Walking in Unity of Faith

My Family: taken July 2010

This is a picture of my family that was taken on our family vacation in July. This was kind of a last chance get away for our family before we all headed in different directions for the next year. 

As a photographer I am super critical of the photos that I capture with my camera. I want the shot to be just right and everything to communicate the message that I have in my mind. When this photo shoot of my family was complete I went back to look at this picture. My mom had seen pictures I had taken of other families and she said she wanted a picture of us all walking together with our backs to the camera. Well...because this photo shoot was of ME and my family, I used my tripod to capture all the pictures with me in them. 

So basically we set up the scene started walking and waited for the picture to snap. It's rather posed and not very natural as if our family was going for a walk somewhere. My biggest criticisms of this picture were the fact that we are all taking a step at the same time, we are not touching each other (doesn't make for a very 'loving family' image), and it is not very natural.

This evening while listening to my brother preach in Oklahoma via Skype this image was on my desktop. My parents were sitting in the congregation and as I sat in my apartment in the Czech Republic I finally got the 'image' of this picture. 

This summer A LOT of things changed in my family. My brother and sister-in-law were deciding whether or not to join a church in Maud, OK as their pastor. My sister had an interview in Belton and was waiting for a job assignment. My dad was about to receive the news that he had a cancerous tumor on his lung and I was packing to leave the country for what would soon be a couple of years. 

Individually we were all taking steps of faith. We were stepping out into the unknown. I moved overseas in August, the same month that my brother chose to take the pastorship in Maud, my sister got a job in Belton, and my dad and mom started their battle against the cancer. All of them were huge changes in our family and every one had it's own impact.

I have decided to title this picture Walking in Unity of Faith. We could not have known when this picture was taken exactly how it would depict our lives for the next year. We are each individually choosing to take a step in following God, but as a family we are moving together. So the things that bothered me about this picture now make it one of my favorites of my family.

We are individuals walking together as a family posed by our Savior. It is truly a picture of why I love my family so much, and how God is working! May we continue to follow Him together and also individually in faith. Yeah....LOVE IT!!