After winning the women’s race in the Boston Marathon last week, Kenya’s brisk pacesetter, Caroline Kilel, said this about the $150,000 in prize money that was hers, “I will buy a plot and build a house in Kenya. And then maybe I (will) come here again.” According to published reports, Caroline sprinted down Boylston Street to set a new course record of 2:22:36.

While there are no definitive accounts of how fast (or how far) the women at the empty tomb ran on Easter, they probably set some impressive records of their own on the road to reach the disciples. With their hearts pounding and the excitement of having just been told the news that Jesus lives (!), the only possible distraction I can think of would be the hem of their skirts getting caught in the back of their sandals. And while they didn’t have the proper running shoes, excessive adrenalin and endurance must have more than made up for the thin soles they wore. They became instant star athletes.

It wasn’t long before another type of speed set in, the speed of sound. The still morning air suddenly stirred by the women’s voices reached the disciple’s ears and more running ensued. The stampede of strong men’s feet really raised the dust on the road as Jesus’ disciples ran to the tomb, checked inside and learned the race course had been eternally altered.

Death was swallowed up in victory.

Jesus had won.

I traveled 1400 miles to Jerusalem to witness the scourging and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was a long trip from Rome and quite an event. I watched as my buddies beat His body to a bloody pulp ignoring Jewish law that prohibited more than forty lashes. I can’t take credit for finding the purple robe they threw over His shoulders and later ripped from His back with huge hunks of blood stuck to it. I didn’t search the countryside looking for the thorny bush they used to make His crown. Truth is, I did want to take something back with me from that awful day, some kind of souvenir. I was present when they divided up His garments. Oh yeah, I cast lots with the rest of them and got a piece of that cloth.

I often roll the dice and so far, I’ve had a reasonably good life. I don’t make any commitments and people think I’m a pretty tough guy. I live for the here and now, even if the earth does shake like it did today.

Well, it’s time to pack up the duffel bag and head back to Rome. I’ll see what that piece of cloth brings when I put it up for auction.

Seven unarmed women took a stand against a questionable leader last month in a suburb of Abidjan and were shot dead in the street. No doubt, they gave a voice to what others were thinking about the now removed leader of the Ivory Coast who only yesterday was subdued by a force that was much stronger than the women who died. Then again, maybe that force was weaker and was only bringing to culmination the fury that began last November and rose to a fever pitch in March.

Starting with Egypt and spreading to other parts of North Africa and the Middle East, civil unrest has prompted more than one person to get out of the boat in 2011. Whether or not they realize it at the time, citizens who take on social issues like injustice and the abrasion of authority are raising the bar of involvement that excites onlookers while terrorizing those who are charged with peacekeeping. The result is often mayhem where a plan to replace deposed leaders has yet to be thought of, drawn up or enacted in its most rudimentary form.

However there are so many cross-cultural issues in countries like the Ivory Coast that trying to untangle them (from what might otherwise appear to be mob mentality) is extremely difficult. All of which is to say that we can’t begin to translate what really happened in Abidjan. I can’t get inside the head of someone whose entire way of life is so different from my own. I wouldn’t even try, although I have often observed that life is very complex for the vast majority of people living on this planet. Day-to-day hope flickers, but it flickers even less when there is no future hope in Christ.

Green is one of those colors we can’t live without, especially after a long winter. Yet in many parts of the world and regardless of the season, landscapes are being described as barren or over-logged. Deforestation and soil degradation are prevalent, and daily reports of hunger and starvation testify to the impact of these global environmental challenges.

Orchards remind us that God had something else in mind when he created the Garden of Eden. From all biblical accounts, that place was lush and it was perfect – until sin arrived and ruined it. But until that happened, the earth spontaneously sprouted all things that were good in profuse abundance. Healthy eating was the norm. Pure water flowed through rivers and streams;contaminates did not exist.

Such an idyllic location is very difficult for us to imagine today. Unlike Adam and Eve, we live in a society where conservationists struggle to have their voices heard and many of us don’t think about how green tomorrow will be. Yet the day is coming when the earth will defy its present sickly state. It will know rejuvenation. When God’s redemptive work is completed, not only will man be restored but all of creation will become everything that God intended it to be. We have that promise.

For now, we have a cause to take up and sleeves to roll up.

