Bible

So I went to Centennial Park a couple of days ago to check out what the fuss is about, there is a replica of the parthenon there and actually it's quite cool, but I'll post those in a few days.

As I was wondering around looking for things to shoot I came across a book that had been left out for a  considerably long time. As I was walking up to it I could see the yellowing crinkly pages and I knew I was looking at a paper back bible.

This was probably one of the most beautiful moments shooting I've had out here. Only because it's so easy to let this event trigger thought.

I noticed the inscription and felt it was left here on purpose waiting for a lost soul to find it and come back to Jesus. When I read the inscription I believed it, and was very careful with the brittle pages. I let the wind play with the lose pages and even caught a few lines of scripture.

The thing I kept thinking about even after I left was this bible is a good representation of whats going on in our country today regarding religion.

I'm tired of feeling kooky for believing in God, or even stupid for supposedly conforming to a religion that most people really don't understand and have their own reservations about. The truth is I have never felt that my faith has instructed me to do anything, I make my own decisions and some of you my friends who aren't LDS think back to our interactions, I think it's safe to say I don't throw religion in your faces. Though I do try to live by example, and I'm SO not perfect, but I know who I love and why I do. Yep I drink caffeine every day, I swear when I'm mad, I have mental issues that I'm on medication for, I eat way too many cookies, and I'm trying, just like the rest of you.

But when I find a King James bible left in the park for weeks I feel sad, I feel sad that no one picked it up yet, that it's possibly in the same spot it's been. The only interaction it's had was a mini photo shoot with a mormon girl fondling it's precious pages and thinking, wishing she could find it a new place where someone would need a bible, because it's location of sitting outside a locked mens room is no place for lost scripture.

But I decided to leave it there, I already have a bible with my own inscription and my name is even on it. It has my finger prints, doodles from little girls, and thoughts written in the gutter. It's been mine for a long time, and I cherish it.

When I'm skimming reddit or yahoo I can't help but to read people's comments about politics or Christianity and what they really think sitting at their computer anonymously bullying others about their beliefs or sexual preferences, voicing opinions and causing schoolyard fights via the internet. I myself have come away with a black eye or two to my ego for voicing my opinions only to be repeatedly hammered by terrible, degrading comments. People are horrible to each other when they don't have to show their face, it's easier to be mean than think of something nice to say. Recently there was a blog about a man who'd come out about being homosexual and content with being married to a woman for 10 years and having a family. There was a 50/50 outpour of both negative and positive feedback, some people where extremely judgmental about this man and even accused him of lying about enjoying sexual relations with his wife. I don't know about you marrieds out there but Andrew and I find that sex (though it's way fun) is probably the least important aspect of our marriage. The most important is love for each other and love for our heavenly father, sex is only part of that equation because being intimate with your spouse is a spiritual experience.

Just like the bible I found, God is getting left out in the rain and weathered to the point where no one wants to be responsible for something so old and outdated. People want NEW ideas NEW philosophies   that bend to the desires of man. The rest of us who know God are occasionally being bullied into thinking we're crazy and stupid for believing such poppy cock.

Well call me crazy then! I don't care, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of what Christ did for us, or how much heavenly father loves us all, every hair on our heads for eternity. It's the only way I can be happy, knowing I'm not supposed to be here toiling my days away working, sleeping, eating. I have purpose, we all do!