Christianity | Duoimagery-John and Bethany Detweiler

Summer breeze.. makes me feel fine..

On April 18, 2013 / Inspiration / Leave a comment

I have never been as excited for summer to come as I have been this year. I’m not really sure why. But for months now I’ve been dreaming and longing for warm weather and sunshine and green grass and color and new life.

Summer is happiness. Sunshine spreading all over everyone and flowers popping up everywhere sharing their exquisite colors. It is about friendship, about love, about being with the ones God has brought into your life.

I know it is not officially summer yet. But it has arrived already where I live.. and this year I am welcoming it with open arms.

It think what delights me about summer more than anything else is new life. Everywhere around me new life is happening. Baby birds, flowers blooming, grass turning from the drab brownish color it dons in winter to a vibrant, soft lime green in summer. Everywhere is an image of Life and an image of the One who breathed life into being. When I sit outside on a warm summer day and feel the cool breeze playing with my hair and hearing the birds sing their melodious songs.. I believe in the depths of my heart that there are second chances. That there is always new life for the asking.

My dream for this summer is to spend as much time as possible out of doors. Basking in the beauty that God has brought to life.

Chilling with people that I love and that love me and enjoying their presence.. not taking them for granted.

Breathing in the colors, the vibrance, the life all around me.

Soaking up the rays of sunlight that streak across my path.

Diving into life heart first.

Loving as I have been loved.

Serving as I have been served.

My dream for the next 2 1/2 months is this. To raise $22,000 to bring clean water to a community in Ethiopia. Because I want to give, to inspire, to love my family around this big, beautiful world. Because my Jesus lived like that. You can join in my dream to help bring clean water, and a new life, to some beautiful people by clicking HERE.

Peace and love,

Bethany

PS. I so love this song:

Extravagance

On July 13, 2012 / Beauty, Inspiration / 1 Comment

Extravagance. The word leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Images rush to my head of .. opulence. Ridiculous expensiveness.. wasteful.. excessive..
But the word has been redefined for me.
I was having my morning alone time with Jesus and was reading in my devotional book about the widow who gave her two last coins. I’ve read the story countless times, heard messages preached and illusions drawn. But it hit me in a fresh way. A radical way.

Get this.

“She gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford – she gave her all.” (Mark 12:44b The Message)
That’s how Jesus described her to his friends.
It was a praise.
Extravagance.

Suddenly, the word is beautiful. Giving more than she could afford.
Risk.
Trust.

That’s what Jesus is asking of us. To not just give enough that we feel better than the next guy.
To not just give our all.
He wants EXTRAVAGANCE.
What we can’t afford.

That’s it.
I’m so tired of living a life centered around my trio of most important people.
ME.
MYSELF.
I.
I’m tired of just being a great Christian. Tithing, serving, faithfully attending church.
I’m gonna give what I can’t afford. I’m gonna live an extravagant life.
I’m gonna climb out of my cozy,comfy boat and stagger onto the waves.
Radically take risks, join the war.
Follow the One who is the Light.

{beth}

Blue Like Jazz opening weekend!

On April 13, 2012 / Just a random post / Leave a comment

The movie to one of the most life-changing books I’ve ever read is in theaters! I cannot wait to go watch it.. and I hope you do, too. Bring your friends..
Blue Like Jazz challenges your view on God, life, and other people like few things ever will. I discovered God in a more real way than I ever had known Him before.. and I haven’t been the same since.

Click HERE to purchase tickets to the movie!

Go. For real. Watch it.
-beth.

So close, yet so far away.

