Stephen Messner

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Earth, Fire, Wind, Rain, and Spirit. I knew exactly which one to go with. Whenever I think of “Spirit”, I think back to Galatians Chapter 5. It talks about the nature of the Holy Spirit and how it works in our lives. In verses 22-23, it lists off the fruits of the spirit:

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. It’s a wonderful piece of scripture that allows us to understand what fruit or characteristics we should show when the spirit of God is living in and through us.

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When I think of Gratitude, and what I’m thankful for in life, I think of my beagle, Snoopy. My parents got him the week they found out they were pregnant with me, and since I’m an only child, he was my dog-brother. He lived to be about 15 1/2, which is extremely rare for beagles. I keep a picture of him in my wallet, and we have this little “memorial” for him in our living room.

I’ll see you soon, buddy.

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In my previous post, I highlighted my dad and his hard work as a father, educator, and friend. He is one of my main inspirations in life, but I can’t forget to mention George Kittle. He’s such a joking, silly guy, but he also knows when to be mature, humble, and is a leader by example. He just loves what he does on the field, and knows how to have fun doing it. And, he’s pretty good. Just look at what he’s done over the past 8 years and you’ll see what I mean.

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On the wall of my room, there is an old painting of Noah’s Ark. It was there when my parents first moved in – the room was previously a nursery for the old owners. My parents saw this painting and knew which room would be mine. Directly across from that painting is a closet with a giant mirror for a door. I’ll let you figure that one out for yourself. You might even see a familiar wise green guy.

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Green means go, red means to stop, but what does yellow mean? Slow down, or try and make it through quickly? I need to go, but I need to stop what I’m doing and slow down. I feel ready to go, but I know stopping is safer. Maybe slowing down is the best way to go. I can move forward cautiously. Oh! It’s green now. Time to exit this hesitant mindset and move forward.

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Man, what a dunk by Jordan! He’s such an inspirational player, one of – if not – the greatest basketball players of all time. Even at 6″6cm, Michael Jordan was able to make a great dunk. Only question is how will he get down?

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Serenity to me means that you are calm beyond your comprehension. There’s something satisfying you that you cannot find anywhere else – and that for me is at church. Every Sunday morning, I try to make it to church to learn more about our creator and savior, and build community with fellow believers. Here you can see Pastor Frank praying for our church, with our worship Pastor, Bree’anna, leading the church in worship. What a great God we serve.

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One thing a former Freestyle student taught me is that golden hour is the best time to take photos, do a filmed interview, be with your loved ones, the list goes on. Although I showed up a little early for golden hour, I was able to use some creative filters with my camera to make it seem more realistic. But despite the cloudy weather, and with enough patience, I waited for the right moment to get this photo of some palm trees by my house. Something about this photo brings me back to my childhood summers.

We were challenged to use our Speedlite Flash in various ways to take photos. One of our friends from Israel gave us an older guitar as a gift during the holidays, and I decided to admire its beauty for this post.

This first picture was taken with the flash pointing straight at the guitar. Nothing too special, but the light is quite harsh.

The second photo is nice because the lighting isn’t as harsh compared to the first photo because the flash is pointed up at the ceiling, spreading the light out more.

In the third photo, I used the white bounce card to make the guitar and the wall behind it a little more bright, but there isn’t too big of a difference.

The last photo on the bottom is my personal favorite, as I used the flash diffuser to get rid of some harsher shadows and glare on the guitar. This one is my favorite because it is the most accurate to the color of the guitar and the shade of wood it really is.

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I took this picture in my neighborhood, where my neighbor’s mailbox flag is in the shape of an older car. I looked down the street and saw how many cars there were at different distances, and thought it was a unique angle from where I was standing. A tiny red car that I can literally hide in one hand is bigger than the cars down the street that are 10 times my size!