Looking Diligently

Mizpah for October 10th

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God. Hebrews 12:15

To receive a reprimand willingly shows that we love the virtue opposed to the fruit for which we are corrected, and consequently this is a sign of progress in perfection.
St Frances de Sales

St Frances de Sales (August 21, 1567- December 28, 1622) was Bishop of Geneva and is a Roman Catholic Saint. He worked to convert Protestants back to Catholicism, and was an accomplished preacher. He is known also for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly Introduction to the Devout Life, along with his Treatise on the Love of God. His writings on the perfections of the Heart of Mary as a model of love for God influenced Jean Eucles to develop the devotion to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The nature of apostasy: it is failing of the grace of God; it is to become bankrupts in religion, for want of a good foundation, and suitable care and diligence; it is failing of the grace of God, coming short of a principle of true grace in the soul, notwithstanding the means of grace and a profession of religion, and so coming short of the love and favour of God here and hereafter. Matthew Henry

So Loved

Mizpah for October 9th

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. John 3:16

"Take courage! Lost, means loved! We never speak of losing what we do not value. Do not hesitate to accept the inference. If you are lost, you are still dearly loved." Rev James Vaughan.

Two years hence...

In the two years since this photograph of Melanie was taken in Orlando Regional, suffering from Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome bought on by the H1N1, face swollen from the oscillator leaking air from her lungs tearing, at her most critical state, she has almost completely made a full recovery. Her only issues now are with diminished hearing in one ear and an over-all lack of stamina.
She works full-time now as a Radiation Oncology RN in Gainesville, making the commute each morning from Lake City.
As for me, in the August leading up to Melanie's sickness, I had to have a stent in the widow maker main artery to the heart and later a pace maker for my bouts with Neurocardiosyncope episodes. I have long since recovered physically, but continue to struggle by way of occupation, or regaining gainful employment. We lost the Office Pro Cleaning business my two sons and I had, due to being at Melanies side and never felt led to try and keep the business. Sears, where I was working, closed unexpectedly and thus I am attempting at my Steve Job's age to find a place willing to hire someone usually over-qualified. Pray for us.
When people go through such ordeal and come out on the other side, often we stop thinking about or praying for them, thinking them 'out of the hospital' or 'out of danger', when, in some ways, the most difficult times have been the two years since Melanie and I recovered, attempting just to keep bills paid, ends met, etc....

That are His....

If you follow this blog of mine, you will recognize this photograph from an earlier post titled You Called? from September 22nd.
It continues to follow in that same spirit with, The Lord knoweth knoweth them that are His from 2 Timothy 2:19.
I especially liked the quote from Augustine, "Observe a tree, how it first tends downward that it may shoot forth upward. Is it not from humility that it endeavors to rise? There are those who grow up into the air without first growing at the root. This is not growth, but downfall."

The Vultures Eye

I told this story to a friend two years ago. It went like this. It was Friday, October 9th, 2009 and Melanie had come home, the end of her two week notice at Cancer Care of North Florida. She was not feeling well. She had a doctors appointment with Dr Randolph, of which I went with her, feeling bad for her and guilty of my own neglect of her. She thought she had a kidney stone, so she was sent for a CAT Scan at Lake Shore. By happen stance, the technician scanned up to her lungs, which showed her lower lungs filled with fluid. We went back to Dr Randolph, then back for blood work. We went home and Melanie spent the evening and all day Saturday in bed. On Sunday morning, Dr Randolph called and said we need to go to the hospital, to admit her for a culture in her blood. From Lake Shore, looking out Melanies window, I got my first glimpse of the vulture. He was flying low and circling. By that evening, Melanie had gone from the floor to ICU and continued to have trouble breathing. She was put on a full ventilator and calls were made to area hospitals.  All hospitals in the area were full except one bed in Orlando, if we left now, or wait tomorrow for the possibility of a bed opening in Shands, Gainesville. We opted to go at 3am to Orlando, via ambulance since a heavy fog kept the helicopter grounded.
I went home, packed and met Melanies parents in Williston the next morning, arriving in Orlando in the early afternoon. We learned from the doctors that Melanie had Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and Swine Flu or H1N1. She was placed in isolation. Another doctor came and said Melanie qualified for a clinical trial for treating H1N1 with an oscillating ventilator. We gave permission and waited to see if she was selected. Several anxious hours passed and they said she was a candidate and was moved to the ICU floor, Bed 9. It was from this room I again saw the vulture soaring outside.
And thus, for the next two months until Thanksgiving eve, I sat with Melanie and prayed and looked so often out that little window to see the vulture soaring.
Once, while trying to get back to Orlando via the Ocala National Forest where I was staying over with a friend, I became lost. Nearly out of gas, and near despair, praying, suddenly, a vulture soared overhead. And right after that, over the hill, a tiny one pump gas station and directions to my destination!
Melanie, on Thanksgiving eve, was transported to Gainesville, Select Speciality Hospital to wean off the ventilator and rehab. It was a miracle healing of her body which went through so much trauma and near failure in all her vital organs over the course of the time in Orlando. From Select she spent time in Woodlands Rehab, returning home finally in January, where she continues to have lingering affects two years later. She now works full-time at North Florida Regional Cancer Center in Radiation Oncology.
This finally, is the short version of the above: When we were at Lake Shore, I prayer, a cry went out! We need an angel! We need an eagle to go for us! Will someone step forward to minister? No mighty eagle or angel came forward. Finally, from the back, the lowly, despised vulture stepped forward and said, Here I am, I will go! And thus, the harbinger of death was sent upon a mission of life!
What had been a symbol of death and despair for me was a sign of hope and life. I welcomed daily the vulture that became a symbol of Gods ever presence with us!

