justice requires that our sins be punished; but God, through His Son Jesus Christ, took our place. When Jesus, who had never sinned, was crucified on a Roman cross, He was punished for our sins. After being buried in a tomb, He arose from the dead on the third day, overcoming humanity's two greatest enemies: sin and death.

Not only does the mercy of God save us for eternity, it saves us from our sins now. God did not make us to be sinners; through relationship with the Lord and through the Spirit of God, He enables us to overcome the sins in our lives, to experience deliverance, peace, and joy.

The person who receives the mercy of God is the one who realizes that without God, he has no hope of salvation. The one who receives the mercy of God admits his sin, repents, and places his hope, trust, and belief in Jesus Christ.

Blueberries

Posted on 2011-07-05 in natural.

I think "Don't miss the forest for the trees" applies to me and my occasional incursions in scenic areas to do landscape photography. While on a commissioned assignment to create some images in Unicoi county, I was on Horseback Ridge. The ridge is a rocky outcrop that follows a ridgeline for hundreds of yards with many vistas dotting the rugged terrain.

This ridge must take a weathering because most of what grows on it seems scrubby and short. So while I waited for the perfect sunset moment, I looked closely at just what those scrubby plants were. Blueberries—the wild food of bears and birds? I looked up and down the ridge and they were everywhere. How unobservant of me! I've seen these scrubs on my treks for years, and I didn't realize they were blueberries!

I had to marvel at the plant. Not only were the berries colorful, a kind of purple-blue when ripe, a bold pink when maturing, but the turning leaves had strong red and orange tones. So here I am again, thinking about how beautiful something is that didn't have to be beautiful at all. If the blueberry bush was mundane, and it bore the same fruit, dull and gray, what difference would it make?

Instead, the blueberry is like a gorgeous, wild fruit of the heavens! Indians used them for medicines, teas, dyes, and, of course, food. More and more we hear today how healthy blueberries are—full of vitamin C, antioxidents, low in fat and a good source of fiber. We've been motivated to start our own blueberry mini-farm; it will take a few years to develop, but we look forward to having a healthy fruit growing at our place.

I want to come back to a question, "Why isn't the blueberry bush mundane?" Why, indeed? I think it says a great deal about God. For that matter, why are little, iredescent tropical fish so richly colored? Why is our natural world so perfectly and intensely hued?

Since my visit to Horseback Ridge a few years ago, I've been more attentive to those little plants that often disappear in the viewfinder of a landscape photographer. But we little people down here on the big earth don't disappear in God's viewfinder. Not only has He provided food for people and animals, He made it delightful food for our eyes.