Comments on: Beauty Out of Context http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context Sniffing out the work of God in the world... Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:28:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Sandy http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66216 Sandy Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:18:54 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66216 My younger sister married into a NYC socialite family three years ago and the "background music" for the PRE-reception at her Manhattan wedding was a quintet from Julliard that cost $5,000 an hour, I kid you not. I was a music major in college and I wasn't about to miss out on a free concert from musicians of this caliber, so I camped out next to them with a plate of jumbo shrimp in my $13 black crepe ebay dress while people such as Helen Gurley Brown hobnobbed and paid no attention whatsoever to the music around them. The whole night was like this; I was thoroughly out of my social league and my husband and I had a wonderful time enjoying all the things that the ultra-wealthy people around us seemed to take for granted. But I would never want to exchange world class music, cold marble and gold plate for the beauty of sunsets and cicadas, a freshly mown lawn, nests of baby birds, new tomato plants and golden sunflowers, neighbors in blue jeans, and kids with bare feet and berry-stained faces. Some things you just can't buy. My younger sister married into a NYC socialite family three years ago and the “background music” for the PRE-reception at her Manhattan wedding was a quintet from Julliard that cost $5,000 an hour, I kid you not. I was a music major in college and I wasn’t about to miss out on a free concert from musicians of this caliber, so I camped out next to them with a plate of jumbo shrimp in my $13 black crepe ebay dress while people such as Helen Gurley Brown hobnobbed and paid no attention whatsoever to the music around them. The whole night was like this; I was thoroughly out of my social league and my husband and I had a wonderful time enjoying all the things that the ultra-wealthy people around us seemed to take for granted. But I would never want to exchange world class music, cold marble and gold plate for the beauty of sunsets and cicadas, a freshly mown lawn, nests of baby birds, new tomato plants and golden sunflowers, neighbors in blue jeans, and kids with bare feet and berry-stained faces. Some things you just can’t buy.

]]> By: Snapshot http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66214 Snapshot Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:37:39 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66214 Great post. That is one of the benefits of being a photojournalist, we are constantly looking for the details and I've found that more times than not, beauty lies in the details. A photographer's eye is always on the search for the next great shot. One of the ways we hinder others from seeing beauty is by complaining and encouraging them to focus on the negative. Sorry to say that happens far to often in the church. Something really marvelous happens and someone comes along and throws their wet blanket right down on the newly rekindled fires. Great post. That is one of the benefits of being a photojournalist, we are constantly looking for the details and I’ve found that more times than not, beauty lies in the details. A photographer’s eye is always on the search for the next great shot.
One of the ways we hinder others from seeing beauty is by complaining and encouraging them to focus on the negative. Sorry to say that happens far to often in the church. Something really marvelous happens and someone comes along and throws their wet blanket right down on the newly rekindled fires.

]]> By: KentF http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66213 KentF Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:35:54 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66213 Thanks Mike - what a great clip and note. Thanks Mike - what a great clip and note.

]]> By: julie http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66212 julie Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:18:34 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66212 Just got back from the beautiful Northwest...Coeur D'Alene, Yellowstone and the Tetons. The song that kept coming to mind...The splendor of a king, clothed in majesty, let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice, He wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide, it trembles at his voice, trembles at his voice...how great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God.. Just got back from the beautiful Northwest…Coeur D’Alene, Yellowstone and the Tetons. The song that kept coming to mind…The splendor of a king, clothed in majesty, let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice, He wraps himself in light and darkness tries to hide, it trembles at his voice, trembles at his voice…how great is our God, sing with me, how great is our God..

]]> By: DJ http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66211 DJ Tue, 10 Jul 2007 20:09:19 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66211 Mike, I love this...what a poignant illustration. I am taken immediately to the "Foreword/Preface" of Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz" when I read this story... "I never liked jazz music because jazz doesn't resolve. But I was outside the Baghdad Theater in Portlant one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes. After that, I loked jazz music. Sometimes you wave to watch somebody love somethig becore you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way..." Mike,
I love this…what a poignant illustration. I am taken immediately to the “Foreword/Preface” of Donald Miller’s “Blue Like Jazz” when I read this story…
“I never liked jazz music because jazz doesn’t resolve. But I was outside the Baghdad Theater in Portlant one night when I saw a man playing the saxophone. I stood there for fifteen minutes, and he never opened his eyes.
After that, I loked jazz music.
Sometimes you wave to watch somebody love somethig becore you can love it yourself. It is as if they are showing you the way…”

]]> By: Steve http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66209 Steve Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:32:52 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66209 Beauty can be found in the most unexpected places, but only if you are looking. Peace. Beauty can be found in the most unexpected places, but only if you are looking.

Peace.

