Tag Archives: lake

God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Mist and Smoke

This is a photo from the Bernheim Arboretum near Louisville Kentucky. In addition to the reflection in the water, you can also see some mist over the water toward the far left shore. For some reason, whenever I see mist over water, the words from the Deep Purple song “Smoke on the Water” come to mind. The song was inspired by actual smoke over Lake Geneva, Switzerland from a casino on fire.

It is a short flight of ideas to go from smoke to fire to baptism of the Holy Spirit. Numerous scriptures compare presence of the Holy Spirit to fire. Fire which will consume the world.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Details

This is a view of Jordan Pond from the North Bubble in Acadia NP. The water stands out, but much of the beauty in the view lies in the surrounding details. You need to look a closely, but you can easily see the Jordan Pond House at the far end of the pond. Some of the other details that “stand out” to me include the carriage road (to the right), the leaves changing red, and the islands off in the distance. This is so much more than a picture of a water.

Beauty is often found in the small details. God provides a richness to our lives that must be noticed to be appreciated.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Beauty

We weren’t sure what we were looking for when we found this lake. We had hoped to be able to hike from the middle of a longer trail that led to the lake, but there was no parking. The map showed a short trail leading to the lake from another spot, but found no parking there either. It was obvious other people had driven their cars off the road, so we did the same and came to a parking area beside this lake. It is not obvious from this camera angle, but it was less than a quarter mile across the lake. Despite all that, I think this was the prettiest view we had the whole trip. Beauty is sometimes found at the most unexpected times.

Pine Glades Lake, Everglades

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Clearly Seen

This photo is a view of Jordan Pond, looking across at the South Bubble in Acadia NP. It is thought to be the remnant of a glacier. This water is so clear that you can typically see 44 feet down. I’ve found that it is very hard to judge the depth of the water when it is so clear. Of course, it is also very difficult to judge the depth of the water when it is very murky! I guess you could say the difference is in seeing or not seeing what you don’t know.

It is said that “Seeing is believing” but it is important to remember that we are easily misled by what we see.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Sunrise, Sunset

This sunset photo was taken on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP. It is the highest point on the East Coast. It is a famous place to watch sunrise because of the view and the fact that for half of the year, it is the first place in the US where you can see the sunrise.

Unfortunately, that also makes it a difficult place to watch the sunrise. The Park Service issues permits to drive to the top and the ones for sunrise sell out as soon as they become available.

I heard that sunset was just as spectacular as sunrise at the top but just not as popular. So we drove up in the late afternoon to watch the sunset. And it was certainly spectacular!

How often do we do something because it is what everyone else is doing?

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Bubbles

This is a photo of Bubble Pond in Acadia National Park. I like that these rocks in the ponds look like they could be the bubbles. The actual Bubbles are hills, not visible in this photo. They stand about 800 high.

Bubbles could represent many different things in our lives: joys, blessings, trials, disappointments. Life is full of “bubbles”, some are big and some not. See them for what they are.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Persistence

This is a photo of Beaver Ponds in Acadia NP. As we explored around the water, we saw this large beaver dam holding the water back.

Busy as a beaver. I’ve seen beavers at work and a more accurate phrase may be persistent as a beaver. I realize the alliteration is missing so it doesn’t have the same ring to it. But I’ve come to think of persistence as more of a virtue than busyness. Persistence implies an intentionality whereas busyness sounds like doing random things for the sake of being busy. Persistence also seems linked to another biblical virtue, patience.

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Truth

It is often said that perception is reality. Without a doubt, we each perceive the world in a way that fits with our own “reality”. There a number of ways to “see” this photo. Is the lake half hidden or half visible? Is the sky mostly cloudy or is there some blue sky peeking through? Are the leaves starting to change or is there not much color yet? These are not mutually exclusive, but speak to a particular “view”.

Which is not that same as saying that whatever you believe must be true. Truth is not relative or changing. There is only one source of truth.

(Photo: Eagle Lake, Acadia NP)

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God in all things, Photography, Scenery, Travel

Extra Effort

On our first full day at Acadia NP, we hiked the Gorham Mountain Loop. At one point, you come to a an intersecting trail with the option to do a short out and back to a small lake. Fortunately, it was a fairly short distance, otherwise I’m not sure any of us would have thought it was worth the extra effort to see something called “The Bowl”.

Actually, it is interesting that I use the description of “extra effort” because it was only 0.2 miles and about 60 feet elevation gain. So really, not much extra effort (we hiked about 6 miles that day). But it really wasn’t one of our “things to see” that day, and that definitely changes our perspective. Thankfully, we had at least a little bit of an adventurous spirit so we did make the “extra effort”. As it is said, life happens when you least expect it.

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