Welcome to Emblems of the Creator!

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Mt Hood – September 20, 2021

September 20, 2021 – The morning around Boring, Oregon, had started out with clouds and fog. We went shopping for our groceries and headed back home around 10 or 11am. The clouds and fog were burning off and as we crested a rise in the road where the trees cleared we got a glimpse of our towering mountain, Mt Hood. The clouds were almost gone and it stood out stark and beautiful against the morning sky behind it. The first snow of the season had blanketed it’s summit and the grandeur and majesty of the moment overwhelmed us.

“We have to get up there now,” I exclaimed to Regina. “We have to get pictures of that from Timberline!”

The summer had been long, hot, and dry. The last weekend in June had scorched us to the breaking point. For three days temperatures soared in excess of 110 degrees Fahrenheit. I believe one day reached 115 or 116. The Spring rains had not been as abundant as usual and as the summer had progressed into August the snow fields had shrunk much smaller than normal. The mountain had become a barren pile of rock and stone and I had wondered how long before we would get the much-needed moisture.

Finally, a short burst of rain had brought some dampening to the region and it felt so good. And on that morning when the clouds broke and the mountain loomed high into the atmosphere with it’s new quilt of pure white snow, it was like a brand new thing, like I’d never seen it before, like something I was experiencing for the first time.

When we reached home we were in a scramble. The day was wasting and I didn’t want to lose any more time. We loaded the cameras and the tripod and raced up the pass on highway 26. We reached Timberline at approximately 1pm. The clouds had obscured the mountain again but the skies out away from the mountain were clear so I figured if we waited long enough they would eventually break.

We found a spot not far from the parking lot that would afford us a wonderful view and set up shop. We set up the tripod with the camera sporting the 35-105mm lens for wider shots and set it to shoot continuously on a predetermined interval. Regina operated the camera with the 105mm lens attached and I held the camera with the 200-500mm lens, which I endearingly call the bird lens.

We waited. 15 minutes. 30 minutes. An hour. About an hour and a half I was beginning to have my doubts as to whether we’d have an opportunity or not. An hour and forty-five minutes. Nothing. 2 hours. Nothing. But wait! What’s that?

“It’s clearing,” I called to Regina.

Suddenly three cameras came alive and for the next 20-30 minutes we logged several hundred photos of the handiwork of the Creator. We were like kids in a candy store. Every angle, every zoom setting, every snap of the shutter produced another amazing photo. We could hardly contain ourselves as we produced photo after photo of pure beauty and grandeur. And then, like the waving of a hand, the clouds enveloped the mountain again.

We waited. Forty minutes.

Finally! The clouds began to break again. And again three cameras lit up for about twenty minutes. Almost three and and a half hours after we had gotten there we finally stopped. Returning to the vehicle we parked at the end of the lot where we could continue to admire the beautiful scene before us. We ate our dinner, snapped a few more photos of the now cloudless mountain, and then headed for home. What a wonderful afternoon.

I thank the Creator for these opportunities. Opportunities to behold all that He has given to me. Opportunities to experience more of who He is. Opportunities to see Him. Life is tough. Sometimes downright depressing and painful. But these moments are a sign that He has not forsaken me. These are moments when He chooses to reveal Himself to me. These memories, these experiences, help to sustain me whenever I must enter into the dark valleys of life’s journey.

“He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5.

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Depoe Bay video compilation

Compiled from multiple slow motion videos from varying dates. The musical score, “Reflections”, was pulled from SoundStripe.com. It was written, performed, and produced by Adrian Walther and Caleb Etheridge.

There is something about this music, when combined with these video clips, that brings my emotions welling to the surface. I’m not sure I understand it. I’m not sure that I know why but I do have some thoughts about it. The song seems to incorporate a highly majestic and powerful theme. I think this tends to lift my mind to the Creator of all things and emblazons across my mind how magnificent and powerful He is. This produces an emotional response within me that spills out of my soul, sometimes in torrents.

But I wonder if there isn’t another reason, akin to this. Not only does my mind tend towards thoughts of who He is, but also what He has allowed me to see and do these past several years. Catching a slow motion of a Bald Eagle in soaring flight is not something I thought I could accomplish with my limited equipment. But the Creator gave me an opportunity to at least capture it on the medium quality spectrum.

My soul is lifted in gratitude to Him for such opportunities and, again, it spills out of my soul in an emotional flood. And one more thought. My dad was a lover of the Oregon coast, as I am. When he passed in January of 2021 this video took on a much more emotional aspect than before.

Be grateful for what He has given to you.