Android Laguna Christmas

Despite heavy rains, flooding, and mud slides, Laguna Beach cleans up nicely & quickly ...

On the Incarnation, No. 4

But when the fullness of time had come,
God sent forth His Son,
born of woman,
born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Galatians 4:9

But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while,
now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death,
so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone...
Since the children have flesh and blood,
He too shared in their humanity so that by His death
He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—
that is, the devil—
and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
For surely it is not angels He helps, but Abraham’s descendants.
For this reason He had to be made like them,
fully human in every way,
in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God,
and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 2: 9,14-17

Note: This month's posts will also include excerpted text from St. Athanasius's work, On the Incarnation.

For this purpose [to bring again the corruptible to incorruption and to maintain for the Father His consistency of character with all - see last week], then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world. In one sense, indeed, He was not far from it before, for no part of creation had ever been without Him Who, while ever abiding in union with the Father, yet fills all things that are. But now He entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in His love and Self-revealing to us. He saw the reasonable race, the race of men that, like Himself, expressed the Father's Mind, wasting out of existence, and death reigning over all in corruption. He saw that corruption held us all the closer, because it was the penalty for the Transgression; He saw, too, how unthinkable it would be for the law to be repealed before it was fulfilled. He saw how unseemly it was that the very things of which He Himself was the Artificer should be disappearing. He saw how the surpassing wickedness of men was mounting up against them; He saw also their universal liability to death. All this He saw and, pitying our race, moved with compassion for our limitation, unable to endure that death should have the mastery, rather than that His creatures should perish and the work of His Father for us men come to nought, He took to Himself a body, a human body even as our own. Nor did He will merely to become embodied or merely to appear; had that been so, He could have revealed His divine majesty in some other and better way. No, He took our body, and not only so, but He took it directly from a spotless, stainless virgin, without the agency of human father—a pure body, untainted by intercourse with man. He, the Mighty One, the Artificer of all, Himself prepared this body in the virgin as a temple for Himself, and took it for His very own, as the instrument through which He was known and in which He dwelt. Thus, taking a body like our own, because all our bodies were liable to the corruption of death, He surrendered His body to death instead of all, and offered it to the Father. This He did out of sheer love for us, so that in His death all might die, and the law of death thereby be abolished because, having fulfilled in His body that for which it was appointed, it was thereafter voided of its power for men. This He did that He might turn again to incorruption men who had turned back to corruption, and make them alive through death by the appropriation of His body and by the grace of His resurrection. Thus He would make death to disappear from them as utterly as straw from fire.

Merry Christmas 2010 ...

Yes.

Yes, he IS just as sweet as he looks. And I'm not a bit biased. ;-)

On the Incarnation, No. 3

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ...
Romans 3:23

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned- ... To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:12-21

And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone."
Mark 10:18

Note: This month's posts will also include excerpted text from St. Athanasius's work, On the Incarnation.

You may be wondering why we are discussing the origin of men [see last week's On the Incarnation post] when we set out to talk about the Word's becoming Man. The former subject is relevant to the latter for this reason: it was our sorry case that caused the Word to come down, our transgression that called out His love for us, so that He made haste to help us and to appear among us. It is we who were the cause of His taking human form, and for our salvation that in His great love He was both born and manifested in a human body...

because death and corruption were gaining ever firmer hold on them, the human race was in process of destruction. Man, who was created in God's image and in his possession of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the work of God was being undone. The law of death, which followed from the Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape. The thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting. It would, of course, have been unthinkable that God should go back upon His word and that man, having transgressed, should not die; but it was equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through corruption. It was unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made by Him should be brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man by the devil; and it was supremely unfitting that the work of God in mankind should disappear, either through their own negligence or through the deceit of evil spirits. As, then, the creatures whom He had created reasonable, like the Word, were in fact perishing, and such noble works were on the road to ruin, what then was God, being Good, to do? Was He to let corruption and death have their way with them? In that case, what was the use of having made them in the beginning? Surely it would have been better never to have been created at all than, having been created, to be neglected and perish; and, besides that, such indifference to the ruin of His own work before His very eyes would argue not goodness in God but limitation, and that far more than if He had never created men at all. It was impossible, therefore, that God should leave man to be carried off by corruption, because it would be unfitting and unworthy of Himself...

What—or rather Who was it that was needed for such grace and such recall as we required? Who, save the Word of God Himself, Who also in the beginning had made all things out of nothing? His part it was, and His alone, both to bring again the corruptible to incorruption and to maintain for the Father His consistency of character with all. For He alone, being Word of the Father and above all, was in consequence both able to recreate all, and worthy to suffer on behalf of all and to be an ambassador for all with the Father...

Wanna guess who didn't win?

Android.

Yesterday we Kellers headed to the San Diego Wildlife Park (which some marketing "geniuses" are remaking into the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. which really just means that they've shortened the 1 hour train ride to a 30 minute tram ride. added an expensive zipline. and a bunch of other "give us more money" add-ons that you pay for on top of your entrance fee and parking fee. oh, and painted various "safari" motifs thru-out the park. oy). Get this: I left my big-girl camera AT HOME. Yup. I did. Instead I drove Big Dude a little nutty using up his phone battery to snap a bunch of stills. Because sometimes it's nice NOT to carry around the heavy gear and think about camera settings. Sometimes a dinky little phone with one-click and edits-built-in is just the ticket.

