Praise God for giving His patience to believers.

Pray that we would rest in God’s forgiveness. We want the true motivation of love, not regret or self-righteousness.

Luke 8:11-15
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Me and Kidd, again.

I walk out of my condo’s front door, with joel, kidd rock and his manager walk in, with a sales lady, and I continue with joel to his car. I have made joel 45 minutes late already, “But kidd rock is walking into my building looking for a house”.
“Joel, I have to do something”.
Joel and I walk back into my building and go up to my 7th floor condo. Kidd is on the 8th floor looking at the best condo open for the market.
I stage joel at the elevator and I go into my house to look for my last biz card. I peak out, “Has the elevator moved?” Nope.
My last biz card was found and Joel and I were at the elevator door. “What are we waiting for?’
“Like clockwork, The elevator will go up, I will click the down button, and we will be in the elevator with Kidd Rock, in my house. But we are only going to wait 5 minutes.
Four minutes later the elevator warms up and goes up one floor. My heart rate escalates, but I keep it cool.
I hear the door open up a floor above mine ,”Like Clockwork” I mention to Joel again, and proceed to click the button to go down.
The elevator stopped and opened up to my floor and there was Kidd Rock, with his agent.
Joel and I went in.
I looked across at Kidd Rock and said, “We have mutual friends”.
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, Clay Patrick McBride. (kidd rocks prime photographer/awesome dude), We taught a workshop together in NY a few years back”.
Kidd looked at me with a smile because him and Clay are good friends.
The elevator was almost to the ground when I said, ” I actually shot your wedding too”.
Kidd looked at me and said ” That was a good time”.
“Yeah, I said, it peaked for me when I was hanging at a table with you and Bob Seager”.
He reached out his hand and introduced himself as Bob.
I am Stephen McGee, nice to meet you again. I said.
We walked out to the car and I asked him if I could give him my card. He said yes. I told him “I do music videos, well not really, I do documentaries, but you probably already have someone”.
“No we always are looking for local talent.”
“Well” I ended,” thanks for being such a advocate for Detroit”.
“No, Thank you,” He ended.

we are in

The Lord knows how to rescue righteous men from their trials. So pursue righteousness asking the Holy Spirit to carry you. Do not try on your own accord but ask God to reveal impure motives even while pursuing his kingdom.
As for evangelism, don’t wait any longer, the time is now to tell the person you are praying for the good news. I was with a very amazing person today who was on drugs and living apart from God. Someone during his college career asked him if he had heard the Good news. My friend said, “What good news?” The response was Jesus is coming back.
What moment are you waiting for? Consider this the prompting from the spirit as I do not write these words on my own or by my own desire, although by God’s grace and power I can say I share the desire that you would go and tell the world of your faith. But again, not on your own accord or strength. Not sure what that means? Ask the lord, and humble yourself. Ask him to point out what is keeping you from the fullness of christ’s love.
If you have Christ’s love you will not need to wait for a ministry opportunity to minister but in love your ministry will perfect.

In Paris with Pilot

With bank accounts more than empty caused by lavish hotel rooms and equal meals to suite any price range of suite, coffee twice a day and a San Francisco bay, travel expenses ate just as well for my three week shoot to China and now in this fall chill, -zero is forecasting the unpaid bill from not yet paid recent jobs will soon eat too. Recently home, I sit on the floor near my cat’s food box, empty, ripping up bread for her to eat, along with me. Neither of us have any money to buy the other anything of editable value so we feast like beggars on the streets of Paris, on a four course meal of the handout sourdough bread from Le’Gagnavalon. The granite rose, charcoal and tan stones that make up my kitchen’s floor help the Français de l’humeur.

I realized today that it could be likely that by chance I will never have a separation between social life and what others have called my passion. And that makes life a bit easier to navigate and I think that is so because instead of dividing which parts of existence go where and more importantly to some, when, everything seems to go together as it fits together. As it fits together, planned by the Hymn.

It is 530 am and simultaneously 5 videos in full 1440×1080 hd push a little blew bar of status as they upload fresh from the export chambers that rest in the depths of a late night fcp edit session. The videos will be seen by Congress week. Mr. Z.P, Genious Esquire was beside me, making my evening as a perfect assistant would, from 8 pm to 520 am helping any way he could. The original Pink Panther film played as the night went on.
5 Videos exported in two resolutions, color toned with audio fixed, all of that done today.
6am. Time for sleep, for just a little while.

Angelic chimes ping at seemingly random only narrate the joy of the completed movie files uploading to the internet.

A week of hard work can teach you that even a cat can get full on crumbs of simplicity and bread.

A reason continually

One of the most frightening, faint provoking, nauseating, empty set moments in my life is a lie that is easy to believe. When I look back  on my all photographic and visual work I begin to think of it as inadequate, unable to justify the current time, finding it average, all of it average. Like a hohum of a fall day, after all the leaves are gone and it isn’t cold and it isn’t warm.
I am trying to find a story in my photographs from 6 different countries that represents how life is changing because of how the earth is changing and I can’t find it yet, at least I cant find value in it yet.
The reason I create continually is at my hope because God is bringing glory to himself through it, but also, a small reason, is to forget what I had just been through in the mystery of the next moment ahead.

