Staying in range

Even with an existing lighthouse at Baileys Harbor in Door County, Wisconsin back in 1869, numerous shoals at the harbor's entrance made navigation difficult during the day and almost impossible at night. To correct the situation, range lights were constructed.

Two lights were constructed 900 feet apart in a line that marked a safe route into the harbor through the shoals. The white structure above is the front range light. Slightly to the left of this light, nearly hidden now amidst the trees, sits the rear range light. Sailors were instructed to align the two lights one over the other, then head straight toward the pair of lights safely into the harbor.

The range lights were active navigational beacons for nearly 100 years until an automated directional light, part of which is shown in the foreground, was installed in 1970.

Making an analogy to the life of the church, believers in Jesus are instructed to be lights to the world. When the church aligns closely to the example of Jesus, the world gets a glimpse of the clear path that faith in Him provides. When other things distract the church, that clear path gets muddled. Here’s a sad example.

Blogwise agrees that it should be all about Jesus, not us.

And Anti-itch Meditation weighs in on churches that spend too much time thinking about sex and money.

And all of us … can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Point of Light: Wind Point Lighthouse

I’ve been to Wind Point Lighthouse, north of Racine, Wisconsin more than a half dozen times to take photos. I have yet to be disappointed with any of my trips there.

Wind Point Lighthouse is one of the oldest and tallest operational lighthouses on the Great Lakes. The grounds are picturesque in and of itself and offer many distinct vantage points from which to photograph. You can find several photos of this lighthouse in previous posts here.

When I arrived this particular evening, a crew was wrapping up the filming of a television commercial. They had dibs on most of the grounds, so I made my way over to a corner of the property and set up my camera with a telephoto lens and focused on the top of the tower. I used a 10-second exposure to catch a complete revolution of the rotating beacon and a blue filter to set the mood for the shot.

Quite a pleasant evening.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Winds of change

This sign caught my attention. It heralds opportunity for some corporate entity looking to expand its operations. And only a quarter mile west, no less. Except a quarter mile west stood the old barn and silo and the symbolism of an old way of life existing on borrowed time. Three weeks after I took this picture, the barn disappeared.

Change marches on. The agrarian economy gives way to the industrial economy which gives way to the service economy which yields to the information economy.

Some people see the change coming and adjust. Others hang on to the old way of doing things a little too long and before you know it, Willie Nelson has to pull together an annual concert to try to save some farms. I expect someone like Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger will eventually headline “Labor Aid” concerts for the unions that are riding companies like GM and United Airlines to the bottom of the ocean.

Christians are warned not to go after the things of the world. For one thing, they’re too elusive and take the focus off of following the example of Jesus. For another, once you get attached, the tendency is to hang on too long .

Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may be able to determine what God's will is - what is proper, pleasing, and perfect. Romans 12:2

Anti-itch Meditation picks up on this theme. There's lots of other good stuff this blog, too.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Today 701,528th; tomorrow 701,527th!
I know that pride goes before a fall, but I just took a look at my blog’s ranking at Technorati. Points of Light ranks number 701,528 in the blogosphere. Hey, out of 11.9 million blogs, POL beats out 94% of everybody else. I really am a statistic.

Still standing

I live on the western edge of the Chicago metropolitan area. To the east of me is 70 miles of concrete, strip malls and tract homes. Two miles to the west is open farmland. In this zone where suburbs and farmland collide, suburbia makes its steady march, swallowing farms and fields as it goes.

Lester Teeple built the 16-sided barn you see here circa 1885. It’s the last one standing in Illinois. At the time the barn was built, Elgin was a dairy center, and the Elgin Board of Trade set the butter prices for the nation. Round dairy barns were in vogue at the time. Because the business end of a dairy cow is wider than its head, wedge-shaped stalls set in a circle allowed more cows to be housed than in a typical rectangular barn.

But times change. Elgin no longer rules the dairy market. The Teeple Barn now sits on the edge of an industrial park a couple hundred yards off Interstate 90. The lovely reflecting pond belongs to Matsushita Electric Corporation. In fact, the company bought the barn property in 1989, and has allowed a private foundation to renovate the barn and maintain it as a local landmark. Not all barns are as lucky as the Teeple Barn is. While a few have been renovated into museums or businesses as suburbia has made its advance, most are torn down.

Centuries ago, vast stretches of prairie grasses gave way to farm fields, which are now giving way to land developers. Something called progress.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Got survey?

Why not take a minute (okay, 15) to take a survey? The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is trying to figure out what makes bloggers tick. I wish them the best of luck, and I took this survey to help them out a bit. You can, too. Just click on the above image to get to the MIT survey site.

Elusive moon

I've long wanted to get a decent shot of the moon against a lighthouse, but it seems that I've never been out at the right time of the lunar cycle to have everything fall together the right way. There are only a handful of days in the year where the combination of evening light and angle of the moon coincide just so to provide the perfect picture. And that's not counting having the weather cooperate, or my being anywhere near a lighthouse when that happens.

Such was the case with this photo. I spent a week in Algoma, Wisconsin, hoping things would work out for my long-sought moon/lighthouse photo. No dice. I was able to catch the crescent moon as it rose over the steeples of St. Paul's Lutheran Church.

You'll be the first to know when I finally catch that photo.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Point of Light: Kewaunee Pier Light

Located in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, this lighthouse sits at the end of a long pier and marks the entrance to the Kewaunee River.

This particular evening started out cloudy, but I stuck around, hoping things might clear up before sunset. I set up my tripod and camera under a small tree on the shore to frame the photo with out-of-focus leaves. The clouds began to break up, and a shaft of light shone directly on the lighthouse. I had my shot.

The lighthouse was built in 1891, rebuilt in 1930 and automated in 1981. It is 45 feet tall and is identical in design to the lighthouse located in Holland, Michigan. Full operational year-round with both a main light and a fog signal.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Restaurant philosophy

My wife and I passed through Ironwood, in the way up north part of Michigan. The Pines Cafe on Main Street displays its philosophy of life on its sign ... "Every day is something else."

We didn't check out the place, but this statement suggests the menu changes from day to day, just like life does for you and me. You can read "Every day is something else" in one of two ways; as a positive statement of anticipation for what the new day will bring, or as a pessimistic assessment of the circumstances surrounding you.

One person sees opportunities. The other person sees problems. I'm sure The Pines Cafe gladly serves both kinds of people.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Christians are getting some bad press here lately. Seems that some on the other side of the faith/political spectrum embrace the negative connotation of “Every day is something else” when it comes to dealing with Christian beliefs and how they show themselves in the public sphere.

Mark D. Roberts today begins an explanation of the real agenda of the Christian right.

Looking to the sky

When the sky is looking good, I know it’s going to be a great day to do some photographing. Trouble is, here in the upper Midwest, the sky can change very rapidly. Case in point is this photograph of Cana Island Lighthouse in Door County, Wisconsin.

Just a half hour before this photo was shot, the sky was completely gray and it was snowing. In October, no less. My wife and I arrived at the lighthouse, and by the time I had found a spot to set up the camera, the snow squall had moved out over Lake Michigan and provided a dramatic backdrop to the light tower.

The sky provides constantly changing moods and you never know for sure what you’re going to get on a given day. Sometimes it works out if you take a chance and are patient, sometimes it doesn’t. Life is like that.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan.

Deep thought: Speaking of the sky, the Bible says that Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven when He prayed. So how come we bow our heads and close our eyes?

Of fog and warnings

Way back when, fog horns were powered by compressed air. Probably the most famous air horn was the F2T. These had a distinctive high/low, two-tone sound produced by a slotted reciprocating piston. (These were the kind you heard in old black-and-white movies set near the seashore.) These horns required plenty of machinery for compressing the air, storing it in tanks, removing the condensed water, and directing the air into the horn. The mechanisms were housed in buildings adjacent or attached to the light tower. They also required plenty of human attention.

As it worked toward automating light stations, the Coast Guard developed an electronically powered horn. Really nothing more than a heavy duty version of a stereo speaker, the “horn” is tripped when a beam of light is reflected by fog back into an electric eye. The “eye” can be set to a predetermined visibility level.

These levels, usually set by local governing bodies, tend to follow political, rather than navigational priorities. In more densely populated areas, signals are set to lower visibility levels, requiring more fog before sounding the horn, so as not to irritate the neighbors as often.

Back to the analogy of lighthouse as symbolic of Jesus Christ and Christianity. Christians feel more empowered these days to sound off about their beliefs in the political arena. But to what extent are we providing a clear idea of our beliefs amidst the fog of relativistic thinking, as opposed to just making noise that irritates those who don’t share our beliefs?

Mark D. Roberts is concluding a series in response to claims that the hidden agenda of the evangelical right is to set up a political theocracy. Mark does so with thoughtfulness and grace, which seems to be so sorely lacking in political discourse these days.

If you're up for more reading on the topic, Dead Man Blogging offers a book review of a story that attempts to look at what happens at the intersection of faith and politics.

Wind Point Light and Fog Building, Racine Wisconsin. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Making time stand still

Creating photographs is one way of making time stand still. Or at least it creates the illusion of having done so.

