Ice on pine needles 16

Winter isn't done, but my "Ice on pine needles" series has run its course. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Ice on pine needles 15

I take great delight in the fact that these photographs are unique; never before has anyone else created this particular image, and never in the future will anyone be able to exactly re-create it. Of course, that's true of any photograph, but the feelings connected the creation of art must be something of what God feels when contemplating the unique person that is you. In you also, God takes great delight!

Ice on pine needles 15

Sometimes winter seems endless, almost like my supply of "ice on pine needles" crosses!

Ice on pine needles 14

Here in southeast Nebraska it's supposed to be 56 degrees today, 26 degrees tomorrow--another reminder that we're not in charge of the universe, and that change is the greatest constant.

Ice on pine needles 13

"It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
you made both summer and winter."
Psalm 74:17

Ice on pine needles 12

It's supposed to be 40 degrees or higher in Nebraska today. Where'd I put those shorts?

Ice on pine needles 11

The pine stays defiantly green, even when covered with the coldest of cold. It's a sign of hope, a model for the choosing of life.

Ice on pine needles 10

Even in the coldest cold of winter, "There is no place where God is not."

Ice on pine needles 9

"As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease."
Genesis 8:22

Ice on pine needles 8

"The breath of God produces ice,
and the broad waters become frozen."
Job 37:10

Ice on pine needles 7

"From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?"
Job 38:29-30

. . . a wonderful feminine image of God!

Ice on pine needles 6

Brrrrrrrrrrr...

Ice on pine needles 5

There is no place where God is not--even in the coldest cold.

Ice on pine needles 4

Ice on pine needles 3

Our ice storm here had only minor consequences; the ice was much thicker in other places. But even here, it's clear how much weight the ice adds to the tree. The results, where the ice is thicker and heavier, look no different than the effects of a tornado.

Ice on pine needles 2

Ice is beautiful, but in excess, destructive. Is excess, of anything, ever NOT destructive?

Ice on pine needles

We had an ice storm a few weeks ago, leaving a layer of ice on everything, including these pine needles.

Heritage Center, tall grass prairie 6

This cross is all about the land. The building becomes almost incidental, with just a tiny piece appearing in the center. That's appropriate, because the land was here before any buildings, and it will still be here when this building is only a memory.

Heritage Center, tall grass prairie 5

These cross images made possible through a "kaleidoscope" special effect in some photo-editing software, some additional Adobe Photoshop manipulation, and the first time my wife looked at one of my photo playthings and said, "Look, Weldon, there's a cross in there!" The rest may not be history, but I'm working on it.

Heritage Center, tall grass prairie 4

Granted, these recent crosses are much alike, but each in a slightly different way says that the cross is the center and everything else is built on that foundation.

Heritage Center, tall grass prairie 3

I've still got more!

Heritage Center, tall grass prairie 2

The colors of sky and grassland, blue and brown, are also the colors of the Heritage Center. No coincidence!

. . . which reminds me of this definition, not original with me: "Coincidence" is when God works a miracle and decides to remain anonymous.

Heritage Center, tall grass prairie

This building is beautiful up close, but my favorite images put it on the far horizon where it looks like a clipper ship plowing westward through a tall-grass prairie sea. The image also suggests the kind of isolation homesteaders felt as they built the first homes in this vast grassland.

Heritage Center 12

Get the asymmetrical point?

Heritage Center 11

My work is with people, and the results are usually quite hard to measure. So I sometimes envy architects and construction people. I'm sure their work has its own special frustrations, but it has the advantage of being concrete; when you're done--something that never occurs in my job--you can say, "Look at that building; I designed that--I built that." Satisfying!