This past year, we visited specific scenic locations four different times throughout the year. We chose easily accessible, yet scenic areas of Colorado to shoot all four seasons. These photographs represent what I believe to be iconic views of our mountains with aspens or other foliage in the foreground to show the changing of the colors in the different seasons. The first area is the Sawatch Range of central Colorado near the towns of Leadville and Buena Vista:
The second location was close to home. Rocky Mountain National Park and the Front Range are within an hour of our home, so naturally it works well for us to take day trips to get to these spots easier:
It seems to me in recent years, there has been an increase in hostility toward Christianity. The view that Christians are judgemental and hypocritical is shared by many in the area we live. It is true that these negative traits can apply to people who worship Jesus and to people in general. One thing I've been trying to work on is to live like Jesus instructs His disciples when He tells them to be "as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." He himself was totally innocent, but also very wise and cunning in His actions. Though He was "gentle and humble in spirit" (Matt 11:29) He also turned over tables with whip in hand to cleanse the temple of money changers (John 2:15). If we as Christians don't live pure lives, how will our message be credible? On the other hand, if we don't share Jesus in a way that is purposeful, even crafty, then how will people ever come to know about His great love?
One of the ways that our church is acting this out currently is through our low cost medical clinic. During the week, we meet the needs of people in our community freely. They come and get their needs met. Nothing is asked in return. Some of these people end up becoming members of the church through the connections they make with people at the clinic. This is no accident or coincidence. Our preacher told of a man from the community that figured it out one day. He said, "Hey, I see what you Christians are up to! You just do these things because you want to get people to become Christians!"
Sneaky snakes...
There is no greater need than the need to be saved. The ultimate motivations of our actions should be love. Sometimes that means we go "fishing" to hook people in. Sometimes we might have to be like slimy salesmen. We might have to be subtle or we might have to be aggressive or we might have to be gentle.
Cami and I took a quick overnight backpacking trip to Holy Cross Wilderness near Minturn. This was such a pristine location. Even though we knew this was such a heavy snow year and a cool summer, we were surprised to see that the high lakes were still partially frozen over....in August! Also, there were waterfalls everywhere. I don't think I've been on a hike with more waterfalls. This was truly a hidden gem!
We only met one other person up there on the whole trip. A man stopped us and asked if we could filter some water for him because his filter wasn't working. He was a minster who worked in hospice care and we had a great talk about our faith and Jesus. I have found that the kind of people that you run into deep in the woods are generally very friendly folks. Or maybe its that friendly folks tend to enjoy getting out to enjoy God's creation.
As we approached the end of the hike, there were some more difficult rocks to scramble up what were smooth and wet. Cami decided to wait at the lower lake while Molly and I continued to the upper lake. The sun came out just for a few minutes and the views were breathtaking! I always love to hear the marmots chirp at you as you trespass in their tundra territory.
