Here we are in another day. The sky is a brilliant blue. The temp is comfortable, or was when I entered the building. Today and tomorrow are work days for me. Finishing up the amazing opportunity to take photographs and put together a photo directory for Redeemer Lutheran Church in Cuyahoga Falls.
But alas, that is not the topic of the day.

My dear best friend got a camera for her birthday. What fun, now we can both walk around with a lens in the middle of our face. My friend is what I call a “button pusher”. She is an Associate Professor and Program Director of x-ray. One day as I observed her class, I realized all she does is push buttons, hence the name. Now, there are other definitions of “button pusher” as you well know. I actually have been told that I have pushed the “wrong button” or “I keep pushing buttons”, or “You don’t want to push my buttons.” Hmm? We do have one button in common, the one on the camera.

She does push a button in her profession; it’s not the push of the button but all the information, technology and thought that goes into pushing it. To take an x-ray you must know math, who would have thought? You should really have a grasp on anatomy, communication and presentation skills, passion and compassion; you must also have a strong stomach and not be squeamish, and you must be willing to place yourself in the patient’s shoes, or open-ended robe. You also need to know how the machine you are using each day works. Let’s just say there is one heck of a lot that goes into her pushing that button.

I on the other hand, just push the button. I have been known to say things other people want to but don’t. I have learned, they don’t say them for a reason. If gas pedals were buttons boy howdy. I have a button on my camera that I push and it captures a second in time. That one second cannot be redone, re-created or repeated. Believe me I have tried. And it can never be the same, ever. Close yes, exact, nope. God has blessed me with an eye, or brain, or skill for photos. Take photographs requires a lot for a person as well. You need to know all the technical stuff, f stops, depth of field, lighting, shutter speed, focal length, communication and presentation skills, and casual nature. Then there is composition, angles, direct and indirect. Phew. I thought I just pushed the button.

Life, buttons, people, focus and communication…I didn’t really stop to think how alike our button pushing is. X-ray machines to cameras, really the same in a way. They both take pictures, one looking out, the other looking in, a perspective really. My friend and I are total opposites when it comes to personality. She is mild-mannered and calm, and I, well; we all know how I have been. What I have noticed is much like her x-ray machine she looks inside before she speaks, or reacts. I let the outside influence my action and reaction. There is a happy medium here; I just have to find it. Knowing when to push the button is important. The calibration need to be correct for a safe x-ray. The timing needs to be spot on for a photo. Speaking out can change a life, and remaining quiet can be educational.

“Oh, look a chicken!” What if an x-ray could reveal Jesus in you?! Wow! Or maybe not so Wow if you have stuffed him down, or hidden Him. What would your x-ray look like? Where is Christ? Will the x-ray reveal Him In your heart? in your soul (core)?, In your mind? It should be all of those places and more. He should fill us! I know that I have stuffed Jesus away, tried to hide. But it doesn’t work.

I know that photographs can capture the beauty and splendor of God in oh so many ways. And there are those photos, those moments you try to capture that are beyond our ability. Moments that God has given us, and only us. No photo can do it justice, no x-ray can find, a moment from God. It is simply ineffable.

Amen