What are the traits of a "real man"

What does it mean to be a "Real Man"? Is a "Real Man" someone with big muscles who can sweep you off your feet and carry you away to a safe place when you're in danger? Is he the hansome guy who always gets the girl and never has to wait for the right time because everything falls into place or is he the "avarage joe" who makes the choices for righteousness instead of selfishness no matter what anyone else is doing and relys on God to tell him when the right time is to move out in action? I've found in our fairytail world we most often choose the guy with all the musceles or the guy who gets the girl for our models of a "Real Man" but in God's kingdom a "Real Man" is the one who will lay down his dreams and desires and no matter how strong the pull inside of him is to do them. He will take up his cross and follow Jesus even in the face of his dreams going up in smoke. That means if God said to wait for something and the opportunity is there to do whatever it is that God has you waiting for (even if it is God's will that you do that very thing.... Just not at this time)..... Do you take the opportunity to satisfy your flesh or do you stand firm in what God has said? So many times I've wished I waited for the Lord but dove in just to satisfy my selfish desire. I've heard the word of the Lord spoken clearly to me and have despised the message just because it didn't fit in my dream. I've found through my life experiance that this way only brings confusion, heartache and destruction and it doesn't only effect you it effects those whom you most care about. It's time for me to grow up and become the "Real Man" God has called me to be. Basically I need to follow the "Real Man" through the dreams He has for me because "His Dream for Me is Higher" than any of my wildest dreams and only when I start to see things His way will I become a "Real Man".

J@KE

What say you?

This is the last post before I come back from my missions trip (which is the main reason I haven't posted in so long).

Basically I really want to know your opinion on this shot. What do you think of the composition, colors, angles, etc... (this is something I'm gonna do every once in a while so tell me what you think and don't hold back..... I take everything with a grain of salt anyway :-)

J@KE

We're Back!!!!

This is not horror film, or a story (and I'm totally not making this up) it is merely a fact. The 17-Year-Cicadas have officially landed (or should I say emerged)! They have taken over the ground, and the trees, the airways and the sound waves. The earth (or at least the very small section around my house) is full of them (and on top of that, they tast good with honey). Believe me when I tell you with a little tomato, garlic and some basil in a sandwich they aren't even taste-able. There are of course other ways you can eat them.... You can just pop 'em (the whole thing live and kickin')! They are very high in protine (especially the females because they are full of about 600 eggs) but they are in the shellfish family so if you have allergies to shellfish don't try them. If you really want to look manly or if you're trying to impress your friends or if you just want to try something you won't be able to eat for another seventeen years...... Look online for ways to cook them or just go outside and eat a few. :-P

Happy hunting! :-P

PS. If eating them is just turning your stomach right now, then you can just look at the pictures (and think about me eating them)........ {for those that are wondering, I've tryed them all three ways mentioned above}

Post Garage Sale Fun

So besides being the biggest garage sale I've ever seen or heard of our garage sale is pretty normal.

(The house on the left is the neighbor's house and he let us use the driveway. This is only the front yard. The back yard was full as well)















We had hundreds of thousands of items from at least 25 families and most of us went to different town's garbage days to grab some "good garbage”. The definition of "good" has a pretty fluid understanding so we got some things that were just junk and we needed to do something with them. For instance.... one of those wicker reindeer that you put on the front lawn and maybe decorate with Christmas lights at Christmas time. Those are all fine and good but this particular one was a little deformed. It looked like someone left in out all year tipped on it's back legs so it eventually just bent under the pressure. The two back legs were bent under so it wouldn't stand or sit or anything so it was pretty much worthless. So what do you do with a worthless wicker reindeer?

Let me show you.........








































































(These are some pics of the wicker heart we burned and just a really cool fire pic.)

The Tree

I was at a friend's house helping with a grage sale recently when I saw this tree. I was minding my own business just sitting there when I leaned my head back and looked up. Right in front of my eyes among the branches I started to see these amazing shots (at least to me they are amazing). I ran and got my camera and got right to work trying my best to capture what it was that I saw. :-)

This is what I came up with.....

(I totally love the texture of these shots. let me know what you think :-)






























































































































(if you look closely in the last two pictures you can see my friend Sheant)

Above the Clouds

OK so I'm a photographer and I just don't get above the clouds that often. That's not to say that I'm deprest all the time I mean physically above the clouds (flying) so I just had to bust out my cam to capture these...

(Taken from my trip to Colorado in June of last year)

Who Likes Shadows?

I personally love them. I just don't really have much else to say about it.

Here are some from my R'epertoire...