luminous nazarene

So I found this in an old high school physics book…

Lesson 1: Reflection and Its Importance
The Role of Light to Sight

The objects which we see can be placed into one of two categories: luminous objects and illuminated objects. Luminous objects are objects which generate their own light. Illuminated objects are objects which are capable of reflecting light to our eyes. The sun is an example of a luminous object, while the moon is an illuminated object. During the day, the nuclear reactions on the sun’s surface generate sufficient light to illuminate objects on Earth. The blue skies, the white clouds, the green grass, the colored leaves of fall, the neighbor’s house, and the car approaching the intersection are all seen as a result of light from the sun (the luminous object) reflecting off the illuminated objects and traveling to our eyes. Without the light from the luminous objects, these illuminated objects would not be seen. During the evening when the Earth has rotated to a position where the light from the sun can no longer reach our part of the Earth (due to its inability to bend around the spherical shape of the Earth), objects on Earth appear black (or at least so dark that we could say they are nearly black). In the absence of a porch light or a street light, the neighbor’s house can no longer be seen; the grass is no longer green, but rather black; the leaves on the trees are dark; and were it not for the headlights of the car, it would not be seen approaching the intersection. Without luminous objects generating light which propagates through space to illuminate non-luminous objects, those non-luminous objects cannot be seen.

Without light, there would be no sight.

None of us are light-generating objects. We are not brilliant objects (please take no offense) like the sun; rather, we are illuminated objects like the moon. We make our presence visibly known by reflecting light to the eyes of those who look our way. It is only by reflection that we, as well as most of the other objects in our physical world, can be seen. And if reflected light is so essential to sight, then the very nature of light reflection is a worthy topic of study among students of physics.

If you are a Christian and reading this I would assume you are thinking about yourself (illuminated) in comparison to Jesus (luminous)…and if you are a person who does not follow the ways of Jesus…I want to assure you that I did not find this information from a Christian Physics textbook.

I once read that Albert Einstein often referred to Jesus as Luminous Nazarene...

I quickly fell in love with this naming of Jesus.

And so with this physics description and Einstein and his portrait of Jesus illuminated in my head I came up with this photo…



The inscription on the cross reads...Luminous Nazarene in Greek.

heart.soul.mind.
kyle diroberts

free advice

Have you ever looked at someone on the street…in the mall...or at your favorite place to grab some tea or coffee and thought about seeking advice about some difficult decision you have to make…or how about your love life…or maybe even seeking spiritual wisdom from that person? Maybe I'm just closed minded, but I don’t think that I would be able to do that…it would just be strange. haha...could you imagine telling your girlfriend, "yeah, i'm sorry we need to break up", and when she asks why you tell her, "well, there was this guy at Dairy Queen and he told me we need to break up."

I was in New York City about a year ago and I have to say that New York was one of my favorite places to take photographs.

I remember I had seen these photographs from Central Park…what I don’t remember is where I had seen this photo on display though. Maybe it was from a movie or maybe it was at one of those venders on the side of the road in New York. Either way I loved this picture…it was of this long path and there are all these benches along the sides and it has these really tall trees that seem to make this archway that you walk under.

I really wanted to capture this scene…but I didn’t…I ended up taking this photo but to be honest I don’t really like it that much…



But I did find something that day worth taking a picture of…I kept walking up and down that long path hoping that eventually I would find a different angle or viewpoint that I liked so that I could take the picture. While walking around I noticed that there were these two guys and they were setting something up near one of the benches…I couldn’t tell what it was at first…it was odd because they opened up this fold up chair and placed it in front of them. That didn’t make any sense to me because there was no one to sit in this chair and these two guys were sitting next to each other on the bench and so I was confused and hooked. Shortly after they opened up the chair one of the guys got up and placed this sign right behind the chair. The sign read...Free Advice…it was written by hand and it was written with a black marker…the sign was nothing more than a large white folded piece of paper.

I had one of those moments where you know what your eyes are seeing…but then you don’t know what your eyes are seeing. Almost like the obvious is just too obvious.

