 |
| OAFS Photo |
Windy.
Chilly.
Overcast and gloomy.
Then at the end of the day, the sun, while falling¹ to the western horizon, peeked out from underneath the blanket of cloud.
As I stepped onto my deck, I could see the sunlight, absent all day, painting the tops of the trees to the east in reddish hues. I thought to take a picture, then I turned to the west and saw that sight above.
"There's your photo, Sarge."
So I took the shot. The camera in my cellphone, while adequate, couldn't really capture the magnificence of that sunset. But it will live in my memory until my eyes close for the last time.
How can you say, "There is no God"?
For I glimpsed His Face, there, beyond the trees.
¹ Yes, I know how the Universe works, don't interrupt me while I'm waxing lyrical.
Editor's Note: Regarding Friday's post. I'm in the front row, second from the left standing next to the left of my buddy, Boss. Lost touch with him, years ago. A good man, a good comrade.
Beyond all the math and chemistry and physics that created that beautiful picture, there is a greater power. Whether you look at a macro picture, like the famous "Earthrise" from Apollo 8, to the micro, looking at fractal images of crystal formations and such, there is great beauty that transcends what man can make.
ReplyDeleteOne of my joys while walking the dog is to look at the pretty micro flowers found on 'weeds' that oftentimes outshine 'regular' flowers. God's beauty outshines man's beauty.
I hate it when people call them "weeds," they are nothing of the sort.
DeleteWell said, Beans.
"One of my joys while walking the dog is to look at the pretty micro flowers found on 'weeds' that oftentimes outshine 'regular' flowers."
DeleteI've heard it said that the most beautiful rose growing where it isn't wanted is just a fancy weed.
One man's trash is another man's treasure, so to speak.
DeleteYou are correct Sarge, there are times that the camera in the Mind takes a far better shot than what a man-made camera can. Beans also nailed it.
ReplyDeleteMost times, in my estimation.
DeleteAfter finding digital photographs (beats rolls of film in the fridge waiting for the extra money to see what's on them) I took a lot of pictures, that winter I spent in the Arizona desert gave me a LOT of sunset pictures.
ReplyDeleteAt one point I was cleaning things out and gave serious thought to all the sunset pictures I had, I ended up keeping them. When my mind doesn't quite remember the beauty I can go look and remember.
The photo, for me, will awaken the memory. As so many of my family photos do.
DeleteBeautiful picture Sarge! Nowadays with phones, everybody carries a camera. But so few think to use them. And be quick! The best images are fleeting.
DeleteThey are, if I see something I like (and it's safe to do so) I grab a couple of shots.
DeleteBeautiful photo, Sarge! It takes willful ignorance to deny our Creator; lost people who would nevertheless be accepted by Him.
ReplyDeleteBoat Guy
Amen, BG.
DeleteBoth beautiful and frightening. After the Tubbs and Glass fires, along with the Kincade and others since 2017, beautiful sunsets, or sunrise, tinted like that sometimes send a brief moment of unease through me. Or I'll go outside of an evening when there is a low overcast and get the orange city light glow and it reminds me of the fires.
ReplyDeleteGod is an amazing artist. Ho complex everything is. I sometimes will say to one of the "Just Happened" types that they have to believe that they can dump a pile of parts out of a plane at 20,000 feet and have a fully assembled 1967 Chevy Del Air hit the ground. And even that is simple compared to what God, the Master Mechanic, devised for the Cosmos. No, I don't put any stock in the "God created the universe on Oct. 10, 4379 BX at 10 a.m." creationist point of view, but more a "God evolved the Universe" view. I see no conflict of science and religion, both are describing different aspects of the same thing. Religion gives us the what an why, science gives us some small understanding of how everything fits and works together, the mechanics of it all. That's one nice thing about Orthodoxy - there is no "official" pronouncement on How It All Happened other than "In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth." No mention of how. If you want to take the Six Days of Creation literally, fine, but if you want to believe the findings of science, that's fine too, as long as it all starts with "In the beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth."
WOW! I didn't mean to go there! Fingers got carried away. I guess that's one of the peeves in my vast menagerie of peeves.
"In the beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth."
DeleteAmen.
From the words of the Book of Genesis read on Christmas Eve from Apollo 8 as the TV images of a rugged world that had never known life slipped by below as they went into sunset.
DeleteIn the beginning ...
DeleteThanks for sharing Sarge.
ReplyDeleteYes, I know there is "science" behind such pictures. My responsive thought is always "What a tragic way to live with no faith or magic in anything, just calculated outputs". Animals see these things and take them for granted. We see them and choose to divest them of any wonder.
I try not to.
DeleteI got into such trouble in Sunday School one day, asking "Yes, I understand that; who created God?" Senior Pastor, when called, quick as a wink, "Love".
DeleteNice!
DeleteI consider probably THE major perk to my job is being able to drive around, looking at the colors of the leaves on the trees, looking at the snow as it has fallen in the forest, watching the new green leaves filling out the trees, seeing either the sun rise or the sunset, depending on the time of year and day...the complexity of all creation, like what Beans said so well, of the smallest to the largest. Every day there is something to admire and enjoy, all we have to do is pay attention.
ReplyDeleteWhich is a pretty cheap fee, when ya think about it...
Suz
Paying attention - the secret to all things.
DeleteGod's glory is there to be seen, if one would just look.
Nice pic, nice thoughts, nice conversation followed.
ReplyDeleteNice friends here.
JB
I like to think of us as family. It fits.
Delete"Nice friends here"
ReplyDeleteYUP.! "Here" is a good place! Before my time but I imagine "Here" is akin to sitting around a long ago-long gone local hardware store swapping stories. Often unacknowledged is the benefit of tapping into the institutional knowledge slipped in between stories....
Sitting around the old pot-bellied stove, swapping stories, sharing knowledge. A nice analogy.
DeleteSarge,
DeleteSharing knowledge on this blog is a key point in my post for tomorrow. And...it was in there before I read these comments. The two folks mentioned by name were enormously helpful.
juvat
Awesome!
DeleteWell done, Sarge! I've tried to take pictures of some of the spectacular scenery and sunsets we have here, but I just can't capture the majesty of it.
ReplyDeleteIt's really hard to do it justice.
DeleteWe had a sunset very like that yesterday here in western middle Tennessee. Our phone did "ok" on the photos, but of course doesn't do reality justice. "Tis enough to see it."
ReplyDeleteYou know I love my sunset pictures, even better when there's a jet silhouetted, but I too have the same complaint, that my camera cannot capture the true beauty of God's creation that my eye can see.
ReplyDelete