What is a Christian?

by Ryan DavisonComPostsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Key Points

  • A Christian is someone who believes in and follows Jesus Christ.
  • Becoming a Christian is not about good deeds or rituals; it’s about faith and belief in Jesus’s sacrifice for your sins.
  • This belief restores your relationship with God and grants eternal life.
  • The Bible defines this as a free gift of grace, not something you can earn.

What is a Christian?

The title of “Christian” is often misunderstood. Some see it as a cultural label, others as a set of religious rules. The truest meaning, however, comes from the Greek word Christianos, which means “follower of Christ.” This makes Jesus Christ the ultimate authority on what a Christian is. He came as a light into the world so that everyone who believes in Him would not remain in darkness (John 12:46).

How to Become a Christian

Jesus laid out the path to becoming a Christian with striking clarity. It’s not about being a good person, as Jesus himself said there are none who are good. It’s also not about attending specific churches or being educated in certain schools. The path is a simple yet profound act of belief.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:16-18).

Did you catch that? Whoever believes in Jesus is saved from judgment and has eternal life with him. This is the foundational truth.

  • You must believe that our sinful nature has separated us from God.
  • You must believe that Jesus died to pay the debt of your sins and rose from the grave to defeat death itself.

To be clear, there’s nothing you can do to make yourself right with God. No good deeds, no penance, no high morality will suffice. Jesus Christ made things right between you and God through his death and resurrection out of love, for free, with no requirement other than truly believing it in your heart.

The Christian Life

Once you have believed in Christ, a new life begins. The Bible explains that when you believe, you are indwelled with His Spirit, which gives you the ability to resist sin. This is why when you read about morality and rules for living in the Bible, it’s always in reference to those who have already believed in Christ. Without true belief in Jesus, it’s impossible to live the life of a Christ follower. This is the relationship we were created for and the true meaning of life so many people search for.

FAQ

Q: Do I have to go to a specific church to become a Christian? A: No, becoming a Christian is a personal act of belief in Jesus Christ. Church attendance is a way to grow in your faith, but it is not a requirement to become a Christian.

Q: Does being a Christian mean I will be perfect? A: No. Christians are not perfect; they are simply forgiven. The Christian life is a journey of growth and sanctification, not a state of sinless perfection.

Gutterfound

by Ryan DavisonPhotographyPosted on Comments are Disabled

Last year I was looking for new subjects to photograph when I stumbled upon an idea to take pictures of things I could find in the street gutter. I took these photos for several months before finally putting them up on Instagram for others to see. You can also like my Gutterfound page on Facebook and follow along as I post daily (weekdays) pictures.

My method is to only photograph things as they were found. I never move things to get a better shot or otherwise set up my subject. Early morning just after sunrise, and at sunset typically give me the best light. Cloudy days also make for great moody images.

Sidewalk chalk after a rain storm
Christmas in February?

I’ve been amazed at the variety of things that can be found in the gutters. Most of what you will find are rocks and leaves from yard landscapes. But I’ve also found toys, money, spent rifle and pistol casings, and much more.

Leaves are plentiful in gutters. Thankfully, they make great subjects for photography.

Where to Find the desktop.msi File for Performing a Silent Install of ArcGIS for Windows

by Ryan DavisonGISPosted on Comments are Disabled

If you want to perform a silent install of ArcGIS desktop for Windows using the Microsoft Installer (.msi) file, you need the actual .msi file. But finding the .msi file can seem difficult. It’s nowhere to be found on the ESRI download site (that I could find).

It turns out to be quite easy to get the installer. First, download the ArcGIS desktop installation executable from the my.esri.com site. This will be named something like ArcGIS_desktop_108_172737.exe.  Using Winzip, 7-zip, or another compression utility, extract the files just like you would with a .zip file.  In the extracted directory, click into Desktop, then into SetupFiles. The desktop.msi file will be sitting right there.

All The Leaves Are Brown

by Ryan DavisonPhotographyPosted on No Comments

Fall is one of my favorite seasons of the year. The heat of Summer dissipates, we start thinking of upcoming holidays, and we are treated to beautiful colors from the trees and other plant life as they prepare to tuck themselves away for the nearing Winter.

Unfortunately, that color doesn’t hang on for long. I was out walking this evening and noticed that the leaves still hanging on to their trees have all turned brown. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the color was still brilliant. It just goes to show that you have to enjoy the gifts God gives you at the moment and not take anything for granted.

