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It’s not about the camera!

These are all pictures I’ve taken with my phone over the last few days.  then I edited them with a free photoshop application.

Back in the US

A nun serving lunch to orphans in St. Joseph’s orphanage in Cape Town, South Africa.

I’ve been back in the US sense June 2nd… Sorry for the late update!  I’m in Nashville, working on my resume and looking for jobs.  I’m praying that justice and mercy remain the center of my heart regardless of what job I find myself in.

“As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.”  Proverbs 27:19

Ecclesiastes 3 (my way of saying goodbye)

As I exit this part of my life, a new stage begins.  Much love to all of you!

This is one of my favorite pictures I have taken this year, I just like the interaction between the child, and the orphan worker.

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There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.

The Documentation of Sight

So I have this art project I do off and on. I’m working on updating my art porfolio… I thought I’d share some of it!  Oh BTW I’m flying home to the states in 2 weeks!

which one?  Top or Bottom?

Going home

Did you know that the first missionaries to Africa packed all their belongings in a coffin because they never planned on returning home?  They saidwhen I dedicate my life to missions there is no going back, I will go, and I will die but returning home is not on the agenda.

Morbid I know, but it’s not often you see dedication like that, not just in missions but in anything.  When I set out to do full time missions in Africa there was no coffin, and no life long commitment in.  I did not feel like God was telling me “Africa is it for you, there is no going back.” What I did do though was pack my belongings in a theoretical coffin and dedicated my life to missions, no matter where in the world I was to go.  My commitment to missions is not based on location, or a when and where contract. It’s a contract with God that says if I’m alive, my life is for you.

Many of you know this already, but as of June I’m coming back to America.  I had a two year commitment to Africa and to A Voice for the Voiceless and that time is about to come to an end.  When I went home for Christmas, I did not know what I was doing next.  I had some idea’s but no word from God. What I was sure of is that I would not be staying in South Africa. Though I love it here, I do feel like it’s time to go home for now.  I will continue to raise my voice at injustice, and believe me there is plenty of it in the USA just like there is in Africa.  I’m going to try to freelance a little and to expand my voice beyond the Christian community and put a Christian voice in the secular media.

Though I never know what tomorrow will bring, I do know there is no retirement plan with God. 401K is not a God invention. Security is offered, but it might look different than we expect.  When we commit our lives to God, it’s a life long commitment, not a job or an obligation. It is a life style that is dedicated to knowing God, and making Him known.

If you could pray for me during this time of transition in my life, adjusting back to America is going to have it’s challenges, though I do look forward to every one of them. I never know what tomorrow holds, but I do know that there will be challenges, successes, mistakes, and grace all throughout life.  Thank you for taking part in the last 2 years of my life by joining with me in prayer and finance as I walked, ran, and sometimes crawled through my time here in Africa.

If I had to pinpoint one thing I’ve learned over the last two years it’s this: “Superman is dead” (My old roommate actually said that).  A lot of times we try to run around like super Christians, flying around and saving the day, only to find ourselves falling out of the sky with a kryptonite bullet in our hearts.  Because God’s grace is sufficient, we don’t need to be super Christians, we only need to be willing to carry out the task that God has handed us. When we fall, God will catch us. When we fly it’s because we are in Gods hand.

Again, Thank you!  I will still be here for about 3 more weeks.


Mother Teresa Quotes

I decided the one thing this blog lacks is Mother Teresa Quotes!   I think she’s the most quotable person who has ever lived.

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“Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”

“Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.”

“Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own.”

“Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”

“I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

“I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.”

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

“Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.”

“Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”

“The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.”

Re-editing Orphan Photos.

I was at an orphanage for mentally disabled kids in 2007 and sense I was just at another orphanage I felt inspired to re-edit the old ones!    I’m not sure what it is about orphanages, but they really do hit the heart in the hardest way.  But probably not in the way you think.  Obviously you feel pity and compassion when you see orphans, but you also see more; joy in spite of pain.

Photo Quotes

“Jesus would have been one of the best photographers that ever existed. He was always looking at the beauty of people souls. In fact Jesus was constantly making pictures of God in people’s life by looking at their souls and exposing them to his light.” Francis Bacon

“When I work, and in my art, I hold hands with God.”Robert Mapplethorpe

Dabbling in Coffee Review

I decided one of the threads on this blog needed to be a coffee blend of the week because I love coffee, and have kinda turned into a coffee snob.  How does this relate to missions?  A missionary needs coffee!

This week’s blend is from Truth Coffee Cult in Cape Town.  They roast their coffee in shop so it’s fresh.  It’s called Resurrection Blend and it’s very nice, very smooth, strong, and has a slight mocha taste to it.  Personally I think the best way to make this coffee is on a stove top expresso, it brings out the flavor really well.  You can drink it as a straight expresso or it makes a really good short black, or cappuccino.  I tried it on the french press (or coffee plunger).  It came out good, but doesn’t quite do this blend justice.  Next time you’re in Cape Town, be sure to stop by their shop, it will change your coffee drinking life!

Proverbs 22:8

“Those who sow injustice reap calamity,
and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.”

Proverbs 22:8