wings and Jesus

so had a bit of a late night coupled with a it of an early morning thus i am bringing you saturdays blog right now...

saturdays are great it is my only day to lay in my bed for most of the day.... and that i did first watching into the wild, and the a complete climate change to madagascar.

but saturdays are also alot of work i go to this great chruch in Vegas called hope. we meet at silverado high school, so saturdays at 2 we being to setup a full on rock show. its a pretty big job but we always manage to have a pretty good time.

so after church i booked it down to freemont st. ithe ACM's are in town this week and so there have been free concerts this weekend. last night i got to see zack brown and kelly pickler. i always enjoy goin down to freemont just to see the people, its almost lilke being home as las vegas turns out its own brand of redneck. hahaha i was surrounded by people of all shapes and size some rockin there college gear, nascar jackets, all different shades and combos of plaid, i was in between football mugs and HUGE boots of beer, and of corse you have your redneck girls proudly wearing there halter tops to show a tattoo proclaiming they are "daddys girl" however im not completely sure daddy knows and im very confident that he would not approve (hahahaha). all of us somehow united by songs about our toes in mexico's sand and fried chicken.... incredible.
aftre the show i very happily agreed to some chicken wings and some great conversation with the durhams, ben, and our new friend lindsey.

so now im off to church on this sunday morning to enjoy a totally different atmosphere, which is awesome. but i the thing i love the most about Jesus is that i can enjoy His family here at a church where im "supposed" to but also in the middle of thousands of people, good country music, and chicken wings. wow im so thankful for friends that push me to love God...... and chicken wing.

bringing things together

april 3

i started a new book call "the safest place on earth" by larry crab. i love starting new books, almost more than i love finishing them.. is that bad? we anyway the premiss of the good is experiencing genuine community, which is very interesting to me because im a VERY relational person. thus far my favorite part of the book says: "we must not only turn our chairs in a circle, we must also turn or souls together." what a great concept what a great practice. i hope today you and i can open our soul to someone, that we might enjoy authentic connection.

this morning i got to hangout with my friend billy arndt. we spoke about thinking freely and imagination and how we want to encourage that follow Jesus to do both more often. it was a great time.

today is also first friday and later im goin downtown for some great art, and some good music with some good friends.

happy friday, im glad your here!

see ya soon

micah

sorry i no its tomorrow already but i forgot to publish this yesterday.... dont hate me

happy windmills and coffee... in excess

so can i start by saying that im watching happy gilmore right now with my buddy jeff, and its at the part where he sings into the door monitor "i want to kiss you all over and over and again, i want to kiss you all over. till the night closes in." as a little boy listens super confused and that crazy Chinese lady go up to happy room and (burrrrbbb). hahahaha what a great movie.

last week a bought a holga toy film camera and im still learning to use it but here is a shot from yesterday with no photoshop just me+holga+film= really cool (i think)

april 2

so today was great. i have some awesome roomates, we get to live life together and talk about girls, Jesus, school, and work... not necessarily in that order, but often in that order(hahaha) ever week as a group we practice Psalms 119:147

"I rise early, before the sun is up; I cry out for help and put my hope in your words."

today was that day for us, it was so refreshing to ask God to give us a platform to love and serve our community we prayed Jeremiah 29:7
"Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper"

we prayed for creativity and imagination so that we might "Shine like Stars" as paul writes in Phillippians 2:15. it was an incredible time for us to focus and connect our hearts with Gods.

thank you Jesus for calling us your children

after i spent the morning with a good friend Dwight Watson. dwight is a guy who believes in the power of the Gospel to transform Las Vegas and the whole world. he pastors several groups of simple faith communities that meet in homes all over the valley they collectively are called The River. we shared a cup of coffee and some conversation and i was so encouraged to follow the passions God has given me, thank you dwight for letting me see Jesus in you.

finally on thursday nights i get to meet with some college student for my church at the TABLE. we talked tonight about community, and how valuable God's family is in our lives it was a great time.

i believe this verse in Colossians 4:6 tells the story of my day

"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

april 2 you were great tell you're friend to keep the good times comin!

see ya soon

micah

come with me

so i realize its been awhile.... sorry, i love you forgive me.

this is a big month for me and by the end of it i will be 22 the big double dueces! that means a have very little time left to be 21,which is sad but also very exciting. i want to go on a pilgrimage, everyday this month i want to blog maybe alot maybe just a little. i want to see and document where i go and what i do in the last days of my 21st year.

april 1

i started the day at springs perserve (which is a wild life museum kinda thing) taking pictures for my newest project called the Las Vegas the wild side... great images cool place more details on that to come.

but anyway, most of my wednesday are spent talkin about Jesus with some friends(i love it). first with cameron and ross, 2 guys i mentor. we ment at saxbys coffee, great joint. we talked about Isaiah 43:25 “I—yes, I alone—will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again." we asked why God would help us for His sake, like what does He have to gain? great talk ending with God does that so we can love Him way more(that is the real fast answer but pretty right on) p.s. cameron ross and i are coffee shop thugs hahaha

after that i went to hangout with a guy named billy combs, he mentors me. hes the man so basically tells me everything i suck at, like hes readin my journal! (i hope you have someone like that) its awesome. i always leave so encouraged and challenged to go love and serve and study and live its incredible... so today i shot great images and enjoyed Jesus and His family. simply wonderful im sooo lucky

so thats day 1. i hope the whole month is great like today. so here goes our 1 month odyss i promise if you'll sick with me we'll have a good time. until tommorrow....

see ya soon

micah

chain me down

so last week i had a project called las vegas high up,
these are some of my results.

