In December 2010, I started DaybreakPics.com. This is the name of my photography business. I also have a Facebook page that I update more regularly. My Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/DaybreakPics.

So how did a hobby turn into something more? I’ve always been interested in photography. Growing up, I would be the one in the family holding the camera and taking the pictures. Prior to last year, I only owned a point and shoot camera. Summer 2010 was a major turning point. It was at this time, my wife and I were travelling to Hawaii to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. My boss insisted I take his camera to take pictures. His camera is a Nikon D40. As soon as I started using this DSLR camera, I was hooked.

It was after that trip that I began to learn more on how to take pictures properly. My boss would always have his camera at the office and he would encourage me to take photos whenever we had a special event at church. As I continued to take pictures, the quality of my pictures started to improve.

In November 2010, I received one of the biggest surprises in my life. Craig Groeschel asked me to his family’s photos for Christmas. I was honored, excited, humbled, overwhelmed, and scared all at the same time. Thankful, I composed myself just long enough to be able to say, “Sure.”

Craig and Amy Groeschel

Since taking those photos for Craig, God has opened doors for me to take more photos and get better at it. There’s this one photo shoot that I’m doing this week that I’m particularly excited about. I’ll tell you more about that one tomorrow.

Do I have plans to do photography on a full-time basis? Not likely. As excited as I am about photography, that excitement pales in comparison to how excited I am to be serving at LifeChurch.tv. I love to watch God work in peoples’ lives and transform them. My plans are to serve at LifeChurch.tv on a full-time and take pictures on a part-time basis.

So if you live in the OKC area and are in need of a photographer, I hope that you would consider me. I’d also appreciate it if you would check out more of my work at www.facebook.com/DaybreakPics. While you’re there, it would be awesome if you became a fan by liking my page.

More to come tomorrow…

More recent work

To read a web-friendly version of the article, you can go to the magazine’s website, by clicking here.

At the end of July, I began working at Starbucks as a barista.  That’s right.  For 20 hours a week, I’ll be making lattes, cappuccinos, and frappuccinos.

I’m still working full-time at LifeChurch.tv.  But in addition to that, I’ll also be working at Starbucks a few nights a week and on Saturday mornings.  We’re using the cash this job provides to get out of debt.  Dave Ramsey would be proud.

It’s been a challenge learning all the different drink recipes.  As you can imagine, there are a lot of them.  Thankfully, it is starting to come together.  The next challenge for me will be to remember all the crazy drink orders, like a half caf, triple shot, Venti 6 pump vanilla latte with whip, and figuring out how to ring it up correctly at the register.

The people at the store that I am working at are very nice.  They have been very welcoming and supportive. They quickly found out that I am the oldest person working there.  They’re shocked when I tell them that I’ve been married 16 years and have a 14 year old son.

There are several things that I am excited about with this new job.  One is to start to make some progress on the debt we’ve accumulated.  It’s been over a year since we’ve used the credit card, but we haven’t made a real dent in reducing the debt.  This extra income will help.  The next reason I’m excited to be at Starbucks is because I get to observe a world class organization from the inside.  Whatever you think of Starbucks, there is no denying that they are the leader in their industry.  I always like to learn how successful organizations get that way and stay that way.  But what I am most excited about is that I finally get to interact with people who don’t go to church.

Since I started working in full-time ministry six years ago, I never seem to interact with people who don’t go to church.  I work with Christians, hang out with Christians.. pretty much to do everything with other Christians.  There was never any point in inviting them to church, because they were already there.

It will be nice to interact with people who don’t go to church.  My prayer is that I will be a good representative of Christ to my co-workers and that I’d actually be able to invite them to church.

So if you find yourself in the Edmond/Oklahoma City area, stop by and pay me a visit.  I’m at the store on Memorial and MacArthur.

So thank you again for praying.  And I’ll try to post more often.

The surgery will last two to three hours.  To minimize the time that Caleb is under, two surgeons will be work on both feet simultaneously.  Thankfully, this is considered an outpatient procedure.

The challenge will be his recovery.  Caleb will have to be off of his feet for the next eight weeks.  It’s going to be hard for him to be confining to a wheelchair for that long.

Please pray that everything would go well tomorrow and the recovery would go better than expected.  Thanks.

We received a very detailed outline of the event from Fox today, which they call the Operations Book.  They think of everything.  They even had a plan for an emergency evacuation of their crew, if necessary.

I’m very excited to see things start to take shape tomorrow.