A Little Hope

Sometimes, in life, like in the photography adventures I take, one must have a little hope.

I am reminded of the story in 1 Kings 18. There had been a great famine for a number of years.

After Elijah had demonstrated God’s power by calling down fire on the altar, he went up to Mount Carmel to pray with his servant.

After doing so, he told his servant to “Go and Look toward the sea”. The servant came back “I didn’t see anything.”

This went on a number of times until on the seventh time (of course, God’s chosen number) the servant came back and reported “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.”

Elijah’s response tells me a lot about the kind of hope and expectation we should have when we see little glimpses of God’s hand at work. "Then Elijah shouted, ‘Hurry to Ahab and tell him, “Climb into your chariot and go back home, if you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!”.’

What I note from that story in 1 Kings 18 is how Elijah only needed a little bit of encouragement that God was at work. That’s all it took. He “shouted”, which indicates to me a high level of excitement and anticipation of what was to come. He knew God was going to do something great, and he responded accordingly.

Above, you see a photo that I took in Black and White at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park. I took this one evening while I was waiting for the sun to go down. I had walked out into the salt flat about 1.5 miles hoping to set up and get a stellar sunset photo that the Valley is known for. As the sun slipped behind the horizon of Telescope Peak, shown in the photo, I had pretty much given up any hope that the sun would put on a show. I tried to make the best of it by taking the shot above, knowing I could turn it into a pretty nice Black and White of the ominous sky looming above the Panamint Mountain Range.

As I walked back, I was about .75 miles back to the parking lot and above the opposite mountain that banks up to the parking lot, high and to the left, I saw a cloud,”about the size of a man’s fist” as fate would have it, turning bright pinkish orange.

I knew what that meant.

With excited and enthusiastic anticipation, I turned around and ran back out to where I had been set up.

You see, I knew what was coming. In a matter of a few minutes, perhaps 2 at the most, the entire sky, which had been dull and grey was quickly going to light up like that cloud.

At what seemed like a hopeless trek into the basin turned into something so spectacular, words could not describe it.

I was then fortunate enough to get one of the most iconic images I have ever taken of a sunset. It was like nothing I had ever seen and I will never forget the lesson in it.

For you see, there was a giant word in it for me.

My faith is being tested in my life right now. It has been for a few years and I have been walking in doubt and fear. It is wearing me down to almost nothing.

But to have a little hope. It’s medicine I need. That cloud on the horizon that evening gave me enough hope to run back to my spot with all my camera gear in tow and allowed me to get this shot….

When I look at these two images side by side, I am reminded that God will show up, and when he does, it’s often more than we can even have imagined so.

As I continue to push forward with my photography workshop ideas and working to get them going and happening, I am reminded that while we are in the field, this is how it will work.

We will always make the best of what we have before us while learning to photograph, like I tried to do with the Black and White concept above. However, I will always be on the alert and at the ready so that when the time comes, I can, like Elijah, shout with excitement “Get Ready, Something GREAT is coming.”

May that be the mantra of my life when God shows a little cloud to me today, this week, or this month. I musn’t soon forget the lesson the two images from above have taught me.

If you would like to experience this adventure and the fun that comes with it, please consider signing up for one of my workshops in Death Valley or in Joshua Tree. I have addeded dates into the Spring of 2021, and sessions book up fast, very far out. Please consider joining me today. :-)

Until Next time….