Preparing to Leave

A Final Goodbye to My Empire

I do not think much of television and science fiction anymore. Yet there are a few quotes from favorite characters that I do remember. In a sci-fi series, there was a character and in one episode he asked "how do you know you have honor if you do not fight battles and build empires?". Although it was not a theme to my life, I valued this phrase because it fed into my struggle to become a known artist. Photography, for me, had grown beyond being a hobby and was now meant to be not just a means of artistic expression and a method of exploring the world, but one which would give me financial support and even fame and respect. This was the empire that I, stress that 'I', was trying to build and all of the battles and struggles I went across were just considered a part of building an empire.

That was a number of years ago and seems like a distant memory to me now. My priorities have changed. My desires have changed. Most of the photography work done at that point of my life I have destroyed, confessed, and repented of.

Yet through all this, as I come down to emptying a house of possessions and keeping only what is useful in my life now, I find a basement full of photography equipment, books, and related items. Some of it working, some of it as a collectible. I realize now that it serves no purpose to me, is actually quite a burden, and should be gotten rid of as well.

Preparing to move, and even more so in preparing to downsize greatly, forces one to face his or her past. All the items of ones past which were so neatly tucked away and nearly but not quite forgotten have to be dealt with. It becomes not just cleaning out a house, but cleaning out a life!

I struggled for 10 years to become an accomplished artist. What did it bring me? Only the experience that comes with doing such an activity and the knowledge that I am not a businessman. Otherwise, it was an empty pursuit ... one which used up years of effort and resources in a direction I was not meant to be in. The end result is my empire is nothing. It has no images, it has no fame, it has no income.

At this point, I would like to comfort myself with thinking I am again building an empire ... the Empire of the One Most High. But honestly, I can do nothing to do it. It is His empire to build and if He does anything through me, it is His work and not mine. In fact, I should admit that in the last few years of doing a ministry, I think I have been learning and receiving training far more than I have actually been helping others. This journey seems to be starting out the same way.

Seek Ye First ...

One of the constant challenges for a believer is the faith required to live in blessing. I say it is challenging because often what is required by faith goes against what makes sense logically. It is a battleground of the flesh vs the spirit. Our traveling, as part of our creation research, has been full of these challenges and as time goes by, we have seen the results of obedience and disobedience. Even more we have a glimpse at how much greater are our Heavenly Father's ways than our ways.

As we started the process of moving out of a house and into a camping trailer, one of the greatest challenges was to unburden ourselves from the vast accumulation of possessions made over the years. This included a large amount of photography equipment, books, and furniture. For a couple of months, I had done some selling on Ebay, a somewhat successful but very time consuming process, as well as giving or donating a few items away including some small things to our friends. Yet, at one month before leaving the house, we still had major amounts of things to deal with, especially furniture.

I was planning to use that month to focus on getting rid of this stuff. However, in prayer, what I was getting was to spend that month updating the 'Silver Trumpets' website I had at that time. It bothered me not to prepare to leave, but overall I worked on the website. I had to trust in His plan for so many things.

What we could not see was right under our noses. During these last months in Ohio, the Eternal had been preparing the way. We had started attending a new home fellowship. It turned out that a young couple would be getting married soon, but they had very little in possessions or resources. It quickly became apparent to my wife and I that here was a beautiful picture of the Almighty's provision in action. We were burdened with furniture to get rid of and here was a new couple that was in need of furniture.

I could have worked very hard that last month trying to distribute the furniture in little pieces. Instead, I did the work the Almighty wanted me to do and He provided a way to give the furniture away in one easy solution. Three days before we left on our journey in a pop-up camper, two big family's came and cleared our house and everyone was full of joy. Truly 'seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and all these things shall be added unto you'.

Check for Insurance

During these times, the Almighty was, and still is, quite literally our Provider. He was building our trust in Him and starting to learn a little more about how He works. One time in particular, was when the annual car insurance was coming due. This would require a few hundred dollars which we did not have. Shortly before the bill was due I received a piece of mail from some-one who had a ministry to women who had aborted their babies. I had done some photography work for her website a few years earlier and had donated the images. The letter explained that she had always wanted to thank me and pay me for the images and was now able to do so. She included what would be the fair market value of the pictures. This amount was exactly what we needed for our bill payment. An unexpected source and the right timing are the marks of His working in our lives.

This page is under construction. My apologies for any misspellings, repeated text, missing references, etc. Please visit again later for a more complete treatment of this topic.