failuretorecognize

Uganda

kyleellman — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:48:00 +0000

Lacy is leaving for Uganda tomorrow.

Pray for her.

Jesus is a Hitchhiker

kyleellman — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:06:00 +0000

I grew up fearing hitchhikers. They’re bad people, they’re dangerous, they’re strange, they’re strangers, they’ll hurt you.

They hurt Jesus. We hurt Jesus. Jesus loves us. Jesus loves them…actually, there shouldn’t be an us and them. It’s us and the divine.

Read the second half of Matthew 25, and you’ll see that Jesus pretty much says that in order to follow Him, we need to pick up hitchhikers. Yeah it’s a paraphrase, but He does say that His followers must invite strangers in (among many other things), and what kind of stranger needs someone more than hitchhiker? There’s no one else around to help. Help them, they’re Jesus. I doubt any of us would actually pass up Jesus if we saw Him on the side of the road sticking His thumb out. Oh wait, we do…all the time.

Pick up a hitchhiker.

Fine Print: I must confess that I’ve never picked up a hitchhiker before. I have today resolved to do so in the future, which prompted me to write this.

Mark Smedvig

kyleellman — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 20:42:00 +0000

Having this guy as a roommate is almost always beyond interesting.

Simple

kyleellman — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:47:00 +0000

I’m sure you’ve heard the statement, “Live simply so that others may simply live.”

For some reason, when I think of this statement, I still notice a bit of emphasis on self.

I’ve lately been charged with the thought, “Make sure others have what they need before you have what you want.”

Walking

kyleellman — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:10:00 +0000

Over the past year, I’ve ridden my bike more and more. I love it. I’ll ride anywhere and everywhere. But, I hurt my back awhile ago, and it’s gotten pretty bad lately. It’s been bad enough that it’s painful to ride my bike, so I’ve been walking to class lately. As a result of this slower pace, I get to notice things I wouldn’t normally see when riding. Yesterday, walking back from class, I saw a couple things that made me chuckle inside. One was a guy walking around in a tucked in Firefox 1.0 t-shirt. Less than one minute later, I saw someone riding a bike with one hand on the handlebars, and the other…holding a cocked and loaded Nerf gun. My school never ceases to surprise me.

Aimless

kyleellman — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 04:32:00 +0000

Lately, I’ve noticed that when I’m taking photos, I usually have a set purpose in mind. They’ve been becoming a means to an end. I’ve been doing this so much that when fun opportunities to shoot come around, I leave the camera behind because I’m slightly burnt out. I don’t like that.

So today I decided to ask one of my roommates, Bryce, to walk around a bit of Rolla with me and just take some photos. No reason, no agenda. It was relaxing and freeing.

Enviromentalism And Social Justice, But Why?

kyleellman — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:18:00 +0000

I’m all for recycling, reusing, using less energy, buying fair trade products, trying to drive less/cycling, and whatever else. I’ve noticed that a lot of other people are, too. These things are great. The problems behind them are the motives. It all seems very trendy. It has a huge following from people my age, which of course will make it seem cool. Apparently, anything large masses of college-aged, twenty-somethings do is trendy, or so I perceive. Being trendy and following the crowd are not things I want to base my actions and lifestyle from. I’m not trying to simply go against the crowd, either. Ironically, that’s pretty trendy, too.

I want to do these things for these reasons: to use wisely and gratefully what I’ve been given, and to live simply, so that others may simply live. Or at least that’s what I should want. I’ve been given so much, parents that support me, certain freedoms others don’t have, healthcare, good health, education, clean water, breath…the list can go on for ever. All great things, but I should live in a way that reflects gratitude and compassion for others, because I am grateful and genuinely care for everyone else, not because it’s the thing to do.

Caring about the environment and taking action on social justice problems are very good and necessary things, but why are you doing them?

Redundancy

kyleellman — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:26:00 +0000

NBC is doing a great job with the Olympics, but is military time PLUS am/pm really necessary?

Eric and Ashley

kyleellman — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:02:00 +0000

Two of my good friends got engaged this past Saturday. I got to watch it from behind some bushes (I was asked to for photos sake, I’m not that creepy), and it was so great to see.

Here are a couple shots of a party we had for them afterwards.

Two Weeks

kyleellman — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:53:00 +0000

A lot has happened in the past two weeks. I really wish I could write more often, but working at a summer camp doesn’t really allow for that.

I got a tattoo. It means a lot to me. Colossians 1 means a lot to me.

I got to shoot Britany and Greg’s wedding. It’s the first wedding I’ve ever shot. Fun stuff.

God broke me this week.

So much for relying on my own strength and patience while working with 7th grade summer campers. That didn’t work.

God broke me. I was humbled. I cried.