Take a Rest

Milky Way at the North Rim

The shot you see here, if I haven’t shared it with you, was taken in the middle of the night. Well, in the wee hours of the morning. 3 am or thereabouts.

Photographing the Milky Way is one of my preferred ways in which to use my camera and accompanying gear.

The Milky Way photography provides some extra challenge with regard to technical skill as well as understanding a significant number of parameters and tools. If, like me, you plan to light subjects within the frame, even further tests of skill are required.

All of this to say, it’s great.

This, however, isn’t the main reason I enjoy this particular part of photography as much as I do.

No. The bigger reason is the biggest reason.

When I am out there in the middle of nowhere, which is required for dark enough skies, I feel the closest to God himself.

When photographing the Milky Way, I am generally far from organized civilization. This shot of the Milky Way between the pine trees was taken at the base of a fire watch tower. It was my camp for 3 nights in a small dispersed campsite on the way in to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Whenever I am taking such photographs, it’s quiet and still. Serene is the word I would use.

Milky Way Over a Joshua Tree

The Joshua Tree desert floor is another special spot. I love the way in which those trees seem to come alive as they dot the foreground of the photographs I take under the starry skies.

Whenever I find myself in these areas, I am always reminded that God is there and it’s not uncommon to feel his presence and assurance all at the same time.

I’ve been thinking some lately about the pain we all experience. All of use are either in the middle of something we see as terrible, have just come out of it, or are going into it.

I have friends struggling horribly with choices their kids are making. There is almost nothing worse than watching as the adult children you love so dearly make choices we know are going to hurt deeply in the long term. But in their short sited-ness they ignore our attempts to speak reason with them. We did it too if we are honest.

Others are dealing with the loss of a spouse, the loss of a child, the loss of a parent.

Others are dealing with grandchildren going through pain and suffering with illnesses that can’t be cured.

Still others deal with the pain of a marriage dead to emotion and love, lifeless and grey. Worse yet, perhaps even infidelity and all which it brings.

Maybe it’s a job loss, or, like me, misery in the current job for years on end, numb from confusion as to how to move ahead.

Whatever it may be right now, I have found…peace in the stars. When I am out there, staring at the skies, taking the necessary time to photograph the wonder and the galaxies, I hear the Holy Spirit. He comforts me there. He reminds me of all I have to be grateful for in spite of the struggles and pain.

He reminds me, others may never see what I am seeing and that it’s a good thing to share it with them. That’s what I’m doing today. Sharing with you some of what I have seen.

If you are hurting and struggling today, welcome to the club. We all are in one way or another. If I can encourage you in one way today, it’s this.

God has an interest in your hardship and pain. He is watching from the starry heavens. He sees and knows what you are struggling with. At the right time, and in the right place, comfort will come. I don’t know when, but it will.

Life, often, doesn’t go as we would like. But we can still find things for which to be grateful. It’s here that we find peace. Listing those things for which we are grateful. Even the smallest thing honors Him and brings us peace.

Today, for what are you grateful? Make a list, share it out loud.

For me? I am grateful to have you here reading. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had over the years to photograph these sites and the stars.

I am grateful for the children I had the opportunities to parent and lead, in spite of the struggles and pain a parent experiences.

I am grateful for a God who cares for me for the confidence Jesus brings and provides in my life and the ways in which I have been gifted to share all He has done and can and will do for us as we attempt to walk with him.

Thank you for being here.

rob out