The red shoes were amazing and went straight up into a white body. Its feathers were light as feathers are and yet any one with a good eye could see from the ibis’ posture that it was secure in its liquid position. It had not waded into deep water, and it was not caught up in a tangled mire of massive roots like its neighbor, the turtle.

Like the white ibis, PhotoMission has its own pair of red shoes. God designed us:

• to offer a new paradigm for the way stock photographers are paid, using I Timothy 5:18 as a guide: “Those who work deserve their pay.” For too long, many Christian photographers have been expected to donate their photography for reasons unknown, and often unjustified.
• to price an image based on its value and to charge accordingly, just as any other product is presented and sold.
• to address quality over quantity. We would rather have 500 one-of-a-kind images in our gallery than 50,000 images of little use to the Christian community.

PhotoMission is not all things to all people. We are all things to all who use our services; and given the feedback so far our customers are pleased.

Most importantly, we have a Firm Foundation between (and beneath) our webbed feet.

Recognizing the great need that exists to reach people with the gospel I decided to do some research on giving to missions. I chose my country, and then I went to work on Google. I wanted to learn what the giving in America has been like in the last ten years.

Like a lot of research on nebulous topics I would have preferred to uncover even more detailed data. For example, just how much of a decline in support of global gospel sharing has there been as a result of the recession and the accompanying loss of American jobs?

When a missionary couple is no longer financially funded as they once were, do they leave that area of the world where they have served feeling discouraged; or do they find employment locally that diminishes their personal energy and subsequently affects the building of new relationships? I wonder. I do know that raising support to go and remain on the mission field is an ever-present prayer concern for anyone who is called to serve.

In a podcast this week, God gave me a voice to address how PhotoMission sales can help supplement the income of talented YWAM photographers without taking them away from their core responsibilities. While I know some YWAMers, the vision to help any talented Christian photographer who has this ‘thing in his heart’ to go and serve, to go and build relationships leading to opportunities to explain “personal relationship” extends to all God’s people.

As we begin 2011, I hope I can count on you to put the images of PhotoMission’s photographers to work in all sorts of creative ways. When you do, you’ll be helping God’s Kingdom in two ways. You’ll bring fresh insight to fellow believers, and you’ll be adding funds to the PayPal accounts of your fellow servants. It’s a missions window overlooking fields that are ripe unto harvest.

And if you would like to listen to the YWAM Podcast, it’s Episode 34. The segment on PhotoMission is introduced by Bill Hutchison beginning at 17:36.

I recently took the train to Boston to relax in a city known for its great culture. It was supposed to be a six-hour trip, but after leaving Philadelphia early in the afternoon the lead engine lost all its power. Inside the train the passengers were left with no reading lights. We sat, motionless. A few minutes later the lights came back on, and the train began to move forward ever so slowly before it came to a strong grinding halt. After the second sudden stop, I lost count of all the ones that followed.

By now, it was dark and night was upon us. The other passengers and I watched as speeding trains passed us by on either side of where we were seated, all of us hoping none of them were in direct conflict with our route. At long last and after many apologies for the delay we heard the conductor relay this message, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are going to change engines; and once we do we will be on our way. We’ll get you to Boston just as soon as we can.”

Even while I was traveling, the length of that journey seemed to somehow strangely coincide with these past 19 months. The completion of this website took much longer than anyone (including myself) ever imagined that it would. There were times when I sat in the dark wondering what God was up to; and there were times when it was clear He was showing me His supernatural power responsible for the direction and future of PhotoMission. When I sat in the dark, I was never alone because His Word sustained me.

There were also human words that arrived with staying power – like the missions pastor who wasn’t speaking directly to me (or was he?) when one Sunday he said, “You cannot be stopped.” I wrote the thought on a lavender sticky note and attached its gummy surface to the binding of a book that I make eye contact with on a daily basis. I cut these words from a catalog: “Never never never never give up,” without knowing until later that they had originated with Winston Churchill. I kept them close by, tucked in a secret place that I would see when my eyes and my heart needed rejuvenation.

Throughout this time, I was joined by a development team with terrific talent. I wrote these words to a good friend six months into the project: “I am more convinced than ever that what we are about is sizeable in the heavenly realms.” The words appeared to reverberate in places where they were less than welcomed.

The spiritual battles raged around us… this and that, this and that. All the while, the terrifically talented team persevered to complete a simple, friendly and inviting web experience that would serve all users equally and be on track with God’s will. Prayer, and lots of it – from friends on Twitter to friends at church – poured in, and God and His faithfulness prevailed.

