One of the services I provide for my church family is
photography.
I have provided this service for them for the last nine years
and it is a ministry I particularly enjoy.
This ministry not only allows me to reach out to others, it
occasionally gives me some personal insight as well.
It gave me such an insight on Easter Sunday.
I arrived at church well before dawn to help get things
ready for our sunrise service.
As always, I had my camera with me.
I made my way through the church and turned on lights,
checked microphones, made coffee and did whatever else was needed.
Being Easter, many members of my church family purchased lilies
for the sanctuary.
As I prepared the sanctuary in complete silence I could not
help but notice these symbols of Easter.
Somehow, they helped make the moment feel more special.
Once my duties in this part of the church were complete, I
decided to take a few photographs.
I wanted to get some photographs of the lilies as I knew
they would not be around for long.
As I made my way around the sanctuary taking photographs I
decided to take one of our cross.
I have taken photographs of our cross before, but from a
distance.
This time I stood almost directly beneath it and moved a few
paces to my left.
I then looked up at the cross and took the photograph.
As soon as I did, I knew I had something special in my
possession.
People, myself included, are creatures of habit.
This can be true even in a place like church.
We park in the same places.
We sit in the same pews.
We even sit with the same people.
That is because they are creatures of habit as well.
Week after week, our view of the cross doesn’t change.
We see it from the same angle from the same distance time
after time.
I don’t believe chance had anything to do with me taking
that particular photograph on Easter.
I honestly believe God wanted me to see the cross from a
different perspective that particular day.
I have had the opportunity to share that photograph with
others.
Their reaction to it is remarkably like mine.
The cross did not change.
What it represents certainly did not change.
What changed was my perspective.
This, by necessity, produced a change in me.
Christianity is about growth and change.
Our growth.
Our change.
Sometimes that requires us to get up and move from the place
to which we have grown accustomed.
Sometimes what we need is a change in our perspective.
Romans 8:28-30 (NET) - “And we know that all things work together for
good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because
those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And
those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified;
and those he justified, he also glorified.”
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on
Friday, April 22, 2016.
I’ll be back here on Friday, May 6, 2016
