Landlocked Sailor

(via heckyeahjesussaves)

(via windward-mark)

Brilliant!

At some point soon after graduating college, women are given a choice: pursue a family or pursue a career.  The pressure comes from all sides.  Someone says, “How are you planning to use your newly earned degree?”  Someone else says, “Why isn’t a pretty little thing like you married yet?” The dichotomy even appears in our own thoughts. “But I like my job and I have to pay the bills.” “But I desperately want to be married and have kids.” “But I don’t have time to date.” “But I want somebody to love.” “But I’ve always wanted to be a ___.”

My point here is not to argue one side or the other.  I’m not going to say one is right for you or the other wrong, or even that it must be only one or the other.  I want to suggest a third option:

Choose to pursue God.

The lions may grow weak and hungry,
   but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

~Psalm 34:10

Warning: The pursuit of the Lord will take you on an adventure that you will never have thought of yourself.  Rarely will it turn out as you once imagined*. You may not have the perfect career woman’s resume.  You may not be married by that deadline you gave yourself when you were 15.  You may not have the house, the job, the 2.5 kids and the white picket fence. It will be hard.

Give up the dream career and the picket-fence family to follow God, and what are you left with? God Himself.  Seek the Lord and He will give you Himself in all of His goodness and glory.  Do this, and He promises to take care of everything that you need**.  That may include your dream job, or a job you never thought of but absolutely love.  It may include a marriage that honors the Lord, and the bundles of joy that become your charges.  It may include bits and pieces of all of the above, or none of it at all.  Here’s the thing: God knows exactly what you need and those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

*Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

~Ephesians 3:20-21

**But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

~Matthew 6:33

P.S. If you want to hear how this has played out for me over the last several years, I am happy to share the good and the hard with you. Just ask.

Circle of Life by Tim Vollmer
500px.com

Photo workshop and photo tour in Iceland www.timvollmer.de http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tim-Vollmer-Photography/219261628572www.timvollmer.de http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tim-Vollmer-Photography/219261628572

thekidshouldseethis:

The vampire squid can turn itself “inside out” to avoid predators. This video was released by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to emphasize the need to protect species like this in the deep oceans from the effects of human activities.

Fun fact: They are considered to be living fossils, “meaning that it has seen very little change since it first appeared, before dinosaurs, about 300 million years ago.” Not so fun fact: these creatures are now threatened by ocean warming, decrease in oxygen, pollution, overfishing, and many more man-made dangers. 

via @googlescifair.

After attending a cross-cultural communication conference yesterday, and watching “The Magic Washing Machine” video in class four times today, I am increasingly thankful for and praying for some specific things:

• Thankful for:The utter, complete, internal confidence that I belong to God.  No matter where I am in the world, or whether I’m one of a very small minority in a group, I am His.  This world is not my home; I am a stranger here.  And yet, God has given me a peace in Him so deep and true that I have never been concerned about being in a minority.
• Praying for: The many, many people in this world who struggle daily with feelings surrounding the fact that they are in a minority.  That the enemy would not be allowed to whisper lies in their ears about their worth.  They, too, are worth the most precious blood of Jesus. 
• Thankful for: My washing machine, education, and all the time I have in a day to do things that are not essential to life.  For being able to afford a $2 salad for lunch instead of those $2 being my entire household’s daily allowance.  
• Praying for:The two billion people that live on under $2 per day, that they may have enough food to eat and clean water to drink.  For the two billion people that live on less than $20 per day, that they may find good jobs, get washing machines, and be able to go to school.  For the two billion that live on $40 per day, that their work may be fruitful and their homes safe and warm.  For the one billion that live on $80 per day or more, that we may be thankful for the abundant blessings that we have been given, and be good stewards of our resources.  That our hearts may be broken open for the poorest four billion people in the world and that we may give generously of our resources in ways that can really help eliminate poverty.

Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

~Luke 12:48

The Magic Washing Machine

Worth 10 minutes of your time.  Made me rethink my attitude towards laundry, lunch and a few other things today.

(via windward-mark)

Alshain by Leszek Bujnowski
500px.com

Photomanipulation on the basis of my own photos.

Whispers of eternity by Jorge Maia
500px.com

This is a composition of two shots Portugal

Thank Heavens by Andrew Whyte
500px.com

Startrails in the night sky above Stonehenge, one of the top five locations in the UK for stargazing. The clear skies saw the temperature drop to well below zero, hence frost on the grass.

Untitled by Prachit Punyapor
500px.com

http://500px.com/photo/874936

#winter