Yeah, I know the headshots are getting old. I don’t know why, but for some reason the thought of using the 18-55 hadn’t occurred to me, so the 50mm in my shooting room pretty much guarantees nothing more than headshots. I may try the kit lens, since I’ve been up around f8.0.

This is not a political blog, and I hope it never becomes one. But as America votes, I have a bit of anxiousness. I have no doubt that the outcome of today’s election will be no surprise to God, and in fact will be exactly according to his purpose, plans, and desires.

I occasionally read articles from left-leaning folks. One in particular makes me cringe, probably because I know the guy, and know his complete hatred of all things Christian and conservative. My anxiousness (not eager anxiousness, but uneasy anxiousness) is centered around a knowledge that unrighteousness will not ultimately go without punishment. I know he won’t be too excited about that. It’s like the quote I saw the other day attributing a horrendous name to God. The fact that we can dare to actively raise our fist in God’s face and not be immediately blasted to bits indicates incredible mercy, not absence of a diety.

Regardless of what we face on Wednesday morning, our mission as Christians remains the same. Our mission is not dependent on the current view of the Constitution, whether the public schools teach intelligent design, how much we pay in taxes, or the price of gas. These are all temporary, passing things. Sure they affect our approach to our mission, but nothing can affect the mission itself.

It’s been a bit quiet on the blog lately. Things seem to have gotten a lot more busy over the past weeks. I haven’t been taking a lot of pictures, either. Here are some recent ones to tide things over:

This second one shows the fun that the other three have at JD’s expense: they love sticking rice crispies to his head. And he loves trying to find them and eat them.

I love you!

This past Saturday we headed into the Columbia River Gorge to Hood River, where we drove a bit of the Hood River Fruit Loop. The weather was beautiful, especially for this time of year. We stopped at Rasmussen Farms to get some pumpkins and apple cider, and then to Draper Girls Country Farm to pick some apples.

I have to praise the Draper Girls for their wonderful staff. When we arrived they had just closed the apple picking for the day, since it was about 5:30 in the evening. I mentioned that wasn’t a big deal, since we would likely be out in the area again in a few weeks, to which the lady answered that there probably wouldn’t be any more apples by then. She then let us go out and pick some apples even though they had closed up for the day! The kids were so excited, and we ended up with about 25 pounds of fresh apples, with a side of muddy shoes and sticky smiles.

I have no idea what they were thinking, but today after the kids ran up to the mailbox to get the mail, they decided to enjoy the rain.

I woke up Thursday morning, looked out my window to see what kind of weather would appear for my birthday, and what did I find?

I have my suspicions, but will keep them quiet until the local police, FBI, and Homeland Security investigations are complete…

Yesterday I started listening to the first Holy Responsibility of Christian Fathers message in Art Azurdia’s The Holy Responsibility Of The Christian Family series. My time was limited, and I only got about 20 minutes into the message, but that 20 minutes affected me more than imaginable. His text for all six messages in this part of the “Family” series is Ephesians 6:4. The two introductory questions with which he begins this specific subtopic for fathers are:

1. Do you realize that in fathering a son or daughter, that God in his mysterious providence has given to you the ability to bring into existence a rational soul that will exist in all of eternity in Heaven or Hell? …Though sun, moon, and stars one day cease to shine, when we gaze upon that baby we are looking into the eyes of an everlasting spark that will never be put out. There is no power under God’s throne that could ever cause that soul to cease to exist.
2. Do you realize that not only were you just the human source of the eternal soul of your child, but that even more serious, that because of you, that soul is stained by original sin and thus guilty before God?

He continues:

Here is the point. You as a father are directly responsible for the procreation of your children. Children who possess a soul that will endure for all eternity in Heaven or Hell. And secondly, you are the one directly responsible for setting its disposition in rebellion against God, rendering it guilty before God, you have passed your sin on to them, a sinful condition that will damn them to Hell apart from the intervening grace of God.

… You see, becoming a father is easy. It happens in a moment of passion. Being a father is something altogether different. It is nothing less than a taking up of a cross in a life of self-denial.

This promises to be a challenging and humbling series.

Just before Jeremiah headed to bed, I snapped another host of pictures. These are two of the best from that set: