random photo

here's a photo from the other day.
this is micah's cat, and he was hanging out in my room, so i took a picture.

food for thought

just something to think about.
what kids are eating, and also what we are eating.

brief web update

just a quick note about a couple things i just updated.

on the sidebar on the right you'll see a section called 'places to go' i've just updated that to include a few more things of mine.

and if you know anyone getting married next year, on my photography site i decided to do a end of year special and reduced my price from $3600 down to $3000. that price is only good for couples that book before jan 1st. the actual wedding date can of course be anytime in the next year.

for 09 i'm going to be revamping allot of things and making some big changes to my web presence.

so take a moment to go check out those links. and then come back next year to see what i've come up with.

Costa Rica: day 5, 6, 7 and home.

so the last few days flew past, we traveled into the mountains and then back down, saw lots of great views, went to many churches, ministered to lots of people.
we also didn't have much time or internet, so blogging and slideshows didn't happen like the first few days.
but now we're back home, safe and sound, and starting to catch up on things.
here are the last three slideshows:
day 5
day 6
day 7
the image at the top of this post is a little digital painting i did on my iPhone while on the plane back.

click here for Joe's post

Costa Rica: day4

well it's almost 1 am, today was quite a long day for me,
got up around 8:30, had breakfast, and then shortly after i went to help out one of the guys here with some photoshop, video, and mac tricks.
from there i came back to the house, grabbed my camera stuff, and we were off on a 3hr drive to where we ministered tonight.
i'm pretty much falling asleep sitting here, so i'll jump to the conclusion, and say it was a great night, i really feel Gods love flowing, and i was happy for the entire bumpy, curvy, hilly, 3hr ride back.

pictures are on Joe's post
link for the larger slideshow is right here

goodnight everyone

Costa Rica: day3

Today went really well. again i'm going to point you to Joe's post about today for his take on the day.

After breakfast i helped out with some stuff for their website, sharing what i know.

From there we went downtown San Jose to take care of a few things and had a nice lunch.

Tonight Joe and i tried out creating a narrated slideshow. and i think it came out great.
photos by me, voice and guitar by joe.
so turn on your sound and click play below, or click here to see the big version.

Costa Rica: day2

today went very well, the flights were on time and we had no problems going through the various airports and such.

tonight we went to a church and ministered to some students there. check out Joe's post for a slideshow of some images i took of that.

no video tonight, the time here is going to be pretty busy so i'm not sure if i'll have time to edit together videos on the trip. but definitely keep checking back for updates while we're here, and then videos once we're back in the states.

speaking of the states, if the news predictions are true about our next president, there's no question that now is the time for the church to get in gear and function properly as the body of christ should.
these are going to be some challenging times coming up sooner than we realize.

it's time to grow closer to God our father, and be led by the spirit in everything we do.

busy day tomorrow.
goodnight

Costa Rica: day1

Well we had a interesting start. Read Joe’s entry on today for his perspective.
Basically, there wasn’t enough time left till his passport expired, so they couldn’t let him go.
Here’s a quick video from shortly after we found out.

Only option was to get it renewed downtown chicago.
So off we went downtown, and enjoyed the beautiful day around the city.

here's some pictures from the day: (click here to view larger)

Successfully renewed the passport, enjoyed the day, and we’re all set to head off to the airport again in a few hours from now.

To everyone that’s been praying for us, Thank You!, you’re prayers pave the way and make everything we’re doing possible.

Abortion, from my perspective

Elections are coming up fast, many people have even taken advantage of the option to vote early, and have already cast their vote. I will be voting early as well, since I’m going to be out of the country on the 4th. Now on to the topic of this post.

As with every election, one of the hot topics is abortion.
Pro-life on one side pro-choice on the other.
Some people base 100% of their voting decision on this one issue.
Groups spend tons of time and money fighting for their side. Pro life people want it made illegal, pro choice people want to make it easily available.
But here’s the thing, everyone is missing the point, focusing precious resources on the symptom not the problem.
The problem is not the procedure. It is the demand for the procedure.
Think about it, it’s just like any business, no demand means no facilities needed.

At this point some of you may be thinking “Ok mark, you’re talking in ideals. but the reality is, there is demand”

So here’s what’s going on, take a look around, look at the society we live in, glance at the entertainment. We live in a society that says, sex outside marriage is great, everyone is having sex, enjoying it, having a good time, wear a condom and you’ll be fine.
Find a more dramatic show where a girl actually gets pregnant, and society and cultural norm pipe right up saying abortion is the best option, just take care of the problem so you can continue to live your life.

Why does no one tell the girls that when you have sex with multiple partners, her body will begin to release less and less of the natural chemical that is designed to bond her to her husband and deepen her love for him(this is the same exact chemical produced when a mother nurses her child. Which bonds her to her baby.)
The result of this is sex begins to have very little significance to her, the rush of that chemical slowly goes away, and before long sex=nothing. And when she eventually get’s married, her feelings towards sex stay exactly the same, and the marital relationship suffers.
The world leads the young to believe that the only possible consequences are STDs and pregnancy, and turns right around and says, but if you use proper protection you’ll be fine.

Why does no one tell the young that yes, sex is great, it’s a gift from God, but pregnancy is not the only risk, having pre-marital sex will rob them of the joy that it is supposed to bring in your marriage.

Sex has become so taboo in christian circles, resulting in no one talking about it, the truths are not taught. And the kids are left with few options to answer their questions, so they accept the worlds ideas, and learn about it on the internet, and they end up with a perverted truth about sex and what it is. and cheap pornographic ideas about what it should be like.
And all they hear from the church is “don’t have sex before marriage”
without any deep reasons or convictions that doesn't hold up against the pressure of the world for long.

Come on church, we are the body of Christ, and we’re not doing our job.
You never saw Jesus shying away from tough and challenging topics.
Most christians live a watered down existence, staying away from anything that in their mind might offend someone, or “push them away from God.”
But the reality is, people are starving for something real and genuine, they see right through the soft christian facade most churches front, and they see a bunch of baby immature people, who have little to no reality or genuineness about their relationship with God. And they come to the conclusion that christianity is nothing, so they move on to other religions till they find something real that fills the need they have inside.
And you know what, these starving people are not just people who grew up with no beliefs. statistics say that 80% of people leaving high school and going to college, stop going to church with zero plans of going back.
Do you hear this? These starving people that are searching for something real, are our own kids, kids that grew up in the church.
And if the church doesn’t wake up and start behaving like the body of Christ, this is going to continue.
And the next generation in their search for truth will accept the worlds perverted truths about every area of life.

You want to make this country a better place? Start focusing on the problems instead of wasting valuable time trying to fix a symptom.

some more info on the costa rica trip

Hey Everyone,
 
In case you haven’t heard yet, and didn't read my last post, I’m going on a mission trip November 3-10.
This is going to be my first….everything(mission trip, flying outside the US)
My pastor has asked me to accompany him on a trip to Costa Rica. We’ll be working in churches, bible schools and the ministry of a missionary there who reaches all throughout Central America.
Personally I’ll be helping out in the area of computers, and capturing the trip with photography and video.

so really really soon, just over 1 week.
if you'd like to help out with the trip here are some ways for you to get involved:

1. Pray for us!
When you’re going on a trip like this the devil doesn’t like it much and will do everything he can to oppose it. So prayer is very much needed.
Pray for our safety
Pray for our effectiveness
Pray that God’s will be accomplished

2. Help with the finances of the trip.
The trip will cost around $1,000 per person, $3000 altogether ,
this will include some extra money that we can give to those in need while we’re there.
Tax-deductible gifts can be sent to
Family Life, PO Box 585 Glen Ellyn, IL 60185-0585
or you could give on-line at www.familylife.cc/donate
  on that page you’ll see this:

If you’d like to add any notes along with the donation, when you’re on the confirm donation screen you’ll see the option to add note:

click that and type whatever you’d like.

3. Hopefully this doesn't come across as selfish, but you can help with my personal financial needs. I’ll be using a good amount of my personal equipment to do this, computer and cameras that i've invested allot in. So any extra monies to help me out with upkeep and accessories would be a huge help.
 
No pressure to give any money, but please do pray.
thanks for reading

what's happening?

hi to my few readers, (probably more than i realize, this is the internet after all)

been over a month since my last post.

here's a bit of what's been happening in my life:

-(aug 21st) had a birthday, i'm 23 now.

-bought a 40d and a boda dry lens bag to have for the wedding. love this camera, nice improvement over my old 20d.

-(aug 31st) shot the wedding of a good friend of mine in oklahoma.
drove down with a couple great friends of mine who helped me out with the wedding and in general just made the trip great.

-(forgot the date) went to the free to succeed tour, helped video it, and got to hang out with a few of the guys afterwards, ended up with a part time job. that was fun. just officially started the job recently. yey for extra income.

hmm what else

OH!
-(sep 22) applied for my passport, in prep for...
-(nov 3-10) i'm going on a mission trip with Joe Barlow, going to San Jose, Costa Rica. i'll be working with a guy down there doing computer stuff(since that's one of my strong points), as well as taking photographs and video.
should be a really amazing trip.
a really good friend is super excited for me, which has actually made me pretty excited to go.

i've not gone to bed till around 4am the last few saturday nights, sundays i have to wake up at 6am to get ready, looks like the pattern continued this week.
actually i've been staying up till about 4 every night this week, i just usually don't have to wake up early.
i told andrew i'd try to get to bed earlier tonight, didn't happen.

for those that know what twitter is, you can follow me here.
i post random things there roughly once a day.

well that's all that's coming to mind, time to get in bed and at least get a little rest before i have to work in the morning.

i'd say that i'll be trying to post more often, but i've done that many times and it didn't happen, so till next time...i'll be off living life.

published

this came as a result of being part of a art exhibit you can read about it in my previous posts here and here
i guess outreach magazine heard about it somehow, and did this little article:

to clarify, the being published refers to the image of my painting.

the state of my life

Lots of thoughts going through my head at the moment, hopefully this won’t be to difficult to read.
The image above is my room, as it is right now, as you can see the entire surface of my desk is covered with things. I have allot of things. A list that would take a long long time to write out. So why is it that it’s so easy to focus to much on the things I don’t have, the next item on my “to get” list. The list does have a end, but I get the feeling that the closer you get to the end of the current list, the more the list grows beneath that. I’ve discovered I’m amazingly good at spending, basically everything I make. Every expenditure of course has a good reason behind it.
You see, I have allot of interests, just look at my website, and I’ve managed to turn most of them into businesses, which of course all require certain things(equipment) to do well. In essence, I work to buy things to enable me to work more. I do enjoy what I do, so I look forward to all this.
This brings me to something I’ve been thinking allot about for awhile. God has given me allot of talents, probably more than I know of.
So I’ve been thinking allot about why, why has he given me all this, and how should I be using them. And you know what I’ve come up with….i still don’t know. But here’s what I do know, my purpose in life, I never thought I knew this before, I always thought it would be something along the lines of a job description, like “my purpose in life is to paint beautiful images that capture the attention of the viewer and awaken their imaginations.” While that does sound pretty nice, I’m learning that is not my purpose, that may be part of what I’m supposed to do, I don’t know, but it’s not the underlying purpose.
It’s so easy to get caught up worrying about specifics, check out matthew 6:25-34 that whole thing is good, here’s the part that’s really hitting home with me right now:

“What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.”

So what’s my purpose? My purpose is not about me, I have to quit living a life for me, focused on me. My purpose is not inward focused, it’s outwards focused, to love my God with everything that’s in me, to love others with the same kind of love God has for me.
If I simply do this, and follow His direction through this life of love, I will fulfill my purpose, and use all of my talents as He intended for them to be used.

This is really good

Ok so I'm posting from my iPhone so this isn't going to be long.
But I was just readings Romans today (chapter 1-8) in the message bible version.
And I just want to say that if you've ever struggled with sin in the past and couldn't seem to stop doing those things no matter how hard you tried, take the time to read this.
It talks allot about what God has done for you and His love for you.
If you don't have a bible in that version go to bible gateway.com you can read it there.

That's all for now. God loves you, truly, never forget that.

i just read a good book...well, not technically a book.

Ok so there’s this guy, Max Hsu, producer, song writer, photographer, pretty much your standard multi talented guy.
The other day I found out about his blog from david jay, DJ said to go check out his blog for some incredible photography.
I’ll just say this, I went for the photography, and stayed for the writing.
Tons of really good advice and wisdom about creating, and life in general.

Something he talked about a few times is if you want to do something, spend 15 minutes a day doing it, because you’ll go so much farther 15 minutes a day than if you spent 3hrs on saturday, as saturday never comes.
Inspired by this I’ve just started something I’m calling “the 15min list”
The things that will go on this list are those things that I want to do, but I never seem to do.
Here’s what it looks like so far:

In case your wondering, that’s a dashboard widget called checkmarker, and it’s really handy for keeping track of things.