But I watched…I was hooked…this was like real life reality TV!

At first people just walked by and looked and then they looked again…you could tell they were thinking something…if I had to guess they were thinking, “did that sign say?…yeah I think it did.” a few times I just wanted to say, “yeah, it does”, and ask them if they wanted to watch with me. But I didn’t.

After a little while this guy walked by…and then I noticed he walked by again…and then sure enough he sat down in the chair.

That is when I captured this photo…



This guy sat in that chair for at least 45 minutes…there was one point in their conversation that he even started to cry…

I know this is random but I remember I started to think about church buildings… I thought about those billboards that all churches have in front of them…you know the ones that say the churches service times or sometimes you might see Jesus Saves…well, I was thinking about those signs and I was wondering what would happen if church billboard signs read, Free Advice!

I wonder if any random people would come in and talk and maybe even cry. I think that would be pretty neat.

Next time I am in New York I want to sit on one of those benches and place a chair out and put a sign up that says…Free Advice.

heart.soul.mind.
kyle diroberts

lady in red

Do you like to people watch?

I think the love of people watching is universal…I have never met someone who does not enjoy it. I could grab some tea (Strawberry Cream from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf preferably) and just sit or walk around and watch people for what seems like hours.

I remember this one time I was in Seattle…which is one of my favorite places to people watch. I remember I was right by Pike Street Market. That place was really neat because during the summer it is this huge market and you can buy just about anything. I remember how excited I was to see that one place where when you order your seafood they rap it up and throw it to this other guy who is on the other side of the counter so they can weigh it. And when I say throw it…they really do throw it pretty fast. I would say it is a mix between a baseball pitch and a softball pitch in form and the fish just fly through the air.

It was really fun to watch.

After watching them do this, I don’t know if I could catch one of these flying fish. My friends and I had a great time watching though.

I also remember there was this little whole in the wall place that served cheese. The closest thing I could compare this place to was that of a brewing company who brews its own beer. But this place brewed its own cheese. For the three days I was there…everyday I ate their macaroni and cheese. They had this bench where you could take your food and sit and watch people as they walked buy.

It was one of those meals that even today I still crave that Mac and Cheese from time to time.

I also remember there was this bookstore district. It was one of my favorite things I got to see…it was literally blocks and blocks of books. Some new…some old…either way it was just fun to walk into these places and just look around. The people who ran these places cared so much about their books. I remember I would ask them about different books and they would know immediately if they had it or not. And if they did have it they would know the exact place the book could be found.

Next time I go back I hope I get to spend more time walking around those few blocks of books.

You know how when you go to certain cities they have those people who are on all different streets and they normally have some talent that they want you to give them money for. It can be anything from magic tricks to playing the drums with pots and pans to playing music and singing…do you know what people and cities I am talking about?

I remember one of the days we wanted to see the first Starbucks ever in the history of Starbucks. I am not much of a coffee drinker, and so when everyone went inside to get Starbucks coffee I waited outside.

There was this guy and girl that were performing right outside the Starbucks and so I watched them while I waited. This girl was wearing a red dress and she had red shoes on. They were tap-dancing shoes. And as the guy played the guitar and sang she tap-danced to the music. It was so much fun watching her dance. She quickly had a crowd around her.

It was at that moment I took this picture.



When I took it though I didn’t want to see her face…just her red dress and her red tap-dancing shoes. As if that wasn’t enough I took this photo and turned it into an oil painting in Photoshop. I wanted to memorialize this lady and so she has since then become the lady in red to me.

When I look at this photo every once in awhile I think of her gifting…it was so special and unique. Without being cheesy (no offence to my favorite Mac and Cheese place in Seattle) just like you and I.

Now when I people watch I think of this lady in red. I wonder what these people walking by would do if they had to stand outside the very first Starbucks and reveal how special and unique they really are.

I wonder what they would do? I wonder what I would do?

heart.soul.mind.
kyle diroberts