Fortunately, I had a camera on me when I last saw Fall colors and got a couple of shots that I can go back to and look at until next Fall comes around.

Landscape at Connected Lakes State Park.
Connected Lakes State Park – Grand Junction CO
Trees along the Grand Junction Riverfront trail
Grand Junction Riverfront Trail

Remote Session

by Ryan DavisonPoetryPosted on Comments are Disabled

I sat there
phone to my ear
watching someone elses screen –
Software Loading.
Nobody spoke
We waited in awkward silence
not knowing if the other
was busy doing something else
or about to speak.
We stared at the screen,
The green bar slowly edging
closer to 100 percent.

Which ESRI Javascript API Version to Use – 3.x vs 4.x

by Ryan DavisonGISPosted on No Comments

Which ESRI Javascript API version should you use for your next mapping app? I wish it were as simple as just using the most up to date version. And maybe it will be for your situation. But there are a few considerations to address before pushing ahead.

Start With Your Goal

Always start with your goal. What do you want the app to look like and do? Probably, the biggest question you should ask yourself is whether you will be creating a 3D app or a standard 2D app?

As of this post, the 4.x API is at version 4.11. According to ESRI’s API Capability page, version 3.28 (the latest 3.x version) doesn’t support 3D rendering. Version 4.11 only has partial support for 2D. So, if you’re planning to create an app that supports 3D visualization in any way, you’ll need to use 4.11.

On the other hand, if you are only supporting 2D visualization you’ll want to use the latest API that supports all of the other functionality you might want to use. This is really important to consider if you’re thinking about migrating existing 3.x code to the 4.x world. You would hate to get deep into the conversion only to find out a critical component you rely on is not yet supported.

Check out ESRI’s functionality matrix to determine if 4.11 is implementing all the functionality you need right now. ESRI’s stated goal is to eventually have 4.11 eventually exceed the functionality of the 3.28 API. But until it does, you’ll want to proceed with at least a little bit of caution.

Consider Your Time

Another thing you will want to think about is the time you will spend getting up to speed on the syntax changes that version 4.11 brings. Right away, when creating a basic map with 4.11, you’ll notice that you now have to not only create a map but a map view (or map scene if it’s a 3D app) in order to get anything to render.

With the old 3.x API you would simply declare the map object and pass in a reference to the HTML element you want to use to render it in. As of 4.11, the Map object is now simply a container for the various layers you want to associate with the app you’re creating. There is now a new class called View that manages UI methods for your app like rendering the map within the HTML element and placing components (like widgets and images) on screen.

I like most of the new syntax changes that I’ve seen in 4.11 but I realize these slow down my development time as I get used to them.

Try Digging a Little Deeper

by Ryan DavisonComPostsPosted on No Comments

The next time you’re looking for a photo, a video, or someone’s opinion online, try going to page 8 of the results. We miss so much good information because we think Google gets the first page right all the time. Try digging a little deeper and you might be surprised what you come up with.

You Just Can’t Win

by Ryan DavisonComPostsPosted on No Comments

Today I was checking out at the grocery store and the clerk said the credit card scanner was going to ask me if I wanted to round up to the nearest dollar to help fight children’s hunger. But the card reader never asked.  It just said thank you, please remove your card.

Then the clerk saw that my receipt wasn’t rounded up and she gave me a scowl as if to say “what a jerk! You probably want children to die!” You can’t win these days.

In Between Worlds

by Ryan DavisonPhotographyPosted on No Comments
Yellow grasses against a blue-green background.

“In Between Worlds” is a camera movement and multiple exposure photograph that I made from several pictures of decorative grasses in my front yard on a bit of a stormy afternoon. I combined the lightest parts of the images (the golden grasses) so they would be intertwined and give depth to the final picture.

The darker backgrounds come from images that were blurred by camera movement. As they were layered, they started forming the beautiful blues that are seen here. Layering images is similar to mixing paints to apply to a canvas or paper. Two or maybe three images are usually the most I will layer. More than that and the background can start to become too dark and mottled. Of course, dark and mottled can be a good look if that’s what you intend for your image.

I was really trying to capture the feeling of the day in the picture. The skys were stormy behind the grasses (I was facing east) and had a moody feel to them. However, the sun behind me was bright and lit up the grasses beautifully. I love that I was able to capture such a great subject right at the end of my driveway and get both moods in one image.

If you want to see more of my multiple exposure and camera movement work you can check out my Instagram feed or just hop over to my photography site at https://ryandavisonphotography.com .