And now for something completely different: my first true photo blog!
I know what you’re saying – “Hey, all your blogs feature photos!” Yes, that’s true, but this is a blog written about the photos, for they have a magical story to tell, as this image suggests!
Our basic premise draws from my daily exercise routine – finish my chores and take a nice, long, five- to eight-mile walk. Since I read a book while I stroll from park to park, I must get home before dark – which is quite easy to do in the spring, summer, and fall, but not winter, when early sunsets often overtake me before I reach my apartment door. That’s important to note, for I’m now in the dead of winter… and just that quick, we’ve set the stage for my story!
About a mile from home, I headed across Lewis Avenue and checked my clock, fearing the sun was winning this race. Looking west, I found a great photo opp: a beautiful leafless tree silhouette!
That suggested I just might get home before night fell, so I hurried on while reading The Berlin Project by Gregory Benford. This alternative history novel hit a dynamic moment, just after the Americans and British dropped their first nuclear bomb – on (SPOILER ALERT) Berlin! That’s when I noticed those clouds growing darker and darker. Making a quick prayer that The Weather Channel’s 1-2 percent rain estimate would ring true, I spied something strange along my path – golden sunlight illuminating one tall tree’s bare crown. Reaching its roots, I took photos of this twilight spectacle.
The next block held another soaring tree reflecting sunbeams in deep twilight. All this suggested the sun had found a hole in the clouds behind me, one large enough to light up not just these bare giants, but a bit of those sullen billows behind them. That’s when I saw the sign of God’s promise – an almost complete rainbow!
Naturally I took more photos, which spurred two walkers to stop their eastern journey and ask just what I’m doing. I pointed out the tree and rainbow, then moved on, intrigued, for this colorful ribbon appeared oh-so-close… one of its legs would touch down just behind that trunk's glowing limbs! If I positioned myself just right, I might catch that rainbow’s rise between a flag pole and that effervescent tree!
It dawned on me that if this sunbeam could create this now-fading rainbow, it might also fuel a fiery sunset! So I turned around to find brilliant orange lines gracing the fuming sky.
I took different shots of my western horizon as I neared home...
...reaching my door as blackness settled around me.
It left me with a sense of wonder fitting Hebrews 12:28-29: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”
Just as I had seen that night!
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