Ever wish you could make time stand still? According to physicist Julian Barbour, it already does. Says Barbour, "... time itself does not exist. If we did not see objects move and things change, we could never say that time passes. Time is nothing but a measure of change." Such a perspective turns conventional physics on its head, and Barbour has spent most of his life rethinking what were thought to be foregone conclusions.

So instead of wishing time to stand still, it would be more accurate to wish that things would never change. Unfortunately for us, that's just as impossible.

In an earlier post I pointed out that although much has been studied about the nature of light, physicists still don't know the mechanism that creates light in the first place.

Maybe they should check out the book of Genesis chapter 1, verse 3.

Photo: Southwest Harbor, Acadia National Park, Maine. Copyright 2005 James Jordan. Click on photo to enlarge.

If you're in the mood to think about more things that will make your head hurt, Coffee Swirls answers the question, "Can God, who is perfect, create anything less than perfect?"

The Light behind the lighthouse

Travel on the Great Lakes was a treacherous proposition in the 19th century. Crude weather predictions and numerous shoals claimed many a sailing ship. Stories of harrowing rescues and lost lives regularly appeared in the publications of the day.

Picking up on the public fascination with such adventures, enterprising preachers and evangelists readily offered the analogy of ordinary people as sailors tossed about on the stormy seas of life with no hope, save for the lighthouse which pointed the way to the safe harbor of salvation. Many hymns of the period also utilized the stormy sea/harbor of refuge/rescue theme.

In both sermon and song, the lighthouse was always a symbol of Jesus Christ, whose sacrificial death on the cross cleared the way for all people to gain entrance into the peaceful harbor.

Today, most lighthouses are nothing more than quaint relics, replaced by satellite weather technology, sonar and global positioning systems. Sadly, in the relative comfort and ease of life made possible by advanced technology, the One who is the Light can also fall into my relic bin if I am not mindful of His presence.

Maybe that’s why I photograph lighthouses.

Sunset, Wind Point Light, Racine, Wisconsin. Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Not sure you believe in the One who is the Light? Got doubts? Wind Scraps tackles that subject in a conversation with her son.

Casting Light

My interest in lighthouses began about 8 years ago when I took on my first management job. It was mid-year, and I needed a calendar for my new office. There were only two available at the book store I visited – one featuring photos of castles, the other depicting lighthouses.

I thought to myself, I’d rather act as a lighthouse as a manager than as a castle. Enlightening and inspiring was better than cold and unapproachable, I figured. So lighthouses it was. The lessons I learned in those early managerial years supported my choice, and along the way I fell in love with lighthouses and what they stood for.

Lighthouses also speak of the One who is ever present, ever vigilant to guide and lead me on the journey that is my life. That belief lies behind how I approach my photographic subjects. I share them with you in hopes that you may be inspired to consider God and the role He may play in your life.

Dawn, Grand Marais Harbor, Minnesota. Copyright 2005 James Jordan. Click on photo to enlarge.

Time to rest

Every journey requires times of rest. The problem is, we as American may be forgetting how to rest. We have more leisure time than ever, but we also seem to cram more activities into those off-hours (more "stuff," as per yesterday's post). More free time, less rest.

God established the cycle of work and rest. A command to rest even made the top ten list. Take some time to rest deeply this weekend.

Summer Day, Algoma Pier Light, Algoma, Wisconsin. Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

He who dies with the most toys ...

My wife and I were tooling along U.S. Route 2 outside Ashland, Wisconsin when we passed this interesting home/store. I just had to stop and get photos of the place. After getting permission from the owner, an older gentleman, to wander about the property with my camera, I was informed that he needed to head into town to pick up a few things (as if he needed anything more), but was also encouraged to feel free to take all the time I needed.

Here's a guy who's spent the greater part of his life collecting "stuff." And this photograph shows, on the surface at least, what he has to show for it. A legacy that has the "right stuff" goes farther, and positively touches people long after one has departed.

I hope I leave a legacy like that.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

New Blogdom of God unveiled
Adrian Warnock has compiled an updated list of faithblogs in conjunction with The Truth Laid Bear. This ambitious project is an attempt to connect every known faithblog to each other. The blogs are listed not by number of hits, but by number of links to each blog, providing a more accurate measure of the influence of any particular blog on the rest of the blogdom.

You can check out the list here. Points of Light, which has been in existence for less than a month, debuts in the middle of the list. TTLB also has an entertaining "ecosystem" which ranks websites based on hits and places them into biological categories. Points of Light would be in the "Marauding Marsupial/Large Mammal" range. Beats being a Slimy Mollusk.

