I know, I know it’s been a long time. Cold Feet has been more of a blob than a blog lately. I have all kinds of excuses for this, but if you are like me, you don’t want excuses, you want action! Yeah, well, back off!

One of the things that’s contributed to the blockage in my blog is that I got a new camera this summer, a Fuji FinePix S5200 (This isn’t an excuse, it’s an explanation!). Suddenly I had a camera with real potential, especial for a newbie photographer with all his bliss of ignorance still fully intact. So, to make a long story short, I have a new love in my life – my camera.

What I love most about taking pictures is that it takes me somewhere else. There is something about having a camera in my hand that very much gives me a new window on the world. It allows me to look around with new eyes. The small, the insignificant, the common, can all become special with the right light, angle, and focus.

A camera also allows you to capture the moment. True, life can seem like a endless cycle of repetition and routine, but in reality each moment of each day is unique, never to happen the same way ever again. Today may feel and look the same as yesterday, but it isn’t. That sameness is artificial. It’s man-made. Every day is new. Every moment is new. So, there is nothing quite like finding a moment and capturing it. Unfortunately, my inexperience means that for every captured moment I get, I miss about ten others, but at least I got the one!

Through the viewer of my camera the world has become a magical place. Art and beauty can be found in the most unlikely places. With the right perspective, even what’s considered ugly can become an object of beauty and fascination, it just has to be put in the proper context. So for me, the camera has become a sacred exercise in appreciating what I used to walk by without looking. It’s become an exercise in seeing something more in what could easily be missed. It is a celebration of the uniqueness of the moment. Taking pictures has been an offering of prayer to the God of Creation who sees more than I will ever see – even with my camera.

I guess that is my ultimate satisfaction into this foray of photography. I sense that God is teaching me to see differently, to look differently, to appreciate differently. It’s like he is saying, “Open your eyes there is far more beauty, and value in this world than you’ve ever considered before. Don’t give up on it!” At least, now I am looking. I certainly don’t see everything there is to see, no one does, but I see more than I used to and that’s what matters.

In the days ahead I plan on using some of the pictures that I take as the launchpad for new scribbles in blogdom. In other words, I plan on shamelessly sharing my photos with you with the passion and the total disregard for propriety that a first-time grandfather might have. Until then, here are a few observations and questions from my shutter:

1. When was the last time you stopped and looked around? Life is a journey, not a race.

2. How many moments, opportunities have you missed-with your family, with your friends, with what really matters?

3. What makes something beautiful or ugly? More importantly, what do you need to do to find beauty? Make it part of your life-mission to find the beauty that everyone else misses–in life, in people, in situations, in faith. Sometimes the greatest beauty is covered in an unattractive veneer that has to be pealed away.

4. Recognize that you don’t see most of what happens around you. If that’s the case, then how silly would it be to base your entire life and future only on what you do see? I’d rather base my life on following the One who sees it all!

5. There is something wonderful about turning the common, ordinary and perhaps even downright ugly, into a work of art. A good photographer can do that with an image; Jesus does it with every soul offered to him. Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Ephesians: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10, NLT)

Get the picture?

Did you know that 87% of Ford Explorer owners have never taken their vehicles off-road? There you have it; a bit of trivia to astound your friends and annoy your neighbours! I don’t know about you, but little bits of information like that can send me off in all kinds of directions. But before you begin grieving for me because I obviously don’t have a life if I can ponder such trivial trivia, let’s see if we can get a spiritual nugget or two from this information.

First of all, what is a Ford Explorer anyway? It is classified as a Sports Utility Vehicle, right? This means that such mechanical marvels are specifically designed to go off-road and ramble around the woods, on back roads and, over hill and dale. I would imagine a team of highly paid, highly skilled engineers invested some serious brain power designing these vehicles to take the bumps, the rocks, the rolls of going where no personage has gone before. Why? Because that’s what these vehicles are designed to do. This is the purpose Ford had in mind when they started scratching the old drawing board. Yet, 87% of people who have purchased these highly specialized vehicles, have never taken them off-road.

