Wednesday, 23 November 2005

He's in all that is good.


I highly recommend this book to any one of you. It was given to me as a representation of one of God's most blessed gifts: the value of uniqueness in friendship. Amy Jacobs, who I love and respect and find great joy in knowing and being with, gave this to me one day out of the blue. She saw it and thought of me. Those are the best gifts.
The author, Ric Erbenbright, began his traveling photography career a nonbeliever. Spending most of his time in India, Pakistan/the middle east, Ecuador, Nepal and China (see why I love the man--he loves asia!), he photographed God's creation: earth, people, the things they have made, family, marriage, labor. Unknowingly, he was compiling the very images of his now blatantly Christian books, The Art of God and The Image of God: The Glory of Man.
It was through his travels, through his subjects, through his very camera lens, that God began to take shape in his heart. Imagine countless trips alone, nights in lonely hotel rooms, long days in deserted mountain towns, tramping through evil and spiritual bondage. A life such as this would lead anyone to question "what is man?" (psalm 8), the verse Ric uses to open this book.
Ric became a Christian through these photos. The people of the world led him to Christ without even knowing it. He saw too much he couldn't explain, from towering Himalayan mountains to children suffering under Communist dictatorship to men laboring under scorching sunrays only to earn enough to maintain a poverty-stricken existence in a barren land.
His story is amazing. His books tell his story. Both life and books speak of a God we all long to know should we dare to invite him into our own life pictures.