Friends Just Fit!

Oil and perfume make the heart glad,

So a man's counsel is sweet to his friend.

Proverbs 27: 9

Spending time with dear friends just makes everything better!  They can hear you when you don't even speak.  They understand when you need to talk and when you need to just be still.

They are like gears in a machine to you.  They just fit!  Be grateful to your friends.  Tell them how much they mean to you.

I'm a Sunrise Shooter

My name is Casey Malone and I am a sunrise shooter.

There, I've said it.  I feel better.  Now I just have to go on with my life with the understanding that I like to photograph sunrises.  That takes a load off!

I will shoot sunrises every day if I can.  Why?  Because they inspire me. They intrigue me. They fill my mind with wonder and excitement.

The sunrise images I am using today were all shot from the same 9th floor balcony. They are all the same in many ways - sunlight, water, sand.  Yet, they are all different too.

Sometimes there are clouds which make the sun almost invisible.

March 4, 2016

Sometimes there are no clouds at all.

March 7, 2016

Sometimes the clouds dance across the sky like ballerinas on the stage.

March 8, 2016

And other times the hang low near the horizon forcing the sunbeams to push through in shafts of light for the new day.

March 13, 2016

Yet they are always there, waiting for me to witness them, to relish them, to begin my day with them.

People are like that too.  Some are full, some are empty, some are dancing, some are stubborn and forceful. But, they are there, waiting for us to make them part of our lives.

Over the past few days I have had the great blessing to share real extended fellowship with some people. People who have been part of my life for many years.  They have been with me in the good times and in the really bad times.  I am grateful for them. I am grateful for there long term friendships. And, I am grateful that they have continued to be there, just like the sunrise, waiting.

The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,

For His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3: 22, 23

My Hope!

Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

Matthew 7: 24,25

Over the last several days I, like many in America, have struggled with voting in the Presidential election process.  I have seen friends express fears, anxieties, and angst.  I have shared some of those.

As He often does, God comforted me with a song- "My Hope is Built". The first line of that great hymn says, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness."

My hope is not in the President, not in the legislature, not in the pundits and the polls.  My hope is in Jesus. He is my rock and my salvation. And, that is all I need.

May you find peace in the days ahead.