On April 13, 2012 / Beauty, Flowers, Giving Back / 1 Comment

I love details.. I love the tiny lines, the tiny specks, the intense color. Things you have to look at really closely to notice.. beauty waiting to be seen. To stop and take that second look, to study a little more closely. I think God loves detail.. I think he makes it so that we don’t just pass by and glance at his creation but actually stop for a moment to really look at it. To really enjoy it. If you’re not looking for it, you’ll miss it. If you’re focused on things you need to do, places to go, problems weighing you down and just glance at the world around you.. you won’t see it. I think he wants us to search it out. To seek it. And that’s why he hides it. He wants us to take the focus off of ourselves and problems and such, and focus on beauty.. His creation.. singing it’s praises to their Maker.
-beth

To purchase these photos in high resolution click HERE.100% of the profits from these photos go to help people in need through World Vision.

The ancient skies above..

On April 11, 2012 / Beauty, Giving Back, High Dynamic Range Photography, Nature, Outdoors, Urban / Leave a comment

Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth,
sing praise to the Lord,
to him who rides the ancient skies above,
who thunders with mighty voice.
Proclaim the power of God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
whose power is in the skies.
Psalm 68:32-34 TNIV

To purchase this photo in high resolution click HERE. 100% of the profits from this photo to go to help people in need through World Vision. -beth

Give a gift. Change a life.

On April 10, 2012 / Beauty, Birthdays, Giving Back, Inspiration / Leave a comment

Today is my birthday! And this year I’m asking for something a little different. Instead of presents, I’m asking for gifts for the children around the world through my gift catalog with World Vision. There’s a large variety of gifts to choose from: a goat, medicine, school books, fruit trees, clean water, a soccer ball… and the list goes on. If you feel lead to give towards my birthday catalog, please click HERE. Even if you don’t feel like this is the time or place for you to give personally, I have a request. Please share my gift catalog with your family and friends via Facebook, twitter, email, reblogging this or any other social media outlets. The more people who known about it, the more people who get a chance to give! This gifts are literally life changing and not just for the child who receives the gift, but for the whole community as well. It’s life changing for the giver, too.

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40

-beth

Easter eggs, fluffy baby chicks and the Easter bunny.

On April 9, 2012 / Holidays, Portraits / 2 Comments

Our life group had an easter egg hunt and party last week. It was a lot of fun, and the kids loved it. The excitement as they dashed around picking up eggs was enough to make you laugh.. it was so cute.

And the hunt begins!

After all the eggs were picked up and deposited in their darling little baskets, they took turns holding the cutest little chicks.

The guys took a liking to the chicks too.

Then the discovering of treasures inside of the eggs; chocolate, candy, bracelets and other little delights.

And last but not least.. the Easter bunny!

I think Baby wanted to eat the bunny…

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!
And then that darkest of nights, and the fiend we call DEATH were powerless.
And my Beloved…
AROSE.
-beth

The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green.

On April 4, 2012 / Giving Back, High Dynamic Range Photography, Outdoors, Urban / Leave a comment

By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet.
Thomas Merton

-beth

To purchase this photo in high resolution click HERE. 100% of profits go to help people in need.

Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise!

On April 3, 2012 / Beauty, Giving Back, High Dynamic Range Photography, Nature, Outdoors / Leave a comment

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.
Martin Luther

-beth
To purchase this image in high resolution click HERE. 100% of profits go to help people in need.

Raindrops on Roses – er- Spiderwebs…

On March 23, 2012 / Beauty, Giving Back, Inspiration, Nature, Outdoors / 2 Comments

It rained during the night. And I woke up to a world covered in mist and raindrops. It was foggy and cool and you could feel the moisture in the air. And then I saw all these shimmering jewels in the grass. I ran over and there were all these little tiny spiderwebs covered in shining raindrops. It took my breath away.

I love rain. It’s refreshing. I love how the world smells after a rain. In fact, that is my favorite smell in the world. I love walking in the rain. I think it reminds me of God. Like little kisses falling down from heaven onto me. Little gems of beauty. The cleansing, the fresh air, the nourished earth – it all reminds me of what God does in my soul.
-beth

To purchase these photos in high resolution click HERE. 100% of profits will go to help people in need.

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