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Adler is officially 17 months old, he’s over 35 lbs, wearing 3T clothing, size 6 diapers, talking his head off, rockin a size 8 shoe, throwing overhand, singing, dancing, playing basketball, bongos, running laps around the kitchen, grabbing Tristan and Sadie’s tail, crying to go outside, laughing at Elmo, and so on. Life with Adler is so amazing. Being his Dad is such a blessing and has given me such a new perspective on life. There’s just not much better than having him run up to me and wrap his arms around me and squeeze. I feel his unconditional love so strongly. It’s crazy. This boy just makes me well up with pride. I am so thankful for him!

my past life, originally uploaded by Stevo28andgrowing.

A couple nights ago I was in a particularly weird mood with my camera. I tried a bunch of stuff, some of which can be found on my flickr page (Iinked to the right), but this picture got me thinkin about my pre-cubicle life. I played percussion in a band for years in a band and had a blast doing it. Looking back, there was never much of a chance for b-side to “make it”, although (in my mind) we were pretty good, won some accolades such as getting to represent Arkansas bands at SXSW a few years ago. And we basically rocked peoples faces off with energy…that was probably the fun part about playing congas in a band like that, because if I messed up from jumping around people wouldn’t even know that I’d messed up. It was a blast driving around with the guys in b-side and playing in new places. Places like Stillwater, OK where we spent more money getting there than what we made at that bar ($75 or so…yikes), or the W.I.L.D. festival at G. Washington U. in St. Louis where we opened up for hard rock bands (Saliva, Crazy Town and 311)…talk about a mismatch of sounds as we’re playing titles like “Laugh Out Loud” and “Beautiful World”. ha. there are a ton of good memories…and some that were bad at the time, but are now completely laughable.

If you want to check out some of the “old me” you can hear some b-side tunes at http://www.myspace.com/bsideark

I’m pretty excited because I’ll get to hang with the old band guys in Nashville in 2 weeks. Zach and the guys are recording some new music and I’m just going to hang out. It’ll be fun to rehash old times and be goofy. I’m also hopeful that I’ll bump into my blog world buddy Aaron Ivey (http://www.aaronivey.com)

Beyond all of the memories this pic sort of churned up it also helps to ground me a bit, because my head sort of feels like I look in this picture. Driving to work today I felt like I should drive there in silence, take in the scenery and just listen for God. I didn’t really hear anything, and I think it’s because even in silence, my head was filled with a bunch of noise. How do we get beyond just turning off the tangible audio in our lives and get to being able to filter out that inner noise that just seems so much louder when you’re trying not to hear it???

I was reading my iPhone bible today (hurray for technology) and went to Psalm 27. Today’s the 27th day of March, so it seemed fitting to check it out. It’s a Psalm from David and it put two truths in front of me that I haven’t thought about in quite some time…maybe that’s because I make myself so busy that I’ve only got time for God on my iPhone (post for another time I guess).

The first truth was inside “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear” and this hit me because of my tendency to worry about things financial/occupational/etc. God just smacked me in the face with the fact that HE has my back. period. If I truly accept Christ, and thus believe in His power, then why would I be afraid of any person or thing. He is the stronghold of my life, meaning it’s His call when stuff good/bad happens to me. It was just comforting to hear today.

The second truth came at the end of the chapter; “Wait for the Lord, let your heart take courage, wait for the Lord”. This just gave me such a sense of peace, but also at the same time thumped me on the head that I too often live at my own pace, not God’s, and in that find myself running past where He might want me to actually be. Isn’t it so hard in our culture to not just keep running towards the next position, salary, job title, bigger mortgage, faster/shinier car, bling-ed out watch, etc etc etc and not wait on God. God’s timing has OVER and OVER shown itself to be perfect, yet I feel like sometimes I’m jogging through life, missing the scenery around me, and looking over my shoulder at God saying “Hurry up Dude! I’ve got somewhere else to be!” Wind blowing through my hair from the jogging and the farther in front of God I get, the harder it is to hear his voice say “wait on me son, this is where I want you for now”.