Bring Ye All

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. Malachi 3:10

"There is no portion of money that is our money, and the rest God's money. It is all His. He made it all, gives it all, and He has simply trusted it to us for His service." Rev Theodore Monod.

As for the pure, his work is right. Proverbs 21:8

"Right works spring from pure hearts and pure motives." from Daily Holiness Scripture Texts by E.I.D.Pepper

Sarah's Wedding

The importance of pre-visualization. It is always a good practice when entering the realm of wedding photography, due to time constraints and untold variables, to go in with a specific set of shots in mind. In traveling over to the Howell's with Melanie this past Saturday evening, as Melanie drove, I thought of specific shots I would like to attempt. This was one, with Sarah's hands reaching for her sisters, in a sort of Michelangelo , The creation of man type composition. Originally, I visualized the entire family holding their hands toward her, in a letting go symbolism. As it turns out, this was the only pre-visualized shot I took. The taking of photographs of Sarah and Braxton with various combinations of family took the time.
On hindsight, I had wanted to take more creative photographs of Sarah and Braxton swirling and other such low angle blurred and specific focus compositions. It is a good rule if possible, to set up a time a day beforehand, or earlier on wedding day to take such photographs, or practice them at home, to be sure you get the effect you are after.
Noted photographer Jay Maisel said, "Try and go out empty and let your images fill you up."
I fear in wedding photography, if you go out with this in mind, you will more than likely return empty. Try and go out with an open mind and no pre-conceptions, but with some pre-visualizations. That way, at least you will return with at least that one image.

he that endureth

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. James 1:12.

"If there is one fact or doctrine or promise in the Bible which has produced no practical effect upon your temper or conduct, be assured that you do not truly believe it." Payson

Edward Payson(1783-1827) American Congregational preacher, was born on 25 July 1783 at Rindge, New Hampshire, where his father, Seth Payson(1758-1820), was pastor of the Congregational Church. His uncle, Phillips Payson(1736-1801), pastor of a church in Chelsea, Mass., was a physicist and astronomer.
Edward Payson graduated at Harvard in 1803, was then principal of a school at Portland, Maine, and in 1807 became a junior pastor of the Congregational Church in Portland, where he remained, after 1811, as senior pastor, until his death on 22 October 1827.

As a side note to Mizpah, which is taking the scriptures and quotes from the 1882 book by Charles Cullis, today I would like to recognize my mothers 83rd birthday.

Continue in Love

Mizpah for October 4th, 2011


Continue ye in My love. John 15:9

"In the love of Christ His followers have ever found great joy. It is their light, the day-star dawning in their hearts, the renewing of their inward man, their joy of faith, the believing that makes them rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Bushnell.

Our conversation is in heaven. Phil.3:20

Heavenly living! Heavenly speech! Heavenly-mindedness! Heaven begun below! A heaven to go to heaven in!
from the book Daily Holiness Scripture Text

Reverend Horace Bushnell at his death in 1876 was the pastor of Hartford's North Congregational Church. He was a leading American theologian in the 19th century and the author of twelve books. He was a true renaissance man, with interests-and genuine expertise-in many pursuits. He was an avid newspaper reader, followed politics with a passion, and expressed his opinions freely.
He was born in Bantam, Conn. on April 14, 1802 and raised on his family's farm. He led a rugged farmers life, working 14-hour days. Though of little means or social standing, his family always wanted him to become a minister. At the age of 21, he enrolled at Yale, where he spent the next 10 years, earning four degrees.
Since his early years, he had a love and appreciation for nature. Bushnell believed that man, nature and God are tied together in an organic whole. He said people influence each other in ways they don't really realize, just by going about their daily lives.