So, go check out Max’s blog, I ended up reading the entire thing, beginning to now. Had me laughing, learning, and being seriously challenged to change how I live my life.
Also somewhat inspired me to share more of my knowledge and things I have learned and will learn. So look for some for stuff from me in the future.

chocolate slavery

two words that should never be related, but this is a sad reality.
it's no secret that i'm a fan of chocolate.
what you may not know is that the majority percentage of the worlds chocolate is produced on the ivory cost of africa, and in large part the labor is provided by child slave labor.
i'm not going to repeat allot of information here, but do a google search for "chocolate slavery" and you'll find lots of information on the topic.

so what can you do to make a difference? how can we change a multi billion dollar industry?
first thing you should know, you vote with your dollars, every time you buy something you are saying "i approve of this item, keep making it exactly the same" corporations could care less about letters/phone calls/petitions. what they care about is money.

at this point you're possibly saying something along the lines of, "i'm just one consumer, the small amount i spend isn't impacting anything"
and this is possibly true on it's own, but through being conscious of what you spend your money on, and also telling others why, educating others, then we can start to make a difference. knowledge is power, the more people that are knowledgeable about their purchase decisions, the more power we have, the more influence we have.

so a buying guide for chocolate:
forget the major brands like Mars, Hershey's and Nestle. they could care less about the fact that they're the reason for the slavery.
instead, look for organic chocolate, it's better for you, often tastes better, and is slave free.
the other option, look for fair trade certified. fair trade guarantees that the producer was paid a fair price for their goods.
and fair trade isn't just chocolate, make a effort to buy fair trade as much as possible, check out their site for more info. www.fairtradecertified.org

if you can find fair trade certified organic chocolate, that's some good stuff.

so in the future, think twice before grabbing that candy bar, you can make a difference in the world, simply make knowledgeable decisions, and share information with the people you know.

and if you want to buy me chocolate, you know what to look for.

UPDATE: read the comments for some additional info from a guest poster and myself.

6/2/08

So
I’m 22
Almost 23 (aug 21st, in case you were wondering)

I remember sometime awhile ago I told a friend, if I’m still living at home at 23 I need to seriously re-evaluate my life. Here I am, less than three months away, no where closer to being financially independent than I was when I said that. So I’m thinking maybe I should go ahead and start that re-evaluation.

I thought about going and getting a job, maybe somewhere like a music store, that would be cool, regular hours, regular income, around instruments all the time.
But now thinking about it again, how irresponsible would that be, I already have a list of things that I haven’t done, that need to be done, what kind of character would be to say to those people “sorry I haven’t done that for you yet, but hey I just got another job and I’m busy so it’s going to be even longer.” So in that way getting a ‘regular’ job would look responsible from one angle and irresponsible from another.

Hmmm…responsibility: the state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something.

The problem becomes clear, it’s me, my complete lack of being responsible, keeping my word in a timely manner. I can name several projects off the top of my head that should have been done months ago. How can I sanely expect higher levels of income, when my work habits are exactly the same as they’ve always been, which in essence comes down to “oil the squeaky wheel and as long as nothing is squeaking then it’s all good” the squeak usually being a email.

So, why am I posting this for the world to see, (possibly including clients past/present/future, and my boss.) the answer to that being accountability. When everyone knows your habits, everyone knows the reasons things are the way they are. And they know when to call you out and challenge what you’re doing.

So here’s what up, I need to change, I need to get my life on track, this involves going against the grain of deeply rooted habits, aka, not easy. But completely necessary if I want my life to expand beyond the 8 walls of my room(my room isn’t exactly square.) and making about 1k a month.

So, look for changes to start happening, if you don’t see anything, send me a email markATbymarkcollinsDOTcom, or contact me in any other way you have access to.

thinking right

so this image you see here is actually the logo i designed for new generation entertainment. the concept being thoughts and ideas coming from God.
i'm realizing more and more that this isn't just a better way to create entertainment, this is a better way to live life.
so this image is now the wall paper on my cell phone, to remind me that i need to stay connected up to God.
check out isaiah 55 especially the first half of the chapter.
the point being, life spent thinking Gods thoughts instead of your own, i believe this is the best way to live.
i'm using this logo to continually remind myself to keep my mind in line. you're welcome to do the same.

Sabbath Center - may 08 retreat

Just wanted to write a quick post to share some images with you.(click above image to launch slideshow)
I went on a prayer retreat from sunday evening through tuesday morning at the sabbath center.
It was a really good time, resting for one, hanging out and talking with the other guys that came(Joe Barlow, Rob Ritacco, Roger Flanagan) and also walking and just hanging out with God.
In the slideshow you’ll see pretty much all the images I took minus the bad ones that I deleted. Driving in, the morning walk, and the evening walk.
If you get bored of it be sure to at least go to the end and take a look a the couple panorama and HDR(high dynamic range) images. the image in this post is my favorite of the HDR ones.

a good message on how the church should operate

i heard about this guy named kris vallotton recently in a post on sarah's blog.

i just listened to a message he gave titled Living In Covenant. and it really speaks allot about how the church should be operating.
here's the link to the podcast, i really recommend taking a listen.