For the “Celebrate Recovery” benefit Costa Rica: at the Parkview Christian Church in Lombard, Illinois Friday night.

Saw Buddy Greene last night at ParkView Church (Orland Park) on the South Side. It was amazing; it was to benefit Celebrate Recovery. Celebrate Recovery is a ministry that is very interesting, that goes by the 12 steps, but claims Christ.

Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered
12-step recovery program based on eight principles from the Beatitudes.

The mission of Parkview Christian Church’s Celebrate Recovery Ministry is to fellowship and celebrate God’s healing power in our lives.

This occurs through study, action and commitment to Jesus Christ as we understand the eight recovery principles (based on the Beatitudes in Matthew) and the 12 steps with their Biblical comparisons.

As we apply these principles to our lives, we begin to grow spiritually and become free from our addictive, compulsive and dysfunctional behaviors.

This freedom creates peace, serenity, joy and most importantly, a stronger personal relationship with God and others. As we progress through the program we discover our personal, loving and forgiving Higher Power, Jesus Christ, who is the one and only true Higher Power.

A more powerful program than the secular one.

TWELVE STEPS AND THEIR BIBLICAL COMPARISONS

1. We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive behavior, that our lives had become unmanageable. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is; in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” Romans 7:18

2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. “For it is God who is at work in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” Philippians 2:13

3. We made a decision to turn our lives and our wills over to the care of God. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1

4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” Lamentations 3:40

5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.” Therefore, confess your sins to each other, and pray for each other, so that you may be healed.” James 5:16a

6. We are entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” James 4:10

7. We humbly asked Him to remove all our shortcomings. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31

9. We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24

10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you do not fall.” 1 Corinthians 10:12

11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Colossians 3:16a

12. Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we try to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. “Brothers, if some one is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you may also be tempted.” Galatians 6:1

PRAYER FOR SERENITY

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, The courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is; not as I would have it; Trusting that you will make all things right if I surrender to your will; So that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with you forever in the next. AMEN

-Reinhold Niebuhr

Fascinating. We were talking in the long drive home about where we’d been - it was a long drive and way way south.

What a timely point in American history for this to come out…

Go to the website.

I know I’m probably one of the few who hasn’t seen this yet…but it looks amazing. I saw the trailer at the website for the movie.

Here’s the music video.

There are a lot of messages to be had here….important lessons that can add another dimension to the love in our lives. Without Christ, there is nothingness. Thanks to Stacy Harp for the recommendation.

I haven’t stopped taking pictures, I just seem to be slowing down because my right shoulder is tightening up again. It is so tight that it feels like there’s a piano wire in there…and it hurts like hell.

I caught a glimpse of a deer on the road today; I didn’t think I would see any until the trees were completely bare and there was snow on the ground.

In the woods, there have been a lot of robins flying through the air as though they’re in a race. I don’t know why they’re in a frenzy; they’re not going anywhere, they’re just racing through the air.

The light was too yellow and she was in too much of a hurry; but I hope I get an opportunity to take another few pictures of her; she’s so pretty. The picture doesn’t do her justice at all.

All summer long I’ve been looking in the usual places for red-tailed hawks to photograph, wondering why I haven’t been seeing them the way I used to.

Granted, I’ve been taking the wooded route rather than the cement parking lot route to work as of late…but today I was running an errand - and had broken out of the normal routine and ran across a number of them perched on light polls along the expressway, surveying the landscape for prey.

One of them jumped into the air and started soaring on the air currents; barely flapping a wing.

I’m just enjoying seeing through the lens; and seizing opportunities to snap the shutter.

I’m actually looking forward to the winter and the snow, although my husband warns me that it will wreak havoc inside the workings of my camera.

Too tired to watermark the images, LOL…I thought the sky and the clouds were very dramatic today…I never really thought of taking pictures of the sky or sunsets, but lately - I’ve just been appreciating everything around me.

Yes, there is distortion because I blew the image up so you could see the bird better.

Here is a crisper shot of the bird from far away and a slightly different vantage point; along with the surrounding scenery.

Soon, the leaves will be completely gone from the trees.

Some trees are completely bare already; but some have managed to give us a wonderful display of fall color first.