To put it another way, 87% have never used their vehicle in the way that the designers intended. Humm. I wonder what the reasons are? Obviously, the Explorer appeals to people for reasons other than going off-road. Some may have purchased their vehicle because they liked the style. Others may have bought it with the sincere intention to get out into the great beyond, wrestle grizzlies and become rugged individualistic types, but their plans never saw the light of day. Maybe they got stuck in a traffic jam, or sidetracked in the city, who knows. Then, I’m sure there are some people who have purchased Explorers because they wanted the ability to go off-road, even though they really didn’t plan on actually doing it. You know, kind of like a mechanical insurance policy that can be cashed in if there is ever a need. Others may have bowed to peer pressure. “Well, you know, Sam, Bob, Bill, Ted and I all have Explorers. You really need to buy yourself one of these puppies!” I guess there are all kinds of reasons that prompt us to buy the vehicles we end up with, aren’t there?

Now, let’s turn our thoughts to a spiritual application. I wonder what the percentages would be regarding those who use their faith in a way other than the designer (GOD) intended? I’ll leave it to you to speculate on a number; it’s really not my place to say. But, I DO know that there are lots of people who are using their faith in a way that cripples their growth, their relationship, and their witness. Some may be part of a fellowship because they like the style, the worship experience, the resources, or the warmth of the people who attend. Others received their vehicles, purchase by God, fully intending to use them in the way the Designer specified. They love Christ, and responded to the free gift of salvation and the call to follow, but they got stuck in the traffic jam of legalism, or sidetracked on one spiritual tangent or another. Others view their faith as a Heavenly Insurance Policy – you never know when you might need it.

I guess the question is: What is the Designer’s intended purpose for the Christian experience? Simple. It is to have a loving, growing relationship with God. Did you know that? God didn’t send His Son into this world to live the perfect life and then die on the cross for our sins, just so that we can be saved! Yep, you heard me right. Jesus didn’t come into this world just to save us! Further, He didn’t come into the world so that people would have things to do and feel part of a fellowship. In addition, He didn’t come into the world to entertain us, or make us feel warm and fuzzy. All of these things, including salvation itself, are by-products of the real reason Jesus came. Jesus came into this world so that we can have a relationship with God. Such is the intention of the Eternal Designer for our faith. The thought you need to ponder is: Are you involved in your faith in the way that God intended, or have you become sidetracked? Are you focussed on Christ? Are you praying, reading, serving and worshipping focussed on Christ? If you’re not, isn’t it time to take your faith off-road?

A couple of days ago, I had a visit with my brother Bob when he dropped off my mom for Christmas.

It was fun to catch up with him. I hadn’t seen him since early October and that wasn’t much of a visit since it was at his son’s wedding. He was kind of preoccupied that day for some reason. Maybe it was the combination of wind and the kilt that he was wearing!

This time around he spent some time talking about his job for the Peterborough Board of Education as a heating/air conditioning specialist, among other things. He has over 110 schools in his district to take care of, so he basically has no life of his own.

He shared with us how it is hard to train new people in his occupation because it really gets complicated when you are dealing with the heating/cooling systems in a large building. A few things that he said stuck with me.

He mentioned how you have to always be thinking about how what you are about to do is going to impact the system. I guess it is really easy to fix one problem and create ten others if you don’t think through what you’re doing and look at all the variables first.

He also mentioned how you have to always make sure that the impact you are making is positive. You can’t create negative airflow in a building or there will be big problems.

Apparently you have to learn how to think backwards, as well. At times are you actually doing the opposite to what makes sense–just because of the way systems work together.

You have to be a real mystery solver and a “big-picture” guy to handle the kind of problems my brother deals with on a regular basis. That’s why so many start the training and so few stick with it. Bob told me that it takes a good seven years to get the hang of things.

In a way it seemed to me that both I and my brother have some of the same challenges in our work. As a pastor, I have to try and help people see the big picture as well. I have to help people look for positive ways to bring the changes they are looking for and many times spiritual success comes in the opposite way one might think.

I hope I am half as successful at my job as my brother is in his. More than that, I hope I am just as careful in considering how what I do affects others and if those affects are positive—not negative.