Speaking of stuff ...
Anti-Itch Meditation adds perspective to a commencement speech by Steve Jobs that covers building a legacy based on accumulating stuff.

Design modifications gladly accepted

The Great Lakes have a number of lighthouses and towers set on long piers that extend out into the lake waters. Of these, the pier light at Algoma, Wisconsin has a unique offset design.

It seems the light was originally set in a “crib” of rock and concrete and aligned with the main pier. The waves from a fierce storm in the 1880s moved the crib several yards. The good townsfolk of Algoma decided to let nature have its way with the pier design rather than go to all the work of moving the crib back to its original position. The light was permanently set in its present position.

There have been times when waves of circumstances have knocked the pier that I have neatly designed for my life off course. Those are the times I have trusted God that there was a purpose to the design modification. The choice is to fight the change and struggle to put the crib back in place, or accept it and move on. I've chosen the latter.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Roman 8:28

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Evening twilight

Different sunset, different day. The thing I like about photographing sunsets is that no are alike. Sometimes they are big and boisterous like the one pictured in yesterday’s post, and sometimes they are quiet and understated like this one, photographed in Fish Creek, Door County, Wisconsin.

You never know what you’re going to get with a sunset, so you have to be ready for just about anything. The actual sunset this evening was nothing spectacular, but I decided to wait to see what the post-sunset sky might hold. This is what I got. Peaceful and tranquil.

Enjoy.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Standing 'O'

Sunsets are somewhat of a spectator sport in Door County, Wisconsin. During the summer, every harbor and park with a view of Green Bay becomes a gathering spot as the end of the day draws near.

The marina in Egg Harbor was no different on this particular evening. I set up my tripod across from a boat slip and fitted my camera with a pack of filters (two 2-stop graduated neutral density filters and a graduated sunset filter, for those of you dying to know) and I waited for the sunset to happen, along with several dozen spectators and two other photographers who came along and decided I had an excellent vantage point and set up their tripods near mine.

As you can see, this sunset did not disappoint. As the sun slipped below the horizon, something happened that I have yet to experience again. The spectators who had gathered broke into applause.

Most, no doubt were applauding the creation. I hoped that some, like me, were applauding the Creator.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Something's up at Blogdom of God
Adrian Warnock at Blogdom of God is calling all Christian bloggers to link to this post to let all Godbloggers know that something big will be announced later this week. Seems BOG is poised to do some growing.

The great limiter
My post last Sunday talked about missed potential, illustrated by the general failure of bunchberry plants to pollinate. The Bible has a lot to say about the human counterparts to the bunchberry who miss their full potential due to a little matter called sin. Anti-Itch Meditation has a couple of posts today on the topic.

The Flow of Moments

A photograph is nothing more than evidence of a moment that once existed. It's putting your hand in the continually flowing stream of moments and cupping some of that precious water in your hand.

Every once in a while, that captured moment can be revisited and provide inspiration and insight into the current cascade of moments I am experiencing. I share them with you in hopes that you too may find something that will help you navigate the waters.

This photograph is of my daughter, taken at Cave Point in Door County, Wisconsin. Cave Point features low shelves of limestone along the shore where the waves wash over. I used a slow shutter speed to capture the movement of the waves over the stone and instructed my daughter to stay as still as she could for the half-second exposure.

The result for me is a photo of one pausing to contemplate life as the moments rush by.

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me- a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:7-8

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

A Bunch of Potential

Loaded with good intentions, the bunchberry plant grows in northern climates in the U.S. and Canada. This cluster of bunchberries was photographed near the Minnesota-Canada border. Bunchberries have the potential of forming large clusters of berries (hence the name bunchberry), but they seldom do.

Bunchberries depend on insects for pollination to bear fruit. Each blossom has dozens of stamen. When an insect lands on a bunchberry flower, the stamen explode, coating the insect with pollen. From the flower's point of view, the insect then becomes a pollinator when it visits the next flower. From the insect's point of view, it has no further desire to step on any more pollen landmines, so it abandons the bunchberries altogether. Bunchberries seldom produce much fruit, and spread mainly through casting runners which sprout new plants.

I suppose there's an analogy to be made here about failing to reach full potential through flawed thinking and planning, but I'll leave that to you.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Communing with creation

There is more to Grand Marais, Minnesota than stopping by the Beaver House for lures and ammunition before heading up the Gunflint Trail into the Boundary Waters area. There's getting up at 5:00 in the morning to enjoy the sunrise on the harbor. Call me a party animal, but there's something about experiencing God's creation totally undisturbed ... the soft breeze, the haunting cry of loons, the gentle lapping of waves on the rocks. It makes me thankful to be a part of this marvelous, wonderful creation.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Walleye and the Beaver

I got a nice e-mail yesterday from Bill Cronberg, the proprietor of the Beaver House, in response to yesterday’s post.