We had the most amazing sunrise yesterday…but the sun never appeared, because it rained all day and into the night.

This is one of the great pictures I ended up with when Larry was in town.

I’m reading a book on taking portraits, and getting people to sign the releases.

Eventually, I’m hoping, I’ll get up enough nerve to approach people and and ask if I can take their picture. Not that I’m famous, work for National Geographic or any travel magazine…it’s just that…like the author says, I’m a photographer trying to build up my portfolio, and if some day I have the opportunity to publish my photographs, I will need a signed release.

He said that approach works well, so we’ll see if I can get the nerve to do it!

The temperature was in the mid-40’s yesterday, but I still ventured out to see what was going on at the wetlands. You never know, I thought. I was looking for herons, egrets, and to see if perhaps the painted turtles were out. But there was little activity except for a red-tailed hawk that flew up into a tree, and which I managed to capture from afar.

What’s strange about it is - usually there are red tailed hawks everywhere; they like to sit on the lamp posts to have a clear view. But I haven’t been seeing many of them all summer long.

The light was strange yesterday afternoon, as there was a thick cloud cover coming in, but I still managed to capture a silhouette of a blue heron catching his dinner.

I have several shots of him manipulated the fish so that he could get it to the point where he could swallow it.

Now the shortcomings of my panasonic are beginning to bother me; as these both could have been much better shots.

But…that aside, I’m still thrilled to be out there taking photographs.

I’ve ordered a book to see if I can get over my hesitancy in capturing images of people. I’ve noticed on forums and on websites that photographers are oftentimes shy about taking pictures of people; about how they’ll be received; about privacy issues, etc.

But from what I gather, as long as you’re in a public place, it’s perfectly okay to take pictures.

The problem that I’m having is - I’d like to take pictures of children, but I know that if my kids were little I wouldn’t appreciate someone trying to photograph them.

It conjures up images of weirdos.

I am not a weirdo; I’m simply practicing my photography techniques. So what would be a good way to approach this?

Go see verticalblu.com

A follow up to Obsession, Radical Islam’s War Against the West comes The Third Jihad…

[…] a documentary whose goal is to alert, educate and mobilize Americans about the danger radical Islam poses to the United States and to Western civilization as a whole. The film spotlights radical Islam’s war against liberal ideas, its violent, anti-democratic agenda as well as its systematic human and civil rights abuses against women, blacks, homosexuals, Christians and moderate Muslims.

The Third Jihad focuses on radical Islam’s campaign to dominate America and the West, and the ramifications of such a reality on our day to day lives. It underscores the importance of the American people joining together against radical Islam, that if not defeated, will continue to threaten our lives and values until they are destroyed completely.

Narrated by Dr. Zudhi Jasser, a moderate Muslim concerned about the spread of radical Islam in America, The Third Jihad aims to achieve the following two goals:

• Educate viewers about the dangerous activities and frightening goals of radical Islamists, and their potential threat to the lives and values of millions of Americans.
• Motivate viewers to become ambassadors for freedom and democracy by taking a stance against the activities and perpetrators of radical Islamic activities, spreading knowledge and lobbying political figures to eradicate such terrorist activities.

See it. Twice. Three times. Buy the DVD. Support this thing. And drive the liberals worse crazy than they already are.

It happens to be the sunrise this morning while I was in traffic.

This video has a lot in it for the short time that it runs; it’s by CameraLabs.com - and the fellow is indeed British as he refers to the camera as the “F” “Zed” “Eight”.

Camera Labs has their own youtube channel, check it out. The full review of the FZ8 is here at Camera Labs dot com.

This video is by TigerDirect, and it’s also very comprehensive and fast-moving.

I like it when he says…”Leica is some of the best glass in the world…”

I went to Perfecta Farm today, because I found out that it’s the only farm that has a Streamwood address. They are very specialized in what they do; they teach kids and adults how to ride English. The corral where the people were riding today was set up for jumping.

The horses there are fit, well-groomed, elegant and tall; except for the ones that the kids are learning to ride on; there were a few ponies in the ring today.

All of the riders except one were females, and very young. It was great to see them out there today, although I was cautioned that more would be coming out - it was getting warm and I was getting hungry for dinner, so I had to leave. They were enjoying themselves, and had a small audience. Parents like to watch their kids practice and improve, and one little girl was being coached as her horse/pony had a mind of her own.