I guess my prayer today is that I’ll recognize my tendencies in both of these areas and lean on the truths He gave me today.

Adler Splash, originally uploaded by Stevo28andgrowing.

no description needed…he’s the cutest!!!!

Joshua Longbrake is a writer, photographer, blogger, and I’m sure much more…guy who goes to graduate school in Seattle. I somehow came accross his flickr page back in the day when I was starting to get interested in photography and his work has been particularly inspiring, not in a “I wanna take pictures like him” way, because he is “he” and I am “me”, but in a “He sees something interesting and executes…I want to be that way in my own style.

Anyway, I’d post some examples of his work, but that’s not really kosher, if you know what I’m sayin, so check out his blog or flickr pages for some really cool stuff:

www.thelongbrake.com
The Longbrake on Flickr!!!

Alone, originally uploaded by Stevo28andgrowing.

Sometimes I feel like this picture. Sometimes it’s crazy trying to figure out the next step. The problem is just that…I’m trying to figure it out, and not trusting God to take me where I want to go. It’s hard though, because I feel like I’m running the show a lot of the time even though in my heart of hearts I know that I am HIS.

Obviously the answer is pretty much a “NO”…but after I was blessed to shoot Chrystina Fincher and the Buckhead Church worship band 2 Sundays ago, I was convinced it was possible. Chrystina and the band are some of the most professional, talented, and engaging musicians I’ve seen…period…I’m not just talking about Christian musicians. They just flat out rock, and the funny thing, after looking at these pictures on my camera was that even without sound, the band looks like they’re really good. Maybe it’s just the lights, maybe it’s the fact that I was listening to them while snapping away, or maybe its the fact that as professional musicians, they’ve spent years and years not only getting better at their instruments, but also getting better at looking at ease on stage. Either way, they rock…thanks Carlos for having me back out to shoot!!!

The other thing that’s been cool about shooting at Buckhead Church is that I’ve realized that my taking pictures can be an act of worship to God. Especially when taking pictures of worship, but also when taking pictures of God’s creation whether it’s a mountain, a person, or a reflection that a puddle creates. How cool is that?! I just came away from Sunday thinking about how I, through the entire 3 song practice I ran around the empty auditorium trying to get shot after shot, furiously snapping away, but in my head I was singing and worshiping God with Chrystina and the band. It was a cool moment for me and an amazing reminder that God delights in us enjoying the things he gives us.

Here are a couple of my favorites from the day:

So, admittedly, I am NOT a morning person. The snooze button is my friend, but as of late, I’ve realized that it’s the friend that’s really plotting behind my back to ultimately destroy me. We all know that friend. The guy/girl in Jr. High that made you feel like you were cool until he/she got accepted into the “cooler than you” club. That’s how my snooze button is…so imaging the difficulty I have in waking up with the intention of stretching my spiritual being and bench pressing some bible knowledge before I get to work…it ain’t pretty…BUT, I have been doing a bit better lately. for instance, on Tuesday I intended to wake at 6:15, get ready and go to Starbucks for some coffee, my devotional, and maybe some picture editing (see upcoming post regarding new Buckhead Church shoot). At 6:15, as alarm clocks tend to do, my alarm went off as scheduled with its strikingly annoying harmony. I immediately exclaimed in my brain…”I’m too tired, I’ll just hit snooze a couple times and enjoy cuddling with Kristine..but wait, I need to pee first.” So I headed to the bathroom, after all, you can’t cuddle in comfort with Mother Nature dialin you up. But, once in the restroom, it hit me…in that moment I was going to be making a choice whether to be obedient to God and stay awake, OR was I going to be obedient to my friend “Mr. Snooze” and hop back under the covers. I chose the previous. It’s not an everyday habit yet, being obedient to God in the wake of my annoying friend “Mr. Snooze”, but I do feel like God is pushing me towards an old friend that’s been waiting for me to hang out with him again for quite some time and it feels good to let Him have some of my morning.