the camera dance

This little butterfly is the Fiery Skipper. (Thanks Fishing Guy, for the bug link.) They hop around a lot, but its skipping around was to my advantage, because as long as I could react quickly, it offered several different profiles. I would have preferred to clearly see both antennae. Nevertheless, I am quite satisfied with this result. The butterfly photo was taken under the flagpole at church. Several people are presently collaborating to reconfigure the landscaping to something that looks pretty, but at the same time, does not require a lot of work to maintain.

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Then, I have some Zinnias from a friend's yard. She spends a lot of time in her yard, and between the bird feeders, vegetables and flowers, I would be a fool to visit their home without my camera. They are kind enough to let me wander away from the conversation or dinner table to chase photo opportunities. I'll be they stand inside the windows and laugh at me, while I'm out there, doing the camera dance. You know how it goes... both hands holding the eyepiece to the face, crouch low, stretch high, move side to side, get down to the ground, find a spot and freeze... then do it all over again.

soul siblings

We held an Arts Festival with all kind of exhibits on Saturday. I entered my photographs. Among the artistic expressions was another church's choir, praise team, and worship dancers. Some of their expression may be a little different, but our bond through Christ runs deep, and this is my family, who I will share the rest of eternity with. Think about that... my blood kin will be my family for a few decades, but my church family throughout the planet, those before me and those to come, these will be my brothers and sisters forever!

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I generally don't care for interpretive dance. I'm not condemning it as wrong, or anything like that... it's just not my cup of tea, that's all. But now that I have the disclaimer out of the way, let me say that I found this very interesting, and even exciting. They artistically, and effectively communicated the ideas of their songs. I hope I recognize some of these church people at the grocery store or local parks. I would love to continue the sweet fellowship that began on such a high note.

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Then on Sunday, we had another multicultural moment. This lady got baptized. She is from Haiti, and does not speak English. She spoke in French or Creole (I couldn't tell which) through a translator.

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She has a sad episode in her past. Many years ago, she was a single mom. She joined a church and wanted to be baptized. After 6 months of preparation, she was finally told by her old pastor, that they would NOT baptize her until she was married. I don't have all the facts, but that doesn't sound right to me.

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Wanna hear something cool? This lady from Haiti faithfully attends my English-speaking church every week. Like I said, she does not understand the words, but participates as much as she can, and then hears the message for the first time, when her son translates the sermon at home for family devotions on Sunday nights.