East Dallas Creek - May 19, 2012

We had a great time last Saturday up under Mt. Sneffels along East Dallas Creek.  This is one of my favorite areas.  The creek was perfect for doing some motion capture type photos.  The light was constantly changing as clouds passed over.  I also did some timelapses of the clouds over Sneffels - maybe I'll post them later.  Did you ever wonder how that water just keeps flowing....non-stop; day-in-day-out; year-in-year-out?  For some reason it just amazes me that our Creator can keep the flow going - even in very dry years.  Maybe it's my lack of faith showing up at such times.

I've been on top of Sneffels and all around it on its flanks.  There are springs everywhere!  It's as if the mountain itself is a never ending fountain spreading life for many miles.  This stream joins the Uncompahgre River; which joins the Gunnison River; which joins the Colorado River, etc.  The trickle of water that begins on this mountain nourishes plants, animals, and people for thousands of miles.  And who knows where the drops of water that form this stream have come from!  They may have traveled thousands of miles across this planet; until the spire of Sneffels reached out and captured them.

I'm reminded of God's promise after the flood of Noah's time.  "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."  Genesis 8:22  His nature is to give life abundantly and preserve it.  His adversary only comes to kill, steal and destroy - John 10:10.  That stream of life from the Father will never cease - no matter what the immediate conditions may look like.

Sometimes it's good to stop and reflect on the ceaseless blessings that God sends our way.  Just as the stream seems stopped in time; sometimes we need to stop all the motion around us for a little while and "take stock" of what is important in life.

We were not built to live at a constant frenzied pace.  We've brought it on ourselves!  Our God, who is constantly "holding all things together" and constantly maintaining the seasons; and constantly maintaining night and day and doing all that is involved in universe management - calls us at times to "be still and know that He is God".

Timelapse

I've been doing some timelapse photography lately and it has me thinking about the brevity of life.  There's something about a well done timelapse (of which mine are not....yet)  that catches your eye and mesmerizes you!  It's a perspective of life we cannot see without special camera and processing work.  But, imagine for a minute, if timelapse is really God's perspective.  We know He has an infinite mind and an infinite view.  Eternity past and future is the present for Him.  In His perspective all of history can zip by in a flash - and yet He can see it all in perfect clarity.  Not a single detail escapes His all-seeing eye.  So, just maybe, timelapse is a way we can have a very finite view of God's infinite view.  What took hours to photograph can speed by in a few seconds.  As humans, our lifespan even at it's maximum, is only a brief blip on the screen of eternity.  The trial you're in right now may seem to have lasted forever.  But, in the eternal scheme of things it's only a moment and will soon be over.  That's not to minimize the pain and hurt that this life brings.  It's just to maybe ease the pain by knowing that "weeping may endure for a night; but joy cometh in the morning"!  In the eternal grandeur of heaven; our why's won't even need an answer.  We'll look back at that seemingly life-sucking trial and say - "oh that----it was nothing"!   Timelapses make me think on James 4:14 - "For ye know not what shall be tomorrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away".  That's not doomsday stuff.  For the quadriplegic, for the terminal cancer victim, for the unloved spouse, for the single parent working three jobs - and on and on - it's hope if we know Jesus!   Just as the clouds scurry by in these timelapses; the sorrows of this life will seem like a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away into the bliss of eternity with the Lord.  Enjoy - and be kind - I'm just learning!