The sign says jumpers, hunters, lessons, training, boarding and sales. The jumpers and hunters part was the part that was intriguing - plus the fact that this appears to be the only farm that I’m aware of that is left in the village.

We still do, though, have quite a few farms in the area, which I’ll be scoping out in the coming months. Goebberts, which was pointed out by Chicago Ray is high on the list, because theirs is a pumpkin farm, and they have hayrides and a number of things going on that would be worthy of shooting. We also have at least one dairy farm in South Elgin which I’d like to check out; and there are a lot of old farm out buildings that are still standing in the area that deserve to be recorded….

Still, I’m particularly interested in what’s going on in the Tri Village area; Streamwood, Hanover Park and Bartlett; and because that’s all close to me, I’ll probably be focusing on that; and occasionally what’s happening in St. Charles.

Eventually i’d like to try my hand at street photography, and coming up soon….portraits of people by themselves, and portraits of people and their pets. We’ll see how that shakes out.

Signs of fall are arriving. We’re only a few days into the season, but already, Streamwood is gearing up for its annual Pumpkinfest, which will be next weekend.

For the nitpickers who don’t want to see my pictures, don’t click on the “more” button - but for those of you who do, click to see more pictures. (more…)

Wow, it’s incredible! Touting the everpresent leftist mantra, “Bush lied, men died”, Isikoff is hysterical over the new book “Party of Defeat”. Now, Ben Johnson is responding to Isikoff’s hysteria, you can read the responses here. (Who Lied when people died? I, Who Lied when people died? Part II, Who lied when people died? Round III)

To top it off, Frontpage Magazine has now offered a $500 Challenge to any critic of the war — who has written for a reputable publication — to write a critique of the book and its main thesis. Contact Frontpage Managing Editor Jamie Glazov at jglazov@rogers.com to sign up.

Incredible…

“Party of Defeat is an eye-opening account of one of the greatest political betrayals in American history: the unprecedented attack by leaders of an opposition party on a war they authorized and on America’s commander-in-chief while America’s troops were still in harm’s way.”

- SEAN HANNITY, Fox News Channel anchor

“Candid. Brilliant. Forceful. Brave. Do not miss under any circumstances.”

- R. JAMES WOOLSEY (former CIA Director)

“David Horowitz and Ben Johnson have written a timely and important analysis of the American political debate over the war on terror.”

- Ambassador JOHN BOLTON

“This book is a must read for every American who cares about the security of the United States.”

- Rep. GINNY BROWN-WAITE

“Brilliant, factual and historic, David Horowitz and Ben Johnson have documented how and why the Democratic leadership split the nation in the global war on terror. It will be judged as the seminal book on an unprecedented attack against America’s president and military in combat. Every American must read this book.”

- Lieutenant General THOMAS McINERNEY, USAF (Ret.)

“Having been one of David Horowitz’s more severe critics as a young officer in the foxholes of Vietnam, I can say with some authority that he is now bringing a message of national importance to the American people.”

- Major General JAMES E. LIVINGSTON, USMC (Ret.)
Recipient of the Medal of Honor

“David Horowitz and Ben Johnson explain in detail the unprecedented attacks on a sitting President and expose the lack of understanding at the highest levels about the nature of our enemy. This book must be read by all Americans.”

- Major General PAUL VALLELY, USA (Ret.)

“In concise and riveting fashion, David Horowitz and Ben Johnson have laid out a bill of particulars against an anti-war Left whose efforts to undermine the terror war are little short of treasonous. It offers a stark reminder of the folly of fighting a war on two fronts: one on the streets and battle fields of Iraq, the other here at home against ourselves.”

- JOEL SURNOW, creator of 24

I just learned how to tag my photos in iPhoto. I’m still learning a lot of the software that I’m using to manage my images, but this is pretty cool.

This is a part of a series of photos I took of a blue heron at the usual hangout.

The images are still not as crisp as I would like them to be.

But while I gather the resources together to get my own Canon Rebel, these will just have to do, and I’ll keep snapping away.

I think I’ll also get some filters to see if I can cut through the haze for the images with bright sunlight.