No sparkly jewel or diamond compares to the real treasures of this world...

                                                                            Sapphire  


"He uncovers mysteries hidden in darkness; he brings light to the deepest gloom. These are treasures no bird of prey can see,  no falcon's eye observe.  No wild animal has walked upon these treasures; no lion has ever set his paw there." - Job 12:22, 28:7-8

                                                                            Jasper  

"I have cried until tears no longer come; my heart is broken. My spirit is poured out in agony as i see the desperate plight of my people. Little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets." Lamentations 2:11  

                                                                              Ruby


"Their lives ebb away in the streets like the life of a warrior wounded in battle. They gasp for life as they collapse in their mothers arms." Lamentations 2:12

 

                                                                          Chalcedony

"Give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. For they will see what they have not been told; they will understand what they have not heard about." -Isaiah, 61:3, 52:15 

                                                                           Chrysolite


 "We played the wedding songs, and you did not dance. We played the funeral songs, and you did not lament." -Matthew 11:17 
 

                                                                            Tamar 


"Oh Woman, you are forgotten. Take up your harp and walk through the city. Play your harp well. Sing your song often. Then people will remember you." Isaiah 23:16  

                                                                         But a dream 


"You see and recognize what is right, but refuse to act on it. You hear with your ears, but refuse to listen." Isaiah 42:20 

                                                                         Four Winds 


"As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal; it is robed in brilliant colors. Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not understand it." Job 37:14, John 1:5

                         
                        "Who gives the wild donkey its freedom? Who unties its ropes?" -Job 39:5

There's alsways a beginning to everything. Heres mine.

I was once asked, "What are you passionate about?" To be honest, that question, at the time totally took me by surprise! I had no idea what I was passionate about, or really, even what being passionate about something looked like. After a bit of fumbling around in my brain, I finally spit out an answer something to the extent of "ohh you know..."  responding in the most non passionate and unenthusiastic tone possible, I went on to list a stack of hobbies "snowboarding, dance, photography, the arts, justice...etc." Though my answer was surprisingly quite accurate, I had not the slightest idea what I was really claiming to. That question, along with others from a very dear person in my life, really sparked a hunger inside of me to find out what "being passionate" about something really was, and what that looked like. Now, as far as my life is concerned, I want to live a passionate one. And as far as hobbies and talents go, passion is the flame that lights them on fire to make them become so much more than that of the banal and mundane. 
I love the quote; "A picture speaks a thousand words." How true!
Over the last few years, i've been blessed with the opportunity to travel to a few different countries, meet some really amazing people, eat some crazy food, and see breathtaking land. Out of that whole adventure, one of the many things that i've grown to realize, is just what can be captured and then told by a single photograph. Its the raw power of emotion and life that can be captured within a photograph that causes us to want to do something in response to it. Because of this discovery, photography has become much more than just a hobby to me. Its more than the fact that I can take pretty pictures or even that I could make money doing it...that's far from the point.
I used to wonder when I looked at two photographs, why one could be full of action and color but yet, I took no interest to it. While the other was, black and white, and in all reality quite plain and uneventful, yet I couldn't seem to pull my eyes away from it. Its almost as if the photograph reached out and caught me by the throat and pulled me into its world. A world where I could almost feel the rain on my face, or smell the sunflowers in the field, or taste the fruit at my lips. 
There really is a story behind every photograph, whether we choose to look for it or not. My hope is to do far more than share a story with you, rather I pray to fan into flame the spark of fire already inside of you in such a way, as to have you take a course of action in response. 
Its the realization of what we can do with the talents in our hands that causes us live a life out of the ordinary and mundane into one full of passion and zeal.  
I think the only thing worse than being passionate about something that effects next to no one, is not being passionate about anything at all. 
There is not a passion greater than one that comes straight from the throne room of heaven!