it was a cool task; climbing hills, going to tall buildings, jumping overpass barriers, peeking through fences, and getting kicked out of parking garages by rent-a-cops, i had a great time. the shots were very cool with angles we don't often see... these intrigue me. thus, it was a beautiful shoot. i mean how many days are we hundreds of feet off the ground?

having said that, i think i'm supposed to be on the ground. you know, its great sticking your head off a huge skyscraper, or shoving your camera through a break in the fence, but for me it was simply overwhelming.

how do i show intricacy when the whole city is before me?

i find it hard to see smallness when surrounded by bigness.

how do i get down in the dirt when i'm so far from it?

i felt caged "in" and "up."

i find in life i get the same way when i cry out to God: what's next, where am i going, what do i do? and then he shows me a little portion and i'm so overwhelmed that i miss the splendor of today. likewise i desire to be covered "dirty" in my work, but being far from what i love it's just not possible. do you ever get that way, does that happen to you? i feel like sometimes i "miss the the forest for the tree," and as life happens all around me i get selfish and long to be in the sky far from the ground, and there, because of me, i miss the joy of life.

heres my question,

what are you doing right now that you're good at, but not passionate about?

i've been trying to answer that lately and it keeps unwrapping more questions. thus i have come up with a great answer,

"enjoy the trees"

i cant see my way out, i dont know whats next, but i can climb and explore and rest here, in the trees.

so i've come to see that i love the ground it blessed me, and makes me feel at home.

so in turn i would like to share a list, of 5 things about the ground i love.

here we go:

1)trees (especially ones that are great for climbing)

2)puddles (i wish vegas had more)

3)sidewalks chalk (we're never thankful we have roads for our feet, and we can paint them)

4)TOMS (awesome shoes you should by some)

5)dirt (it is just fulfilling to be filthy from a day of hard work, made possible only by dirt)

so all that to say, the ground rocks(no pun intended). i mean i love flying, bridges, and even really tall climbing trees, but the ground is my fav so i'm gonna start trying to be thankful for the ground that i love but often forget about.

see ya soon

micah

empty bowls, full hearts

these are simply bowls. nothing special or out of the ordinary about them. however, just over a week ago they were made into something radical!

as my friend scott and i prepared to talk to around 140 students about questions they had concerning the bible, faith, and Jesus; to our surprise Jesus was about to ask us a question. a lady walked in with a small child, explaining to me that her family wasnt doing to well in the current economy(to put it very mildly). she went on to say that she and 11 family members(at least 8 under 18) were staying in one of those day to day motels right off las vegas blvd, but were unable to sell enough of their things(mainly a tool chest today) to make rent that night. so here i am completely astonished, and think like 1,000 things: it's sunday night we cant get them a check because no one is here. where is travis? what am i gonna talk to these students about? and i cant throw these people on the street.... just to name a few. so i pulled scott into a room and told him i didnt know how but we were gonna pay for this families room tonight, he agreed and so we told them to come back at 7 and we would have the money.(wow what were we thinkin?) so i jump on stage at 6:00 and explained the situation to a group of 6th-12th graders(not exactly the most wealthy part of a church) totally unsure how they would take it or even if they could help. i shared with them that we talk a lot about loving people, and meeting folks at their greatest point of need, and this was our chance to stop talking and start doing something! i told them i wasnt 100% sure that the cause was legit, but that we were asked to judge we were asked to help, and help, we would, to our fullest. after saying this we took the bowls and passed them around. i watched through misty eyes as students emptied their wallets, pockets, and bags, it was incredible. i saw money that was "supposed" to be in-N-out burger or taco bell, money for a new album or t-shirt, money that was theirs..... but not anymore. i watched as the bowls filled with dollars and coins, yes, but also with love, hope, and another chance. 

that cold windy las vegas night some students were able to see "even greater things" they were able to become Jesus to a family who was, as my friend jake says, "hurting, poor, weak, and marginalized", "just the people Jesus chose to hangout with." they showed them that they were loved and deserved something more. that night middle and high school students gave $250 to people they will probably never meet or even see. they were the Church. they saw the BIG picture, they got it. they didnt fill bowls, they filled hearts.

i was inspired!

see ya soon

micah

things unseen

so this week i hit a milestone i meet one of my heros. his name is david molnar he is a nashville based photographer who is AMAZING (http://davidmolnar.com/). you should for real check out his work hes a baller. so back to my story i got meet david and his wife tammy, they were incredible, i mean that took great pictures and all but much more than that it blew me how down to earth they were. they honestly cared about what was goin on with me and offered advice on how i could be a better photographer, hope i have a chance to speak into someone like that! david shared a quote with me that really rocked my wolrd, and i would like to share it with you:

ludwig mies van der rohe said,

"God is in the details."

that really spoke to me. i dont know about you but i run around crazy most of the time. i would like to say im an artist(or at least one in training) so im trying to look at crazy angles and weird shapes, though, how often do i look for, as telecast puts it "the beauty of simplicity"? it is crazy to think that as life is happening all around me i stumble through and want to find the bright lights and the loud music, but completely miss the magnificent details just under my feet. do you ever think that God laughs at our prays for beauty and grace, as He says slow down and open your eyes a little more.

anyway, i recently went on a shoot of freemont st, las vegas. as i was there i tryed to see the thing that maybe went unnoticed and were skipped over. my goal was simply to see beauty like perhaps i never had before. my images blew me away! colors, emotions, angles, depth, people, they all moved me somehow tuning me into the these God sized details, it was truly incredible.

so i wanted to share my pictures with you to see if you might feel and see some of the same things i did, i hope you enjoy!

 

so could we slow down, open up, and see that God is way BIG, but also that He is in the details that often go unseen!

see ya soon

micah