Reflections from the Journey

I used to think that a blank piece of paper was the most frightening yet intriguing object in the known universe.  That piece of paper has now been supplanted by the “Add New Post” screen of WordPress.   I sit here with a laptop on, well, my lap a bit overwhelmed by all the possibilities that a blog creates and, also, excited about started out on a new leg of my Journey.

You see, I have all sorts of ideas lurking in the forest of my mind at any given moment but stalking one of  those wild beasts can be quite an adventure.  If I’m quiet I can sneak up on one and observe it for a while, but ,unfortunately, the process of firing up the computer often scares the idea away.   I like adventure, though, so I resolve to set out into the untamed wilderness in my head to study these fascinating idea creatures much more often.   Lace up your hiking boots and grab a jacket (it rains a lot) and join me for an expedition into the wild!  Come join me for a little while on my Journey, I’d love the company.

Created & Creative by God’s Design,

Rich Nicoloff

Don’t forget to check out my photography: From the Journey Photography

Question #1- In your opinion, do people go to church more or less now than they did 5 years ago?

Now, I knew what they meant by the question but I refuse to perpetuate an unbiblical definition of “church”.  Church is a community of believers and not a place where one can go or an event that one can attend. I can be a part of a church, a member of a church, and I can even meet with a church, but I cannot “go to church.”

Answer #1- I said that I thought that it was the same. Makes sense to me considering in my mind the # of people that “go to church” would be zero at any time. This brings us right to the next question…

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I found out the hard way this evening that I no longer speak Christianese. Oh I can understand it just fine but, my mind refuses to let my tongue speak it. Maybe I should back up a bit and start from the beginning.

After dinner tonight I got in the Jeep to make a quick run to the store to reward my kids with some ice cream (the real stuff, sans high fructose corn syrup, of course.) As I was about to pull out of my drive a car with 3 adults in it pulled up and asked if I was Rich Nicoloff. Now, from what I’ve seen over the past year of living in the “Dark Corner” of the Greenville, SC area there are a LOT of uber-paranoid people ready to blow your head off if you get too close to their property. Luckily for the 3 nice, well meaning folks in that car, I’m not one of them. One of the passengers asks if they may ask me a few questions and knowing all too well what they are going to ask, I acquiesce.

Those of you who don’t know me well are probably wondering why on God’s green earth I would stay if I know why the people are coming to my house? Those of you who know me are already feeling sorry for the people in the car.  Let me just say that I stayed because I don’t pass up a good opportunity to talk about God. Unfortunately, though, I was caught off guard and my mind was already in the grocery store picking out some tasty Mayfield’s chocolate ice cream. I so rarely talk about God with a typical “Bible Belt” Christian that I  forgot that though we worship and pray to the same God we speak a much different language.

Over the next few days I am going to post the questions that were asked, talk a bit about the language differences, and then give my answers in a way that I hope will be understood by most. Stay tuned, this should be fun.

I just noticed that when I moved my website from one web host to another most of my images in my blog posts disappeared. I will get this fixed shortly. Thank you for your patience.

10 years ago I had a 3 week old baby and was wondering into what kind of world I would be raising a kid. I didn’t want anything to do with God, or, especially, religion. I watched the coverage of NY, DC, and PA on Fox News. I was filled with hate and wanted revenge. I was so conservative that I disliked W. for not retaliating fast enough or hard enough. I was readying my guns and making sure I had an evacuation plan together.

But today is a new day and I am a new man. I am thankful to God for opening my eyes and my heart and changing the way I see the world over these last 10 years. I have found a better way. Though, I often fail miserably, I try to seek peace and understanding. I realize that hate only begets hate. I have learned that might does not make right. I see much more of the bigger picture, fuzzy though it may be. And though I still wonder what kind of world my kids are inheriting, it is because I still see too many people who still think the way I used to. Today I shed tears for all the lives that were lost on 9-11-01 and the lives that continue to be lost because of hate, pride, intolerance, imperialism, misunderstanding, etc. I shed tears for lives that are lost, but I am joyful for the life I am gaining and for the hope of a less polarized and more understanding, cooperative, peaceful world. After all, if I can undergo a deep shift in my view of this world, anyone can. May we bless God and all of His Creation with our open eyes, open minds, open hearts, and open hands.

An old friend posed a question on Facebook a few weeks ago that just “popped” into my head a few minutes ago.  I often let these thoughts go when I know I should be writing or typing them down, but the call to share this one is much too loud and insistent to let it go.  My friend, John, asked his friends to give 3 reasons why they believe in God.  Now, before I tell you my response I want to point out that only 5 of his friends responded and I find that pretty disappointing.

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2010 was quite a trip for my family and I.  We navigated a lot of switchbacks, water crossings, and scary drop offs on our way to a nice gain in elevation.

The year started with us wondering just how long Kristie would continue to have a job as an Interior Designer at Gresham, Smith & Partners.  The Charlotte, NC office where she worked had already dwindled from around 2o employees to just 5.  While we knew that she had projects to work on we also knew that those wouldn’t last until the end of the year.  It wasn’t a good start.

The upside to Kristie’s precarious job situation is that it forced her to be serious about finding a new job which is something I had been pestering her about for over a year.  My heart and mind was in the mountains and living in Charlotte/Pineville was killing me inside.   I knew I didn’t belong there, but for some reason God had us staying put.  We (or maybe, just I) still had some lessons to learn.

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Not long ago I was much like most Americans fueling up my vehicles with gasoline, taking my kids to the fast food drive-thru’s,  buying my food at the grocery store, spray fertilizing & weeding my lawn, etc. without much of a second thought.  I did want to conserve energy a bit (& save $$$ a lot!) so I grew a few tomatoes & cucumbers in the summer, kept the thermostat set cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer, watched the “green” shows on HGTV, went hiking and photographing in the woods, fed the birds (& squirrels!) in my yard, I joined the National Wildlife Federation.  Heck, I was even using CFL’s in many of my lamps!  I was “going green” like most folks.  I was no “tree huggin’ environmental wacko,” but I was doing my part.

Now, I’m not saying that any of those things I did to “go green” was wrong, in fact I encourage people to do them.  Please don’t think that I am standing up on some pedestal or sitting up on a “high horse” looking down on anyone.  What I am is a person on a journey that just may be a little bit further along the trail than many, but still lagging behind many others.  I’m here to offer what little guidance and insight I can to what lies ahead if you decide to undertake a similar journey.

Though I would say that God has been preparing the trail for me throughout my life , we can take a look at where I began to tread this particular section of trail:

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A picture may tell a 1,000 words but it still never tells the whole story.  I’m going to take you on a journey back through the lens and out the viewfinder to tell you the story of the making of the image.

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So last night I got you up to speed a bit on what has happened since I 1st told you about the vision/mission  God has given me.  I realized as I was composing that post that I really haven’t given a very clear picture of my vision.  That is what I hope to rectify now.

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Well, it’s been a little over 8 months since I wrote about my dream for the future so I thought I would post an update on what’s been going on.

While I have been learning a LOT, the whole process feels like taking baby steps.  You know the shaky, unsure, off balance kind of steps I’m talking about.  They are cute and part of the learning process, but they don’t cover much distance.   Here is a sampling of some of the baby steps I (along with my family) have taken:

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