Creationism?

What it is about creating something? Whether it flows from your pen, brush, chisel, camera, body, mind or spirit the act of creation grows you, matures you and changes the way you look at the world around you. With time it creates a sense of vision. It changes your perspective. And often it can make you smile.

What is it that a photographer feels when he flips through a stack of prints, or an artist who walks a gallery of her work, a musician hearing her song on a passing radio, or a parent as he looks upon his child? Is it a sense of adding something new to this world, or of responsibility for that created?

And what of the pain when our created thing is hurt? Whether it be a torn photo, a smeared oil-painting or a scraped knee why does it affect us? After all, there is no physical connection.

There is a responsibility. It is not a sense of responsibility but an actual responsibility. That which we create impacts the environment around it. A photo in a newspaper, a sculpture in a gallery, a child growing into an adult interacting with those around him.

That which is created has a responsibility to its creator. A piece of music or artwork to stay true to its vision, a child to obey it's parents and us to honor God.

So are we responsible as creators? And what of our responsibility as that which is created?

Below are photos from the second half of my "spring break" beginning with the roadtrip from Laredo, Texas to Monterrey, Mexico:

Visas for Entry, Nuevo Laredo, MX

Church Amid the Slums, Nuevo Laredo, MX

Opening Bomb Bays, Monterrey, MX

Atop Chipinque, Monterrey, MX

Nature Atop Urban Sprawl, Monterrey, MX (I apologize for the compression banding in the sky; blame Flickr)

The Hottest New Drinks, Monterrey, MX

Poor Artist at Fort, Monterrey, MX

Lights in a Tunnel of Darkness, Monterrey, MX

Just Before Dinner, Monterrey, MX

Relationship

Lately my thoughts have been revolving around relationships. How do relationships work? How do they last and how are they broken? Why do we have an inherent need for them and why are they so hard?

For anyone the most painful moment in their life will come at the breaking off of a relationship. Whether it be caused by sin, distance or death the moment of realization that relationship is broken off or dramatically altered is ultimately the most heart-wrenching thing you can experience.

I was listening to a sermon from several years ago by a man named Curt Harlow where he asked what disappointment was. His answer was, "Disappointment is the expectation of success followed by failure." Curt was speaking of relationships. It's when that guy or girl tells you that it's "just not going to work out." It's when you are told there was a terrible accident. It's when phone calls and emails go unanswered and your heart just sinks.

Why are relationships so important to us? It goes back to the beginning. We are designed to have a deep, meaningful relationship with God and He wants to have relationship with us and we are created in His image. Our desire for human relationship is a manifestation of our desire for divine relationship.

Have you ever had that moment surrounded by friends, family and loved ones where you have that unexpected sharp pang of loneliness? It is because as important as human relationships are they cannot fill that God-shaped hole in every persons' heart. The spiritual, divine connection goes deeper, is far more permanent and unlike human relationship can only be broken off by us.

Friends, family and loved ones. They can all choose to break off relationships for reasons rational or not. My family has been going through this as of late and I have seen so many tears as a result. So many broken hearts. With time, Lord willing, those relationships will be mended and in the meantime I can turn to that one relationship that I cannot break.

Disappointment is the expectation of success followed by failure.

In the morning, before her coffee

Some relationships are based on food and love

Flirty

Isa folds her dolls' clothes

Me at the wheel on the way to Laredo