Birthdays beyond Eighty

This Wednesday, October 5th is Meme Clara Jean Orander Stokes birthday. She will be a spry eighty-three years young.
This poem is for Meme Clara. Meme continues to rehab from a broken leg this past July 4th at Baya Pointe. If you would like to send her a birthday greeting, send it to: Clara Stokes 303 SE Tevis Av. Lake City, Florida 32025

Oh mamma how can this be you are beyond eighty!
Why just yesterday you rocked me as a baby!
And in the Sopchoppy River swam in that black suit!
I am sure at the objection of ole Preacher Luke!
And can we not still hear your Valedictory address?
From Crumpler to Northfork we knew all along you were blessed.
Oh Mamma! Tell me you are not beyond eighty!
There was so much you dreamed to see.
Content to faithfully serve as a Pastors wife.
Tis' you we knew it was who held the true spiritual life,
Always serving never an unkind word for any.
And believe me, you have every reason a plenty!
Teaching school to make ends meet,
Keeping the home tidy and neat,
Then teaching Sunday school and visiting the sick,
Taking a batch of your fudge and on the bed table slip.
Yes, I checked the family Bible and we think it's your birthday.
We are not sure because that doctor drank a bit and got
you here quite early!
So if it is so, and you are really past eighty,
In honor of ole doc, let's have us a round
on this your eighty-third birthday?

Morning Manna

Several weeks ago in mid September, this was my morning manna, my morning glory, my morning meditation. I would be up as the sun rose through the pines in the back yard, steadily illuminating the hummingbird feeder, the room and all the surrounding grounds. It was usually the determiner of my day. Not currently working, after meditating(with coffee of course) and musing in the word, all the time looking out toward the rising sun. If the morning was particularly foggy, I would usually head out in search of photographs, usually South toward Providence and the rolling hills, which I liken to about as close to Kentucky as I shall ever come.
If the day was full of clouds, I would head North West, toward White Springs and the Suwannee River, usually Bell Springs Tract.
But, there were other days, more often than not, that I would just stay home and watch the hummingbirds feed and fight for the feeder. This season, though I did capture several pleasing photographs, the main joy was simply being here and being able to observe.
Today, to go along with the Mizpah, I am meditating upon Precious Ones. Last evening and the last two weeks have been particularly difficult times for me. Last evening it culminated with one Precious saying, Get out of my life! Last week it again reared its ugly head with another two essentially saying, Get out of our lives! How does one heal from such rejection?
Thus, scripture was comforting today.
"Come to Him. He is the living Stone whom men rejected but God selected as precious. And let yourselves be built as living stones into a spiritual temple, to be holy priests who bring spiritual sacrifices that God gladly accepts through Jesus Christ. The Bible says: I am laying in Zion a Cornerstone, chosen and precious, and if you believe in Him, you'll never be disappointed. He is precious to you who believe, but to those who do not believe He is the Stone which, rejected by the builders, has become the Cornerstone, a Stone they stumble over and a Rock they fall over. When they disobey the Word, they stumble over it; that's the end appointed for them.
But you are a chosen people, priests of a King, a holy nation, a people saved to be His own and to tell of the wonderful deeds of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were no people, but now you are God's people. Once you had received no mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends, I urge you, as guests and strangers in this world: Refuse to do what the body wants, because it appetites fight against the soul. Live a noble life among the people of the world, that instead of accusing you of doing wrong, they may see the good you do and glorify God when He visits them. I Peter 2:4-12.

Jordon to be baptized

This Sunday Pappa Gerald and Billie Earl Hethcoat, Uncle Mike and Jackie Johnson attended Grace Church, coming up from Williston, missing their church at Bronson First Baptist, thinking Jordon was to be baptized today. They had missed the phone message Melanie had left with them, saying the baptism date will be this coming Sunday instead, at !0:30AM at Grace Church, Lake City, Russell Taylor the pastor baptizing him and Cassandra Howell.
Jordon, seen here holding Nathaniel, his brother Landon's son, has grown in the knowledge of God and we are most humbled that he is stepping forward in public confession of his becoming a disciple of Christ. Brandon Elixson, his college and career teacher, has been a large influence upon him, and in the true love of the brethren, and the willingness to disciple and mentor, has taken Jordon under his wing, to take the time to spend with him and help him through the most difficult time when Satan comes to steal the planted seed.