Matthew 13:44- 46

The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his JOY he goes out and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the Kindom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on fiding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.


... just something to think about when it comes to worth, value, and truth.

Things that are beautiful to me

in no particular order...

Old married couples walking hand in hand.
This scene is beyond words for me. There is great beauty found in a couple who have choosen each other regardless of what ever life brought them.

Trees.
I love trees. It does not matter if the sun is shining, or it is pouring down rain, their arms are always lifted up praising the Lord.

Sun set after a cloudy/rainy day.
The sky looks as if it's been set on fire.

More to come as I see them.

There is something about morning. There is something about a new day. With the shower that is the birds song falling around me and the gentle breeze washing away the staleness of the previous day. There is something about the way the sun rises. He stands as one of the few constants in my life. Even in the days when the mist descends or the floodgates open he pushes through until his glory illuminates the sky.

There is something about mornings. The subtle miracle of the day reborn.



A term that continues to play in my mind is Namaste. A greeting I learned in India it translates to “I respect divinity within you that is also within me” or “the god in me recognizes the god in you.” If I believe in the divine then I believe that He is creator. If He stands as creator then all that is around me has within it His imprint. This touch from the divine I recognize as the divine spark and this divine spark makes all of human kind worthy of dignity. Therefore, life is sacred and must be protected at all cost. Human slavery robs people of that dignity and belittles them to nothing more than that which is dispensable. Human slavery is an affront to the sacredness of human life therefore it is an affront to God, and I can not stand for that.

Quinceniera

I realized a little too late that I never posted some of the pictures I took at the Quinceniera. It was a very relaxed family affair that was held at the family home. It wasn't anything too spectacular, but it was so much fun.



I wish we would of played soccer at my Quinceniera, but my dress was a lot more fluffy than hers.



Again, I've only known her for about a year, but I am very impressed by who she is becomming.

Karen Martinez

She is the daughter of my Brother-in-Law's Uncle and her Quinceniera is comming up...
I am the sister of the wife of her father's nephew and I can take pictures fairly well..





The family asked me to take the pictures for her Quinceniera. A Quinceniera is similar to the American Sweet 16. It is a right of passage for most Hispanic ladies. It symbolizes the first steps taken into womanhood and is officiated by a ceremony done in church and a celebration following. She's going to have an enlarged picture of herself for people to sign at the Quinceniera and she wanted the picutes to be done at Balboa Beach.





I learned a lot yesterday. I learned about client-photographer etiquet. I learned about angles and where to stand when it comes to direction of the sun. I learned that due to the limited landscape a beach is a difficult place to photograph people. I also learned that the first 15 to 20 minutes of any photography session will most likely be spent on getting the suject to relax. Karen was very rigid at the beggining of yesterday's session, but towards the end she was more relaxed which made for more natural looking pictures.





She's a nice person and mature for her young age.

Psalm 139: 1-18

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; 

you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue 

you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before; 

you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, 

too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? 

Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; 

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, 

if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, 

your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me 

and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; 

the night will shine like the day, 

for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being; 

you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 

your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you 

when I was made in the secret place. 

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body. 

All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! 

How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. 

When I awake, I am still with you


Intimacy is truely a scary thing.
But under the right context it is so Beautyful

Commissioning

About  two weeks ago I felt a strong desire to go to my friends church. The Church is known as Expression 58  and they seek to live out Isaiah 58 by creative means. One of the reasons why I love it because of the differing ways people express their worship to God. It is not uncommon to see people perform beautifully choreographed dance or paint as the leader is leading us in songs. I live for ministry, but when you are constantly giving it is easy to find yourself running dry. I go to this church in instances such as this. 

Come this August, I will have been working in Los Angeles for a year to help end Human Trafficking. This has become a passion of mine and I will move out to LA soon to further it. That night after an amazing hour of worship the Pastor came up and asked all those who felt called to work in Los Angeles to remain standing, so I did. He prayed a prayer of commissioning over us. As he prayed and my friend laid hands on me I felt an amazing surge of power run through me. One that could never have originated from myself. 

In that instance God's passion and desire for Los Angeles became blatantly apparent to me. Not only that, but He revealed to me what my part in His desires would be. I am learning to declare war... War on trafficking. War on Sin. War on all types of Slavery.  

It is both compelling and frightening