Home sweet home

After what should have been 12 but ended up being closer to 20 hrs of traveling and waiting thanks to the infamous Kodiak fog, I have finally made it! I woke up this morning (more like afternoon) thanking God I wasn't still waiting in the anchorage airport for the fog to lift... In fact, it actually looks like today is going be a pretty beautiful day here in Kodiak. Its not raining, and it looks like the sun might even peek out!
Getting off the plane yesterday, I was once Again greeted by warm smiles and hugs from Jarod, Aaron, and Zack. It was so weird driving through the town again, it might have been the lack of sleep, but it really felt like I had never left, like Kodiak was real life, and everything else just fell in between.
So they dropped me off at the mission and again I was greeted by more friends and got settled in. Ashley then took me out to dinner at the old powerhouse to get the best sushi west of the Mississippi. Nom nom nom. after we filled ourselves tithe brim, we came back, got in our sleeping bags, and watched a movie. I crashed 10 minutes in, and didn't wake up till 1130 this morning.
Now begins my first full day.

Karis and Andrew

Howdy followers, it has been a while but I finally have something worth posting! My dear friend Karis got freaking married a few weeks ago and I had the honor of taking photos for her. The day was so lovely, Karis was the complete opposite of a bridezilla, she was totally chill and taking pics of her and Andrew was a blast! Here's a little taste of the day... hope you likey!

The importance of Safety

A grand flaw of many Christian institutions is the lack of genuine hospitality. For example, in many American mega-churches and Christian Universities such as APU there is a flawed idea of what community should be. Many people in Christian institutions think that community means a ‘safe place’ where a close-knit group of believers who ‘do life together’ can go. The problem is that community is not, as a rule, a ‘safe place’ for people to come when safe is equated to locked doors and a security team on patrol 24/7. I've been reading this book called Following Jesus In a Culture of Fear by Scott Bader-Saye, and in it he asks, “whether gated communities [think APU living areas] do not represent a kind of disordered love in which the desire to protect the lesser good of one’s property leads a person to reject the greater good of hospitality.” It has become evident to me that safety in community should be far less about physical security and far more about the emotional security of not being condemning and judging but rather accepting and loving of all people.
Much of the pressure to create a safe community is the pressure to have an appealing view of that community from the outside, and to put safety as a top priority is one of the easiest ways to do that. Safety is something that can be legislated and does not have to do with the hearts of the people within the community. Bader-Saye notes that, “communities often… provide a foundation for certain “church growth” programs that exhibit a faux hospitality that ultimately serves to reinforce homogeneity and resist true welcome of the other.” In our close Church or school communities the goal is to make those who are there feel comfortable, when this goal of comfort ends up excluding others, because including those who are different than us, who do not fit into our already decided community, makes us uncomfortable and is much harder work. Perhaps this is part of why we have so many specialized small groups- groups divided by age, gender, and even race. We hide behind our good intentions, and decide that people can 'connect' better with people like themselves, so it is better this way, but this theme only encourages homogeneity and excludes people who do not fit those standards. The only real way to be hospitable and to promote acceptance of those who are different than us is to unlock and open those doors and encourage inclusion of the other. It is never okay to sacrifice hospitality for safety.

"The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rebekah Tenney

I had the privilege of shooting the 'getting ready' photos for my dear friend, who was about to wed the man himself, Robert Schwandt. It was a glorious day, full of laughter, joy, and Bekah's radiant smile.

reality

We do not have a holistic understanding of spirituality, The supernatural is not unusual, it is real and everywhere.

Romantic

Imagine being born into a world that told you,
"You were born free!
And though you are now in chains,
liberation is at hand!"

What purpose, what passion you might feel.

New

School has begun.
It's Junior year of college.
I am now an English major with a literature concentration and Philosophy minor.
I like all my classes. So far.
And I am optimistic.

This is new for me.


Also, books are really beautiful.
And this is really cool.