For Father’s Day, my daughters gave me one of those nifty snap-on 4-in-1 lens converters for my iPhone. It gives you four options of two macro views, wide-angle and fisheye. Since I rarely use anything but my iPhone for photography now, I have been looking for an attachment that will give me a little more versatility and allow me to dabble with different perspectives. I’ve been trying it out and have noticed each lens lets me see something different. The subject doesn’t change but the view does. And when the view changes, it even affects the way I feel about the object. It’s not just a closer look or a wider look. It’s the ability to capture (imperfectly) what I want to see and what I want to pass along to others. Photography is another kind of language. A picture should not substitute for 1,000 words, but it should be a suitable companion for a few. That is why I like the combination of quotes and photos. They fit.
But this week that snap-on has become something of a metaphor for a couple of events and how we can view them. In the midst of hundreds of news items while we were on vacation there were two that made me stop and focus. The first was the cold-blooded killing in Charleston. We had been visiting Charleston that week as we have for more than 35 years. We love the city and the people and “our day in Charleston” has become a fixed part of our family time together.
The second was the news that Tullian Tchividjian had stepped down from his position at Coral Gables Presbyterian Church. It seems every headline began with “Billy Graham’s grandson” and only later in the article do we find out who that is. I have some experience living in the shadow of a well-known father and am grateful I did not have to live without an identity of my own but being known always as the grandson of probably the most well-known and loved person in the world. As I’ve said before, it is one thing to grow up in the shade of a towering figure where there is protection from harm and the provision of a place to rest. It is another thing—and quite different—from growing up in the shadow of one where you are invisible or at least hidden except when exposed.
So, this week I have snapped on my new lenses and realized I can choose my view. If I look at the macro of these and focus down into the core of each I will probably see the same thing. I will see a heart that has become dry and an individual who has drifted without there being anyone around capable of checking their impulses and loss of direction. As Annie Dillard has said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” It is the layering of one flawed decision after another that leads to that final shattering of a life. But with that same lens I can swing around and peer into the hearts of those who lost loved ones and there I see common greatness, kindness and forgiveness that is not the result of a crisis but has been built over many, many years.
I can look through the fisheye of the media and see a completely distorted picture of both. Not only the foreground and central figure is out of proportion but everything in the background is curved out of focus and has little to add for context. That’s the dramatic value of the fisheye. The angle increases but there is little that is true. There is an illusion of capturing a broader picture but it is deceptive. The farther the object from center, the greater the curved distortion. While the media pretends to be wide-angle, it is really “curved” with the immediate being grossly enlarged and the sides of the story being irrelevant and underreported.
On the other hand, I can choose to look through the wide angle lens and, hopefully, capture more but without distortion. I have more “depth of field” which allows me to see not just the foreground detail but what is in the background. I may lose some of the dramatic and intentional curving of the media. I will certainly lose the deeper look into the intimate details of each individual involved but I think my perspective improves.
Of course, what I really need is a time-lapse feature that will allow me to see the unfolding of each story and to see what is lost and irrecoverable and what is, in the end, redeemed. That is where I turn to Scripture and can look through that lens. Instead of distorting the immediate or making the distant irrelevant, the Bible captures and creates a focus that is perfect.
But this week that snap-on has become something of a metaphor for a couple of events and how we can view them. In the midst of hundreds of news items while we were on vacation there were two that made me stop and focus. The first was the cold-blooded killing in Charleston. We had been visiting Charleston that week as we have for more than 35 years. We love the city and the people and “our day in Charleston” has become a fixed part of our family time together.
The second was the news that Tullian Tchividjian had stepped down from his position at Coral Gables Presbyterian Church. It seems every headline began with “Billy Graham’s grandson” and only later in the article do we find out who that is. I have some experience living in the shadow of a well-known father and am grateful I did not have to live without an identity of my own but being known always as the grandson of probably the most well-known and loved person in the world. As I’ve said before, it is one thing to grow up in the shade of a towering figure where there is protection from harm and the provision of a place to rest. It is another thing—and quite different—from growing up in the shadow of one where you are invisible or at least hidden except when exposed.
So, this week I have snapped on my new lenses and realized I can choose my view. If I look at the macro of these and focus down into the core of each I will probably see the same thing. I will see a heart that has become dry and an individual who has drifted without there being anyone around capable of checking their impulses and loss of direction. As Annie Dillard has said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” It is the layering of one flawed decision after another that leads to that final shattering of a life. But with that same lens I can swing around and peer into the hearts of those who lost loved ones and there I see common greatness, kindness and forgiveness that is not the result of a crisis but has been built over many, many years.
I can look through the fisheye of the media and see a completely distorted picture of both. Not only the foreground and central figure is out of proportion but everything in the background is curved out of focus and has little to add for context. That’s the dramatic value of the fisheye. The angle increases but there is little that is true. There is an illusion of capturing a broader picture but it is deceptive. The farther the object from center, the greater the curved distortion. While the media pretends to be wide-angle, it is really “curved” with the immediate being grossly enlarged and the sides of the story being irrelevant and underreported.
On the other hand, I can choose to look through the wide angle lens and, hopefully, capture more but without distortion. I have more “depth of field” which allows me to see not just the foreground detail but what is in the background. I may lose some of the dramatic and intentional curving of the media. I will certainly lose the deeper look into the intimate details of each individual involved but I think my perspective improves.
Of course, what I really need is a time-lapse feature that will allow me to see the unfolding of each story and to see what is lost and irrecoverable and what is, in the end, redeemed. That is where I turn to Scripture and can look through that lens. Instead of distorting the immediate or making the distant irrelevant, the Bible captures and creates a focus that is perfect.