You’re lucky you’re doing something you don’t love and hoping one day to find what you love to be what you are doing.

In Participle; A Melody of Lessons

It has been proven to me that I am protected by God’s grace.  In Ukraine my cell phone was stolen and I did not fret. 2 hours later the criminal “felt bad” and sought me out and returned it. Two days ago my computer was stolen out of my hotel room without me knowing it. I left at 10 am and the criminal came in while the cleaning lady was present, stated he was me and took my computer and my passport. My entire Chinese project was on this computer. I received a call from the police saying that they had my computer, and that they had the criminal too. I said, “Why?” I did not freak out, at all. I had no even thought that i needed to stay calm. Two hours later after the criminal took my computer  he was caught trespassing in another hotel trying to sell the computer. Two hours later. Without me even knowing it was taken and returned. I did not get to meet either criminal. As I left the SF police station I told the policeman to tell the criminal that I forgave him and wasn’t angry but wanted him to know that God loved him.

I can not answer why God’s protection and provision looks like it does or when it works or how to obtain it. I can proclaim though that it is active without our effort or participation more often than some would like to think and it is most relevant to our understanding and noticeable in our ways when out into the world we, our soul steps and in the will of God then we, our soul found.

Jesus is the least of these so what am I to me? What are my possessions or my purpose? If I am passing prophets (without the time to talk for they are good without me) for the purpose of the Lords will in my life, than not only do I mimic the zealousness of the early disciples who wouldn’t give time to the poor asking for Jesus’ healing, but I make given plans more important than given purpose.

Don’t be frightened, dont be scared, this calling is for you.

At Grace Cathedral in San Francisco I began to write this message and I was reminded of two stories as my eyes closed, present, and open to the sounds of the youth choir i used to sing in echoing against the stone pillars. The youth choir live in between peaks falsetto and the troughs of the pipe organ.  Two stories about two friends I have met in my travels where God’s protection was present but did not look as “successful” as a returned cell phone or computer.

I am reminded that I have met others whose life in faith has shown protection that looked different. There were Elijah and Isaiah. My friend Elijah in Uganda saw his father get assassinated before presidential elections as a 13 year old. In the following minutes his family was killed as he ran into the jungle. His father was the rebel leader who overthrew Abote. For three days Elijah hid in dead bodies left in a pile in his town. When he got up he was taken into custody by child soldiers and fought with them for five years. An uncle recognized him and bought him out of that army. Two years later after being saved in flesh he was saved in spirit and is now pastoring in Kampala.

Isaiah, a pastor in Angola who was teaching both sides of the war about the Lord, sent his family to the market along his routine route one day so he could finish some activity during the war in 2002. That day someone had placed explosives in the road to assassinate Isaiah. The family didn’t come home and that day Isaiah had to pick up his family with the help of my other friend.

Mark 5 has been my “status” inside along with Romans and God’s personal gifting of vision and purpose.  Friends, the Lord has revealed to me something, not more than words can say, actually not words at all, but he has revealed to me an attitude of heart. There aren’t words with the attitude of heart.

We can’t expect to hold the knowledge of who needs Jesus. As the disciples were blinded by the mission of Jesus when the two blind men asked for help I am blinded when I relate the troughs and peaks with my strengths and my weak.  If you weigh measures of the Lord in possibility, then you leave yourself with room for doubt. Possibility doesn’t prove existence.  God’s love can’t be replicated. Prepare to be interrupted by the Lord while on the road to the Lord’s work.

I don’t currently own a working or complete pair of flip flops.

To Kill a Mocking CityBird

Welcome to my blog. I am a filmmaker and photographer. I currently have a head ache. I love Detroit, and well, now that my video is out, many Detroiter’s have expressed that they don’t love me or my video. Most people consider word choice more than meaning. Too few actually acquire the freedom to photograph. To photograph what comes along the way is to be living with a camera in hand. What am I but just another chamber of Detroit’s orchestra.  In my city, Shooting only adds to the music. Passing prophets for your purpose makes your works more than your meaning.

When you find your name on Michael Moore’s homepage, that is when you know you have done something polar. The Wall Street Journal purchased my content and my story on a dump truck that was hanging forever out of a fourth floor window at the Packard Plant and ran it front page in today’s paper. An editor told me it was the first time ever a photographer had pitched a story to the WSJ that they ran.  I am interested in telling my side of the story.

I just returned from doing a film series in China on the renewable energy sector to show to Congress/the Obama administration when I learned that this story was actually going to be in the WSJ. Not only in, but on the front page. If I didn’t have to edit all day tomorrow, I would tell you more about China, More about how I got to the actually film/photograph this dump truck event, and how my laptop with all my china work on it was stolen in SF today, only to be returned in 2 hours. Maybe more tomorrow.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125745924791631907.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_RIGHTTopCarousel

PS. I am available for freelance work in Detroit/the world.

please know that all I have to encourage you with, you already have, posses, have heard before, and you have it in the full. You are looking to Jesus inside of me. And you are doing so for encouragement, so now with the knowledge you have, look to the Jesus inside of you. It is complete.

May I encourage you not to give, pray, act or love according to memory, but according to the prompting of the spirit.

Hello From Here