Thanks for the comments regarding our big fish. It is probably one of the most photographed structures in town. The idea originated from my oldest son, Marty who dreamed of creating the Walleye and having it go through the roof and out the front door. He conceived the idea while a teenager, (he is now in his late 40's). He was able to bring his dream to fruition about 15 years ago when a local artist collaborated with Marty on the construction and then painted the lifelike walleye.

National Geographic, Discover and several other magazines and newspapers have taken pictures of it as well.

Friday Fun Photo

It's not everyday you come across a building with a 30-foot walleye piercing the roof and front corner. But every day is not every day in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Guys up there take their hunting and fishing very seriously, and as far as I can tell the Beaver House enjoys a steady, if unspectacular business selling hunting and fishing gear.

Their specialty, besides the giant walleye which seems to have dropped from the sky, is the house brand of fishing lure, called a Beaver Flick. I know what you were thinking. Shame on you. As far as I can tell from the locals and the Beaver House web site, they are quite blissfully unaware in Grand Marais of the double meaning in their signage. Or maybe it's brilliant small town marketing. No matter.

As stated by the proprietors, Beaver Flicks "are proven fish catchers. They have been used locally with outstanding results. Now our problem is to let the rest of the world know about them."

I'm doing my part to let the world know. You can do your part. Link here, then let your friends know about this post.

The world must know.

Click on photo to enlarge (if you dare). Copyright 2005 James Jordan

On a more serious note ...

Today is my wedding anniversary. My wife and I have enjoyed 27 trips around the sun together. This photograph of said sun was taken at one of our favorite places on earth, Door County, Wisconsin. Baileys Harbor to be exact.

The strange hue of the morning sky was the result of smoke from forest fires that were busy consuming Colorado at the time.

Every life has some trouble. It's pretty much inescapable. My family has had its share. But I think this photo shows there is beauty to be found in the tough times, too.

It's been a great ride.

Fit for a Queen

Early in her reign, Queen Elizabeth II took a whirlwind tour of the outer reaches of her kingdom. Her majesty arrived in Bermuda in November of 1953. One of the places the queen toured was the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. Along the walk up the hill to the lighthouse, she paused to admire the view. This photo gives you an idea of what the Queen saw. I would be pretty certain that she approved of the view. I sure liked it.

Here is a view of the lighthouse itself. You can climb 185 stairs to reach the crow’s nest at the top of the tower. The Queen declined the offer. On my less than royal visit to Bermuda, I went for it. At the top of the stairs, a four-foot tall doorway leads out to the open-air platform, some 360 feet above the ocean below. It’s dizzying. This photo was taken from the crow’s nest in a stiff 20-knot wind by a guy who doesn’t particularly care for high places.

You’re welcome.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

The above historical information is true. Mark D. Roberts today explores what happens when historical fact mixes with fiction.

In the Pink

Everything is pastel in Bermuda. The houses (see the Bermuda pink moongate house, below), the churches, the businesses … even the charter fishing boats. Guys wear pink in Bermuda.

Bermuda’s overriding aesthetic can be traced to the 1930s and the work of the Trade Development Board, who tightly dictated the look and feel of the islands to try to regain what was at that time a lagging tourist trade. The TDB has very successfully created and maintained the “brand experience” of the island by tightly controlling building codes, zoning, even dress codes. Some tourist guides claim you can still be arrested for dressing too casually in Bermuda. Heavy-handed, but effective.

I found this boat docked in St. Georges harbor. The cheerfully compliant houses create a pleasant backdrop along with the Creator's water and sky. I don't believe God is required to meet code in Bermuda. More than likely He was grandfathered in.

Here’s one artist’s take on what could be the very same boat in the photograph above.

Click on image to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan

Distorted Reality?

This is a side street in Hamilton, Bermuda, late on a Sunday afternoon. Few businesses are open on Sunday in Bermuda, so empty streets are a common sight. The combination of buildings built on a steep incline and the distortion of the wide-angle lens creates a bit of a Dali-like warping of reality.

But it was real. I was there. Really.

So one has to wonder ... Is there one reality with one set of truths, or multiple realities with multiple sets of truth? I'm banking on one reality.

Click on photo to enlarge. Copyright 2005 James Jordan


Anti-Itch Meditation has some comments about Mike Tyson's version of reality.