I Saw A Man Get Saved That Day............

Awake at 4:30am with voices running through my head,
sunrise is coming, get up and out of bed.  
I've seen them before, I'll see them again,
Just today, I thought I'd sleep in…..

What would I miss, if I didn't go…
That voice came back it wouldn't take no
So I grabbed my gear and headed to the shore,
God's grace to me was what he had in store…

Just before sunrise, the sky was aglow, 
with variations of color, a beautiful show.
I heard some voices as my shutter was snappin',
As I turned and look two fella's were talkin'.

The young man was real quick to tell me the story,
He was to be baptized and give God glory.
He was happy to see me with my camera and all,
To capture his image as he fulfilled his call.

The sun was about to rise above the horizon, the tide was moving in,
The dolphin playing in the background, I could see his dorsal fin.
The young man and the preacher, into the water they waded,
It was such a wonder to see what God had created.

The sun came up, his head went under,
The preacher was preaching, his voice echoing like thunder.
I saw a man get saved that day,
While I was talking pictures down by the bay.

I couldn't hear the preacher, the words he was saying,
But I felt the vibrations in my soul, and I too started praying.
For then I realized, those early morning voices in my head,
Where whispers of the angels pushing me out of my bed.

I looked at the shots when I got home,
I am so thankful those two weren't there alone.
Chains were broken through water and a prayers,
I only wish you too could have been there.

I saw a man get save that day,
While I was taking pictures down by the bay.
I know a man who was saved that day,
While he was taking pictures down by the bay.

A Lesson in Life from a Roseate Spoonbill

“How things look on the outside of us depends on how things are on the inside of us.”

 A typical morning morning walking the trail getting some exercise and taking some shots. At this particular spot along the slough about one-half inland from Galveston Bay I came across a roseate spoonbill feeding alone in the water.

As I stopped to take a few shots I quickly noticed the roseate wasn't walking and feeding as I have seen them do many times before. The roseate's I've seen always walk in the water with their spoonbill below the surface and move it back and forth, left and right, like a wiper blade on a car. This spoonbill, alone where I normally have seen two or more together, was flapping it's wings to get enough height to move from one spot to another. It make continuous short flights to feed in different spots.

It was great to take photos because I was able to get some good views of the beautifully expanded pink wingspan, but I was puzzled as to why the roseate was behaving in such a manner. My only thought as I watched and took pictures was maybe this roseate never learned the technique as I had seen in all the others. I moved on, took more shots in various other spots along the trail, but thought of that roseate most of the morning as I was both puzzled at it's actions and curious how good some of the shots were going to come out.

Later that morning when I got home, over a cup of coffee and breakfast, I was scanning through the pictures I had taken to see if I took any good ones. As I was going through them on my large flat panel screen I saw what I didn't see through the lens of the camera. The roseate behavior was no longer a mystery to me. Although at first I was captivated by the beauty of the bird in the photo, as I looked closer and studied it more, I was saddened by what I saw. The roseate made those short tiny flights to move and feed in the water because it had a broken leg and the bone was protruding near the knee. 

"Wow!" I said to myself, leaning back in my chair and thinking. There I was enjoying the beauty of the bird, hoping to take a great photo, not understanding the movements of the bird, only to come to realize that the bird was struggling to survive. A sunken feeling came over me.

How often in life do we quickly see something and come to judgement, not knowing why someone behaves the way they do? How often to see the beauty or success of another and not come to think that their struggles may be greater than ours and their pains stronger? How often do we judge and condemn the failures and problems of others without knowing the path that brought them there or opportunities and chances they didn't have or didn't take that put them on a path they would rather not be on today?

If our minds could freeze the moments we experience daily to give us time to analyze it as a photographer may analyze his or her work, I think we'd see more and feel more. In this fast paced world where we are so much in a hurry to get through the day and through the week, to finish a project or take our next vacation, if for only one part of the day we can think more about what we are seeing and experiencing and allow ourselves to feel and react to it, our lives will be more fulfilling: we would be less critical and more compassionate.

Every day is precious, open up your soul, be on-guard for those special moments and make a difference.

It's In Your Heart

“If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa



She was only in 3rd Grade, but she had already learned to be a ‘giver’. (Actually, I think it’s natural and most of us are born that way, we just become desensitized, look outward less and inward more.) She recognized a fellow student in need financially; something the young boy in her classroom whispered to her.

It wasn’t much money she had saved up from Christmas and birthday’s, but she knew she had $80 dollars, and when on the way home from school she told the story of the boy in her class who had a need and she wanted to give him her money, it gives a parent a warm feeling that your daughter’s heart is in the right place. But in the quiet of your mind it can also make you think if you have been so kind. Do I do enough?

I think back on that day, I think back of the child who had put a pair of socks on her Christmas list, and the little girl who asked for a bed. There are so many folks who need US to help. I CHALLENGE myself, my family and you to find a way to help others this holiday season.

Some of us have time to share, some of us have jackets we haven’t worn in years hanging in the closet that can keep someone warm, and there are those of us who have may have a few dollars to spare to help a charitable organization or church feed someone. The objective is getting out and helping; helping someone get through difficult times…….sending a child to school who has eaten a breakfast…..letting strangers know that people do care. Do what you know you should do!

If you read this, I hope it inspires you to help someone, a family, a friend, a stranger. If it does, please pass it on.

May your dreams be filled and blessings shower upon you!

Life's Thought Provoking Moments

“The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, she becomes an adolescent; the day she forgives them, she becomes an adult; the days she forgives herself, she becomes wise.”






Those defining moments in life…..the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a marriage, and in this moment in my life Sarah’s high school graduation. It’s these moments in our lives where we wonder where the time has gone and reflect on how we have spent it.

I think it’s these moments in life the core of our inner being is touched and we are given the opportunity to redirect our lives to spend our time more wisely. Like a sailboat with nobody at the helm, we can drift off course. That inner feeling pulling you to get back on course is only there for a brief time until you lose yourself back to the current forces pulling you along.

It’s this time we need to ride that wave of emotion and reach outside ourselves, break out of our routine, and begin travelling to the place we know we need to be so that when we have that next event in our life we are not wondering where the past few months or years went, wishing the time we spent was spent more wisely.

Did you ever have that empty feeling, wishing you did something you know you should have done? Maybe you read the obituary of a good friend who unexpectedly died, someone you have been thinking about contacting for months or years.

Why do we let time go without keeping those close to us close to us? Why do we let close relationships die? Does not our heart still care?

Life happens and we tend to listen less with our heart. We protect our emotions and guard ourselves. We get busy being busy.

Let’s challenge ourselves to live from our hearts…..call someone we haven’t talk to in a while but have been wondering how they have been doing. Tell our neighbors their yard looks good if we’ve been thinking it.

Live outside yourself today and you will not be worried you haven’t tomorrow.

NOTE: Picture of Sarah and Mom at Pete's house.

SARAH's VIDEO: Link under Links as well.
http://good-times.webshots.com/video/3002388750100508277LxncRw