In my childhood home, we have a hallway that’s packed with framed photographs. Pictures of my siblings and I at various stages of maturity.My father, you see, was a voracious taker of photos.
While some parents take many pictures of their first-born, then continue to take less and less photos of their subsequent offspring, my dad was the opposite. We had albums filled to the brim with photos of every event, every party, every holiday, every outing, and every trip to the zoo.
I don’t know why my dad just didn’t have his camera surgically implanted so he wouldn’t have to fuss around with a camera bag.
I have yet to ask him why he took so many pictures. It certainly felt at times that he had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder when it came to taking multiple shots. He’d line us up and take a photo, and then he’d take another, and another, and another. You can tell the chronology of an event because our eyes stop smiling after the third or fourth take.
Yes, we have big grins, but our eyes have started to glaze over.
We’d finally bolt when he paused long enough to try to get out another lens (or load more film).
I actually started to take an interest in photography when I was finishing my fourth grade year. I wanted to take some memories of my classmates and school, so I used up an entire disc of film that day.
Yes, I said “disc”. Kodak put out a Disc Camera that could take 15 pictures on a circular piece of celluloid as opposed to a roll of film (It didn’t pan out in the long run).
I can remember taking the various pictures, treasured memories all, and then forgetting to get the film processed. Where those images are, I’ll never know.
I thought if I could capture those pictures, I would somehow capture a moment in time.
Maybe that’s why Papi took so many pictures. To capture little snapshots of time and space.
To remember.
What is so important to you that you try to keep it fresh in your memory?
In the New Living Translation of the Bible, the word “remember” is found over 220 times! And it’s not all, “Remember to follows these laws and regulations” (though that does take up a good chunk). Over and over, we are admonished to remember how good God has been to us.
If He has been good to us, will He change His mind and His ways?
What has God done in your past? What does that mean for your future?
Joe
Related Verses
Deuteronomy 4:32-40
“Now search all of history, from the time God created people on the earth until now, and search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything as great as this ever been seen or heard before? Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from fire—as you did—and survived? Has any other god dared to take a nation for himself out of another nation by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, a strong hand, a powerful arm, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, right before your eyes.
“He showed you these things so you would know that the LORD is God and there is no other. He let you hear his voice from heaven so he could instruct you. He let you see his great fire here on earth so he could speak to you from it. Because he loved your ancestors, he chose to bless their descendants, and he personally brought you out of Egypt with a great display of power. He drove out nations far greater than you, so he could bring you in and give you their land as your special possession, as it is today.
“So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The LORD is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other. If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”
Jeremiah 29:10-14
This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
2 Timothy 2:8
Always remember that Jesus Christ, a descendant of King David, was raised from the dead. This is the Good News I preach.
NLTse
No comments:
Post a Comment