Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Snapped In Naples




A whole month in CameraLand and no camera yet. :( Boohoo. Soon!!!!! In the meanwhile I've been making do with mobile shots, which although infuriating to my Inner Photographer, still get the job done. Sort of. :) So here's a few things I see as I explore Florida!



The beach (of course!!)


Friendly beach birds.








LOTS of flowers. Lots. (the cool spiky one is a Bird-Of-Paradise)


Stilt houses (whimsically called "tree houses)



Royal palms and stormy skies - how majestic!



And our front yard, where...


...the 10 lb puppy frequently gets the better of our 160 lb Dane!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Not the End of the World?

(oh, the irony...)


“Cheer up, Harold Camping. Everyone is wrong sometimes. It’s not like it’s the end of the world or anything…”

Everyone has seen or heard jibes like that relating to the Rapture predictions of the radio pastor. Why not laugh? It’s an endless source of witty, snarky jokes. After all, no one really took Camping seriously anyway, right?

Wrong. Lots of people took him very seriously, some to the extent of selling their homes, quitting their jobs, liquidating their assets, and giving everything to the cause. At least three family men took this leap of faith. Every time I see photos of these people they look bruised, violated, bewildered and dismayed, as if they cannot understand. Newscasters have dismissed it as “their fault” and discussed their “gullibility.”

Yes, it is their fault. Yes, they were gullible. And now they're paying the price: not only in the shatters of their faith, but in the shatters of their lives.

It's so easy to laugh and take comfort that we'll never make the same mistake. But Jesus wouldn't have warned us against "false Christs" and "false prophets" if He hadn't thought that - just maybe - we might. Okay, so it'll take someone a little more convincing than Harold Camping to fool US. But that person, that prophecy is out there somewhere, for Jesus also said that even the elect would be in danger of deceit.

It's something to think about while we laugh.