Sunsets

The one thing that I (Matt) have had to get used to here in Madison is the fact that you photograph sunsets different. (I know, of all the things, I struggle with sunsets!!) Anyway, in Santa Barbara I would just get in my car, drive up the hill and voila! Or down to the beach, voila! But here that are no mountains, there are no beaches close by, and the horizon is nowhere to be seen! But what we do have are these really dramatic afternoon storms that sometimes stay around till sunset, and then it is, “make sure you are ready Matt, because the Lord will show you his wonder!!”

Going wide...really wide

So… I have not posted here in quite a while. Sarah is kicking my little tuckus in postings. But I guess I will give this thing a shot or two.

This last weekend I was able to borrow a really wide-angle lens, and boy is it crazy, reminds me of my film days. (for those that actually care, it is a Nikon 12-24mm f4) for the rest of you, basically it is ‘almost all that you can see with your eyes’ wide.

I took it down town and had a lot of fun. As sunset was approaching I relized that it would be good to be on the other side of the ithsmus I was on, so I ran the mile across (I am really out of shape) and boy was I surprised at the sunset.

More so, there was a group down at the park that caught my eye! We have seen them before but this time I actually got some pics, interacted and chatted with one of them. Basically they are a medieval times type of gang, they have really crazy battles. They have real armor, shields, bows and arrows, and tactics. They just look a little funny because the tips of the arrows, and the ‘blade’ of the swards are covered in high-density foam! After talking to one of the guys I found that they are designed per specifications and have fiberglass handles and blade cores. There was even a guy there with a replica of an Elvin Blade from Lord of the Rings!!!

Am I my brother's keeper?

This past Sunday, the preacher suggested something that I thought was fairly interesting. The sermon focused on the Genisis story of Cain and Able. In that story, there is a point where Cain chooses to kill Able and God asks Cain where Able is. Cain's famos response is "Am I my brother's keeper?"

So Nate (the preacher), pointed out that the hebrew word used for "keeper" is the same word that God used when he commanded Adam to look after the earth. Adam was supposed to "keep" the earth.

Nate suggested that in God's eyes, we are to care for both people and nature equally. We are to "keep" and care for all of God's creation. Or as Strong's Concordance put's it "to watch, observe, guard, preserve" both man and creation.

That's a pretty tall order, but a significant one in my opinion. Am I willing to do this for all of God's creation?