Btw, a little detail that some non-locals might not be aware of regarding the San Diego Zoo and its sister-Wildlife-Park, is that the botanical splendor is nearly as wonderful as the animals... :-)

And because I'm throwing this post in my "photo tips" category, here's the tip: the best camera is the one with you. Use it!

ps. technical details: these are all SOOC. Android phone. Free FxCamera app. Polandroid setting. Square. Alternating between Vintage Film and Mono color settings.

On the Incarnation, No. 2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...
Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness ..
And God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them...
The LORD God formed man of dust from the ground,
and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living being.
Genesis 1:1, 26-27: 2:7

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God,
so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
Hebrews 11:3

Note: This month's posts will also include excerpted text from St. Athanasius's work, On the Incarnation.

"... From it [the divine teaching of the Christian faith] we know that, because there is Mind behind the universe, it did not originate itself; because God is infinite, not finite, it was not made from pre-existent matter, but out of nothing and out of non-existence absolute and utter God brought it into being through the Word ... For God is good—or rather, of all goodness He is Fountainhead, and it is impossible for one who is good to be mean or grudging about anything. Grudging existence to none therefore, He made all things out of nothing through His own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ and of all these His earthly creatures He reserved especial mercy for the race of men. Upon them, therefore, upon men who, as animals, were essentially impermanent, He bestowed a grace which other creatures lacked—namely the impress of His own Image, a share in the reasonable being of the very Word Himself, so that, reflecting Him and themselves becoming reasonable and expressing the Mind of God even as He does, though in limited degree they might continue for ever in the blessed and only true life of the saints in paradise..."

I Rented a Fun Lens Last Weekend.

Any guesses?  Each of the following Dog Dude portraits was done with the rental lens.

further info/hints: each of these was shot "wide open" and pretty close-up.

Love & Laughter -- Orange County Family Lifestyle Photographer

Love & Laughter NEVER fail to be beautiful in images. The Phillips family positively oozed love and laughter and happy energy the afternoon we spent together. So much fun. I can't even begin to tell you ...

Together we created a patchwork quilt of photographic images of the activities that define their days and nights. Baking, board games, video games, read-alouds at bedtime, tap dancing (yes! 3 Generation Tap Dancing!!), ping pong, Phineas & Ferb, art, Dance Revolution, friends, family ... The Phillips' lifestyle beautifully adds credence to the old adage that the "family that plays together, stays together."



I couldn't resist creating a little stop motion movie ...



and a little slideshow to top it all off ...



Thank you, Phillips, for allowing me into your beautiful world for an afternoon!

Quicky Sneak Peek -- Orange County Family Photographer

I can't even begin to tell you how fun this particular family lifestyle session was...

Here are a couple images that totally grabbed my affections and made me smile:

More to come!

Self-Portrait ...

One of my favorite themes at I Heart Faces ...

No creative spin to this SP. But I'm choosing it because I love all the "glow" in this image that resulted from the condensation that formed in my lens on our recent family trip to Kauai. Love that place. Don't I look happy and relaxed?!?

Join the fun! Click below.

On the Incarnation, No. 1

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through Him all things were made;
without Him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:1-3

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For in Him all things were created:
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things have been created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
And He is the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead,
so that in everything He might have the supremacy.
For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:15-20

Note: This month's posts will also include excerpted text from St. Athanasius's work, On the Incarnation.

..."We must take a step further in the faith of our holy religion, and consider also the Word's becoming Man and His divine Appearing in our midst. That mystery the Jews traduce, the Greeks deride, but we adore; and your own love and devotion to the Word also will be the greater, because in His Manhood He seems so little worth."

"Now in dealing with these matters it is necessary first to recall what has already been said. You must understand why it is that the Word of the Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily form. He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He is without body. He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men. We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the beginning."

Totally Playing Around ...

Inspired by this post I read this morning. Sean McCormack developed a timelapse preset (that he's generously sharing) for Lightroom.

So I grabbed my tripod, aimed it at my two resident students, and fired off a hundred frames (turned off autofocus after I grabbed the first focal point). Edited only the first frame in each set and sync-ed all the rest. Super quick.

Here's the resulting mayhem ...





Sean's preset is super fast (24-29 fps) and high quality resolution, and really, designed to be used with 100s of frames. For my little experiment, plain ol' slideshow probably works acceptably well at 1/10 second per frame. Compare ...



Anywhoooo. Yes, I had too much time on my hands today. :-}

R.I.P., Blackberry.

This is the river-meets-ocean in Kauai where Big Dude “accidentally” dropped his phone in the water.  I say “accidentally”, because I’d recently heard him speaking of getting a new phone … Suspicious coincidence?  Cause, really:  does he really look all that upset to you?

Oh well.  I’m not complaining about the new phone.  It has a nifty keyboard, solitaire :-), and … [drumroll] … a CAMERA!  Which means, that now, whenever I’m with Big Dude, I’m never without a camera.  It certainly won’t take the place of my big girl camera, but it’s nice to have in a pinch.  AND I can upload to Facebook with just a touch of a button.  ONE touch.  No need to upload to computer, edit, export to Flickr, copy html code, and paste in blog.  I like that one touch feature. 

I also kinda get a kick out of the pictures …