Yosemite Falls

How many photographs have been taken of Yosemite Falls? Including the dozen or so that I took, millions. At 2,425, it's the highest waterfall in the United States, the 6th highest in the world. I'd love to see it in late spring, when the flow is at its peak.

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El Capitan 3

In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
Psalm 95:4

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El Capitan 2

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier opens with a shot of Captain Kirk scaling El Capitan. The year is 2287. Kirk falls from the mountain, but his life is saved by Spock who has jet boots.

If you're not a Trekkie, that makes absolutely no sense to you. But that part of the story does connect to the desire in all of us to try next-to-impossible things--a desire that few of us actually have the courage to act upon. Is God less reliable than a friend with jet boots?

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El Capitan

El Capitan is a 3000 foot vertical stone formation in Yosemite Valley, California. Rock climbers love the challenge of its steep granite walls. It was first climbed in 1958, using lots of equipment. The first free climb of El Capitan was in 1979. That's a sport to which I have never been attracted!

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Red Rocks and Surf 4

Memory is a wonderful thing. I can go back to this time, to this place, and remember the waves, the rocks, the sand, the sound, the light of the setting sun, and the joy of sharing the experience with someone I love.

Memories can also be difficult and painful; we wish we could erase the bad ones. Though the process is not as instantaneous as we impatient humans would like, healing of memories is possible. It is God who is the source of all things good--including memories. And it is God who is the healer.

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Red Rocks and Surf 3

For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.
Psalm 27:5

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Red Rocks and Surf 2

With a little imagination, you can pretend that this sliver of white surf against a background of red rocks is the Christmas star which guided the wise men to the baby Jesus.

Merry Christmas!

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Red Rocks and Surf

We visited this beach first on a cloudy, dreary afternoon. But I spied these red rocks and knew that if we returned on a clear evening, the setting sun would bathe them in a warm glow. We returned the next evening, and indeed the rocks were glowing behind the crashing surf.

God is called "Rock" 25 times in the Psalms. Here's one:

He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 62:6

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Translucent Wave2

This cross is similar to that of the one I posted on Dec. 17, and it's based on the same wave. For one brief moment in time as this wave was breaking, the light of the setting sun was able to penetrate the moving water to create this study in green and yellow. Photography is always about light.

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light." Ephesians 5:8

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Driftwood 5

Same beach, same supply of driftwood, but a different, more precisely-built "house." Somebody went to a lot of work on this one; these driftwood logs are large.
location: Harris Beach State Park, Brookings, Oregon

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Driftwood 4

My favorite driftwood cross.

I keep wondering if this "house built upon the sand" is still there, or if a high tide or storm has swept it away. I hope my photos will make permanent this very temporary structure.

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Driftwood 3

From Wikipedia:

In some waterfront areas, driftwood is a major nuisance. However, the driftwood provides shelter and food for birds, fish and other aquatic species as it floats in the ocean. Gribbles, shipworms and bacteria decompose the wood and gradually turn it into nutrients that are reintroduced to the food web. Sometimes, the partially decomposed wood washes ashore, where it also shelters birds, plants, and other species. Driftwood can become the foundation for sand dunes.

Driftwood carried by Arctic rivers was the main, or sometimes only, source of wood for some Inuit and other Arctic populations living north of the tree-line until they came into regular contact with European traders.

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Driftwood 2

Each piece of driftwood has its own story, its own size and shape. It's the diversity among these pieces of driftwood that makes the pile beautiful. Likewise with people!

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Driftwood

On this Oregon beach, driftwood has been gathered by some energetic, creative people and made into a house-like structure. Of course, when I see things like this, I think "cross!"

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Translucent Wave

The setting sun is shining through this wave at Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, Oregon. As always, light shining through ocean waves is green, not blue. The original photo below demonstrates the awesome power of even an ordinary wave.

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Green Wave

Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea—
the LORD on high is mighty.
Psalm 93:4

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Seaweed and Driftwood 2

Why is something "beautiful"? What happens in eye and brain to make us say to ourselves, "There, that looks just right?"

In this arrangement of brown seaweed stuck into a piece of driftwood, the colors and textures and lines are eye-catching and dynamic and beautiful--at least to me and to my wife who created it. Though tastes vary because eyes and brains function a bit differently from one person to another, yet within each of us is the ability to work, create, and then say, "Aah, that's good!" Just like God.

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Seaweed and Driftwood

This beautiful combination of driftwood and seaweed happened not by the random actions of surf and wind and tide, but by the hand of my creative wife, who found all the ingredients for this centerpiece fit for the dining room table and arranged them artfully and carefully. We thought about trying to take it with us and then decided, No, this beauty came from the sea and it belongs by the sea.

So after creating it and photographing it, we let it sit on the big red driftwood log for others to enjoy, or for the sea to reclaim.

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Rock Layers 6

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
Psalm 18:2

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Rock Layers 5

"Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me?
No, there is no other Rock; I know not one."
Isaiah 44:8

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Rock Layers 4

Be my rock of refuge,
to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Psalm 71:3

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Rock Layers 3

Yes, there are crosses everywhere.

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Rock Layers 2

"But you would be fed with the finest of wheat;
with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
Psalm 81:16

Metaphors, of course. But the subtle colors in this convoluted rock suggest a richness within; not literal honey, but certainly beauty--which is always a sign of God's presence.

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Rock Layers

Except at very low tide, these twisted layers of rock are underwater, pounded constantly by the crashing Pacific waves. The rock is hard and the erosion process is slow, but these layers are being pulverized into sand, and every passing year exposes new twists and turns in the patterns of layered stone. I think the origin is volcanic, and if so, the early history of this rock was violent, fast-developing, and spectacular.

As with yesterday's redwood log, there's a novel-length story in this rock. Anybody know a geologist who's also a novelist?

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Redwood Story

Oh, to know the history of this old weathered, beaten-up redwood log. The details of its early life in the forest, its growth as a mighty tree, its death and fall into the Pacific Ocean, and its obviously long journey to this Oregon Beach would surely fill the pages of a novel.

When you visit an older person in a nursing home, remember that they were not always old and weathered. Each person has a story, a long and interesting history. Ask them about it.

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