Today, PhotoMission has arrived in Boston – and a long list of other cities, towns and villages virtually all at the same time. My finite mind struggles to comprehend the vastness of this connectivity, but it does not struggle to know Who brought us into the station. Along with everyone who has worked with me on this site and for whom I am most thankful, together, we give God the glory and announce the launch of PhotoMission.com.

(By the way, I’d do it all again.)

It’s not every day that a beetle (of all things) makes you sit straight up in your chair and study God’s stunning creativity. But just have a look at this bug that is native to Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. If you let your imagination run really wild, picture God placing 400,000 species of beetles in their natural habitats all over the world. After all, it’s not like He uses Fed Ex or UPS.

Then there’s the whole design aspect. When God created this exceptional insect, we don’t know whether He called it into existence all at once or if He assembled its various parts over time. Did He use a miniature Swiss army knife to notch the antennae before hooking them on the ends? And it’s obvious that although the antennae are uncommonly long, they’re perfectly balanced for maintaining the bug’s equilibrium. The beetle is hardly sliding off the ruby red flowers. In fact, it’s more like he’s showing off his team colors.

I’ve read that when God made beetles He displayed an inordinate fondness for them. Maybe that’s why there are so many different species. Whatever the reason for their number and diversity, beetles’ multi-segmented legs move them around the earth with great dexterity and when they pause, we do too.

The message of Generation EX-Christian took some time to process even though the book itself is a quick read. This is probably due to the fact that personal stories cause me to reflect, consider the person behind them and what has happened in their life. In this book, the stories are an integral part of understanding the problem at hand.

As I read the reasons given by young Christian adults for leaving the faith, I found numerous implications for the future of Christianity. Perhaps the most unsettling questions that continued to haunt me throughout the 192 pages of Drew Dyck’s book were these: How does the loss of young adult Christians from the church affect the growth of the gospel? If young Christians are not excited about what Christ has accomplished in their lives, will their having left the faith accelerate the growth of other world religions? It would seem that no longer having an interest in sharing the Good News could help fuel such potential dominance.

However, we don’t have to draw the loss of a global Christian influence that far out in order to consider the very real impact “leavers” present closer to home. When it comes to parenting, modeling Christ in the workplace and serving in their communities, the loss of their influence is sure to be significant. Further when value systems cease to be aligned with God in a living relationship, we begin to grasp just how important it is that Drew was led to research and write this book.

As Christians, it is our responsibility to be alert to where we are succeeding, and failing, to look to the future. For this reason, this book is a must read for every parent, lead pastor and youth pastor. The author does not only write about the dire relevance of today’s exiting Christian population. He offers insight on how to reconnect with young “leavers” and in so doing, he gives us an outline for an action plan to be addressed.

Moody Publishers eNews Release

Have you ever known a time in your life when God asked you to do something and you answered Him, but when you obeyed it was on your terms? Or to ask the question another way, have you ever known a time in your life when God made it clear He wanted you to do something but you only partially completed it?

I confess that eight years ago when the first website for PhotoMission was developed, I was guilty of not being fully obedient to God. I understood what He wanted done, but I had yet to learn that total trust in God means just that. Then in 2008 after a lot of prayer, I realized that what God wanted PhotoMission to become was up to me and I had better get moving.

About the same time, He planted two thoughts in a deep place so that there was no denying them. He gave me this quote, “An idea is from man, a vision is from God.” I’ve also heard it said that when God wants something done if you don’t do it, He will find someone who will.

So where was all this hesitancy coming from? It was coming from within. While I prayed over how to continue with the old site that did only half of what God wanted it to do (the posting of testimonies), He began to make a way for me to carry out the second half of what He wanted accomplished. That second half meant building a brand new website. Further, it seemed that God was interested in having His heart visually expressed through His people in such a way that made His world come to life through their photography – and that would lead to the expansion of His kingdom.

Now I took that to be a colossal heavenly assignment. I knew at my core that the old site wasn’t working the way God desired, and I didn’t want to one day look back over my life knowing that it contained an unfinished chapter on obedience. So while overseeing the development of the new site, I learned to totally trust God and that two halves do make a whole. The testimonies of the photographers are present on the new site as they were before, but with the design of this site it is easy to deliver high quality digital images to the people who are in need of them. And with our focus on missions, creation and social issues, God has written ‘Done’ over my heart…at least for now.