Okinawa is beautiful.  But we live on a military base.  A constant struggle of mine is to embrace whatever circumstance God has given me while finding the beauty in it.  There is plenty to love about living on base – security, community, space, and proximity to the ocean/shops/bakeries.  However, this base was also built for durability (typhoons are common) and functionality, not charm.  I’ve been doing my very best to photograph the beautiful, to showcase God’s artistry, and crop out the rest.  Not because I’m trying to present a false picture, but because I believe the more we search for beauty, the more we see it.  I absolutely believe (though I haven’t always) that God made us to appreciate and even need beauty, because He is beautiful and so are His works.  But the reality is that He has placed us in this space of man-made interferences.  There are chainlink fences with barbed wire.  Large abandoned cement buildings.  Monochrome beige housing with air conditioning units on the facades.  Rust.  Construction.  Litter.  I usually do my best to edit these out, but I thought I’d share a typical evening walk without trying to mask these things, to document what it really looks like to live here, the beautiful and the blights.  Also, my three-year-old has strong opinions on nearly everything, including his wardrobe, so part of the not-so-perfect includes his pajamas.  

Happy New Year and may we all seek HIM, His truth, and His beauty this year, wherever we find ourselves.

<Part One>