]]> By: beverly http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66208 beverly Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:53:33 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66208 I remember, in my twenties, being in a dirty, noisy subway station in Boston when a guy pulled out a clarinet and silenced the noise and we all listened. He then took out another clarinet put them both in his mouth and played them at the same time. It was beautiful and something I shall never forget. I remember, in my twenties, being in a dirty, noisy subway station in Boston when a guy pulled out a clarinet and silenced the noise and we all listened. He then took out another clarinet put them both in his mouth and played them at the same time. It was beautiful and something I shall never forget.

]]> By: juditko http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66199 juditko Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:33:57 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66199 Mike, this reminds me yet again that nearly all of my best wildflower photographs were taken in a ditch... Mike, this reminds me yet again that nearly all of my best wildflower photographs were taken in a ditch…

]]> By: Kathy S http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66198 Kathy S Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:15:56 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66198 Mike, I remember when you confirmed some unspoken and still-developing thoughts of mine that God loves beauty. You spoke so eloquently of your first hand knowledge of the beauty and magnificence found in the depths of the ocean--hidden from almost every eye but God's. I have pondered this thought many times and it fills me with awe and overwhelms me. What a beautiful God we worship. Mike, I remember when you confirmed some unspoken and still-developing thoughts of mine that God loves beauty. You spoke so eloquently of your first hand knowledge of the beauty and magnificence found in the depths of the ocean–hidden from almost every eye but God’s. I have pondered this thought many times and it fills me with awe and overwhelms me. What a beautiful God we worship.

]]> By: GKB http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66197 GKB Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:51:16 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66197 Mike, You need to read "The River Why" by David James Duncan. There is a section where he talks about God/god/divinity as beauty. It will make you cry... Mike,
You need to read “The River Why” by David James Duncan. There is a section where he talks about God/god/divinity as beauty. It will make you cry…

]]> By: JPierpont http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66196 JPierpont Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:38:47 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66196 Mike, I had not seen the clip...Amazing and eye opening... Some people obviously stopped and at least one recognized him... It gives me all kinds of hope. Mike,

I had not seen the clip…Amazing and eye opening… Some people obviously stopped and at least one recognized him… It gives me all kinds of hope.

]]> By: Roland http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66195 Roland Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:32:44 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66195 Have you ever wondered just what makes something beautiful? I have stood on mountain tops and looked out at the sun rising over the mountains rising from the mist and thought how beautiful it looks. But...why is that beautiful? Why is a tree growing in a pasture beautiful? I personally think it is something that God puts inside us in regards to his creation. Have you ever wondered just what makes something beautiful? I have stood on mountain tops and looked out at the sun rising over the mountains rising from the mist and thought how beautiful it looks. But…why is that beautiful? Why is a tree growing in a pasture beautiful? I personally think it is something that God puts inside us in regards to his creation.

]]> By: Jeanna http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66194 Jeanna Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:14:33 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66194 Maybe the next questions are "How am I creating beauty/music in the world around me?" and "How am I destroying it?" Maybe the next questions are “How am I creating beauty/music in the world around me?” and “How am I destroying it?”

]]> By: Rex http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66193 Rex Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:02:59 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66193 I was reading from the book "Stumbling Towards Faith" by Rene Altson this morning. The book is about her journey of faith as one who was the victim of horrible abuse by her fundamentalist Christian faither, abandonment by her mother, and rejection by her fundamenatalist church. Any ways, in the story she begins to find grace when she beging to notice God's grace taking place in the small mundane aspects of life. She realized that grace often seems elusive because we are looking for God's grace only in those grandiose grace moments, when in reality God is revealing his grace in much more miniscule matters of which we are often too preoccupied with other things to notice. I was reading from the book “Stumbling Towards Faith” by Rene Altson this morning. The book is about her journey of faith as one who was the victim of horrible abuse by her fundamentalist Christian faither, abandonment by her mother, and rejection by her fundamenatalist church. Any ways, in the story she begins to find grace when she beging to notice God’s grace taking place in the small mundane aspects of life. She realized that grace often seems elusive because we are looking for God’s grace only in those grandiose grace moments, when in reality God is revealing his grace in much more miniscule matters of which we are often too preoccupied with other things to notice.

]]> By: preacherman http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66192 preacherman Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:00:15 +0000 http://preachermike.com/2007/07/10/beauty-out-of-context#comment-66192 Living in the hill country you see the beauty and glory of God's creation all around. A clear starry sky. Beautiful wild flowers. The sounds of rivers. The scream of an axis deer and then the sound of a gun shot out in the distance. Music. Living in the hill country you see the beauty and glory of God’s creation all around. A clear starry sky. Beautiful wild flowers. The sounds of rivers. The scream of an axis deer and then the sound of a gun shot out in the distance. Music.

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