In Memory of Andy Larson
This past weekend my wifes family celebrated the life of their father/grandfather/greatgrandfather Andy.
Andy was born in the early 1900’s and lived as a strong husband, father, carpenter, farmer and finally a business man. But these trades in no way describe the inspirational person Andy was and still is.
As I’m sitting here writing this tears are coming to my eyes, as I simply think about this mans character. He truly was living as Chirst desires his disciples to live.
Kindness poured from him, I only knew him when he and Carol (Rachels grandmother) were in the nursing home together, but I distinctly remember the first time shaking his hand and feeling a sense of peace some over me. When listening to stories about his life from many different people they all seemed to center around this gentle helpful spirit (people were not just being polite he actually lived his life to this tune).
During the summers Andy and Carol would take the grandkids for weeks at a time. Rachel describes this time as simply amazing. Her grandparents made the time to take the kids for weeks at a time. It seemed to me as I’ve heard story upon story about the RV that they had and how they basically traveled from one family to the next to spend time with them and lend them a helping hand how lucky they all were. I think of most grandparents as being retired and doing what they want to do, golfing, tinkering around in the shop, doing almost anything except taking the grandkids for weeks at a time.
It seemed like Andy and Carol took this weight upon themselves that they didn’t have to, they did it by choice, much like I feel I am called to live like Christ and take part of his burden upon me. Every day I forget to do this but the way Andy lived day in and day out showed that it wasn’t a choice he had to make, he just did it. A great story about this generosity was their was a family member who was in need and he gave the RV to them to help them out. That shows the priority which people were in Andy and Carols life.
Andy was a member of his small community of Dawson, MN for 57 years and people described him as handy Andy. He could fix just about anything and helped everyone. At his funeral the church was packed, and a good chunk of it was family but typically for a man in his 90’s you don’t have that many people at the funeral. His impact on this world was and still is amazing and it lives on in his family and lives on in me.
As some day I want to be a father, I can think of no better example than the life which he led (besides Jesus) to model. He was and will always be remembered as a loving man who walked the footsteps of Jesus. Andy you inspire me and many others.
Success but never satisfied
Look at this Happy couple, I loved shooting this wedding for Jayna and John it was such a fun time. Great people in a relationship that you know is going to last a lifetime. One of my favorite pictures is when he saw her walking down the isle he started crying
It is an honor to be a part of someone’s wedding day, which brings me to the point of this blog post.
A friend asked me if I was going to advertise in the twin cities bridal magazine, it has huge coverage of the area and vendors and basically any bride getting married will have this to look for everything from reception sites to photographers. I thought about it and said “no”, why would i do that? I’m not trying to toot my own horn here but as a company we have already booked out over 18 weddings for next year, this time last year i had about 3 booked so that is a drastic improvement.
But I was contacted by two potential clients the other day who seemed like they were sold on Capital photography we were talking about getting things finalized with contracts, which made me feel like this
But then I was contacted by one saying that they went with another photography company and another saying that they were checking one more option before they made a choice. My heart sank. I felt like I was a middle school relationship that had gone south and I was left eating my lunch alone for the first time since my relationship had started over two weeks ago.
Kind of Alone!
Of course people need to have the photographer that is best for them and with how busy we are going to be I’m not worried about filling the dates. For any number of reasons they decided to go with someone else. But why do I feel this emotional connection with potential clients let alone the clients I have or are going to shoot.
I thought about it and it became clear. I want every couple that gets married to have awesome photos and not be disappointed in any way about the results from their wedding photographer. And the only photographer I can control is myself, I know I’m capable of taking great wedding photos as well as making the wedding day photos fun for everyone involved. So when someone decides to go with someone else I worry for them thus causing my heart ache.
So in the end there is no real point to this blog post except the fact that I’m a saap and I’m way to invested in producing quality results for my clients
To distract you watch this commercial for Capital Photography below
I’ll take you back
Sometimes I find myself holding back tears, this is pretty rare but there used to be a time in my life when I could not cry no matter how much I wanted or needed too.
I thought I was invincible, like a rock, nothing could shake me and in essence i was sort of proud of that. What had gotten me to that point was a combination of many things but mostly the divorce of my parents my freshman year of college in 2001.
So why am I so different now? simply put Jesus, I truly have been healed in the deepest ways possible and I feel SO alive.
Many times I wonder what is a relationship with Jesus really like? and I could never really figure it out, it is so intangible. I mean when we pray don’t we just throw words out their and expect God to hear them, or do we expect Him to interact with us. I had always been told growing up that I needed to have a “personal” relationship with Jesus. But no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I learned it never really felt all that personal to me. That personal relationship felt more like a brick wall.
My breaking point was no definite moment but more so of a revelation that occurred over time, its simple, he will take me back, time and time again, no strings attached (which doesn’t seem fair but thats just the way it is). Much of my “relationship” with God was fueled by this sort of guilt about all of the sin I have in my life. But that is not what relationship is about it is simply about dwelling with each other simply as we are. Many times people get hung up on the fact that they have to change things before they can become a Christ follower or just be OK with God. That mentality is something that many Christians keep in their hearts which not only doesn’t allow the freedom of Christ in their own lives but really makes them miserable. BOTTOM LINE CHRIST CAME TO SET US FREE
Look at this image, I took it the other day behind my apartment. Just beautiful. I stood there and took it all in. It didn’t cost me a thing, all I had to do was accept it for what it was an enjoy it
Much like that I just need to accept who I am and rejoice in all God created me to be.
I will close my little blog post with this. As I sat at Black Hawk Church last week, pastor Chris was telling “the story” click here to listen to the sermon entitled “the rescue” as I sat there I felt overcome, my eyes wanted to pour out tears and I heard a small voice inside of me over and over again “I would do it again for you, you were worth it”
He would do it again for me and for you, time and time again. Rejoice in that, cherish its simplicity and be free to enjoy your freedom in Christ
