gpmaddox的部落格

It started with a walk on the beach with my sister on a day when I was very, very burdened. Coming home, I went to check my email, and there was a beautiful picture with inspirational words that so touched me that tears came unbidden and flooded my face. This was "a God thing," that was certainly evident, because the words on that beautiful background repeated and addressed some of the exact sentiments I had used to express my turmoil to my sister.

It was like a light going on -- serendipity$%: -- and thus was born the idea for a new ministry. Touched by the way that message lifted me, I decided to begin a collection of photos with the intention of doing the same for others -- putting beautiful insights I had garnered over the years, especially in times of trouble, and sending them out to comfort and encourage others.

Going online to the "Google" search box, I typed in "photos." I squealed with glee as hundreds of sites hosting photos came up on my screen. So I began the search. First, I created folders in my computer and called them, "Landscapes," "Sunsets," "Oceans," and "Floral," and then over the course of the next few weeks I searched for the best photos to put into them. I took them into my graphics program and made beautiful pictures with inspirational words which I sent out to the people on my email list. "Surely," I thought, "these messages will meet with people who need a lift, an inspiration, just as the one like these that so inspired me that day after the walk on the beach." I was on a roll.

One morning not long after, I came downstairs for my daily prayer and meditation time. No sooner had I sat down in my large easy-chair, but the words "copyrighted materials" blazed themselves into my consciousness. A cold shudder came over me as I thought on those words. "Oh no!!! Copyrights$%: What does that mean$%: On photos$%:$%:$%:" I squirmed as I thought of the hundreds of beautiful photos on my computer possibly being copyrighted and therefore unusable to me. Surely people don't put copyrights on photos$%: I decided to take a look after my prayer time.

But my prayer time wouldn't go. I couldn't pray. There was something between God and me. The heavens were as brass to me. I wasn't making contact. And of course, I knew. I had to take care of this matter. So I got up and went to the computer, dragging my heart which felt like it had a one-ton anchor holding it down. "What if I have to delete all those beautiful pictures$%: Oh the hours I put into searching for them!"

I wasn't sure how I was going to determine whether the photos I had were copyrighted or not, because when I saved them, I had changed the filenames to things like, "Landscapes -Green01." In other words, there was no way now to determine where each one came from. What to do$%:

I went and got some chocolate and a cappuccino, and began at the Google search box, typing in, "photos." I brought up the sites one by one and searched them to see how one could determine whether there are copyrights on the photos. After quite a long time searching, I saw -- usually in very small print, and on the very bottom of the sites -- "Terms of Use." Clicking on that, I felt faint after seeing one after another, after another, saying, "These photos are copyrighted..." I spent some time trying to read the long treatises on "terms" and came across words like "intellectual property," which I had never heard of before. Needless to say, after a few hours of this I realized that there was no way I could keep the photos I had so gleefully saved onto my computer. They were from many sites, and I'd never be able to find each one again. I would have to delete them. All of them. My beautiful pictures. I went to bed with a very heavy heart.

The next day, I deleted the photos, and began a whole new search. Starting at Google, I typed in "copyright-free photos," and spent countless hours finding sites which advertised "free photos, " or "free stock photos." And slowly, I rebuilt my library -- very slowly -- because the number of sites hosting "free" photos was of course far less. But I was pleased that I had found within myself the grace to obey, to do things right, no matter what. I knew God would not bless this "ministry" if I resisted the conviction he brought me over copyright infringement.

Some time later, and after having sent out many beautiful "free" photos with inspirational messages on them, I came down for my prayer time early one morning and no sooner had I begun, when the words came into my heart, "many free photos have restrictions." There aren't words to describe the reaction inside me. "Oh no!" doesn't come close. I couldn't believe it. This time I was angry. I had obediently deleted the hundreds of photos I had so painstakenly downloaded the first time around. This is too much. There's NO WAY I'm going to do that again. I got up and began doing housework. I was so angry I was trembling. The very thought of it! I just can't go through that again. No! No! NO!!!

But as I shoved that vacuum cleaner over the more-than-clean rug, I knew inside that I'd have to, because I knew the skies would be brass until I did. The most important thing in life to me is the time I spend with the Lord in the mornings, sharing my heart with him and desiring to receive anything from him that he's willing to impart to me. I've been doing this for years, and the stories I have to tell from it are many. And now there was something standing again between God and me, and I was the only one who could remove it. So with a heart almost too heavy to bear, I went to the computer and deleted the photos, tears streaming down my face. All that work!

"How can I do this right, Lord$%:" If there IS a way, please show me.

I typed into Google, "photos no restrictions." And needless to say, not a lot of sites came up, but there WERE a few. So I began taking a look. Most of the sites contained a mix of photos with and without restrictions. I learned that before downloading a photo, I would have to click to bring up its properties, and then check them one by one for "terms." Many of them did have restrictions. Many of them stated that the photo couldn't be used unless there was accreditation on them, for example, "photo by Jane Smith." And many said you couldn't "modify" them, crop them, resize them, etc. I couldn't use any of these, because I do edit them a lot, recolor and resize. So that left me with painfully little to work with.

But I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and said, "Ok, I have to do this right. I will not download a photo unless it plainly states that there are no copyrights OR restrictions. And from now on, I will keep the site name in the file name so that I will know exactly where each picture came from." And thus I began the long search process once again, for photos sufficiently beautiful to create the atmosphere I desire for the message, but without copyrights OR restrictions. Also, the scenery had to have areas of blank space within them where words could be put on. "Busy" pictures were out. Of course, all of this greatly narrowed down the number of photos I had to choose from. But I was determined because I knew that God would not bless anything unclean, illegal, or wrong in any way.

The rest is amazing. The very first night I began my new search, I happened on a site that featured a very few pictures that would be appropriate. This was a joyless endeavor at this point, because I suspected that there just aren't any out there which would be truly beautiful but also having no restrictions whatsoever. I was thinking to myself that if I could find five or ten, then I could recolor them in my graphics program and re-use them again and again.

After maybe two hours of searching, I happened to notice a link on one site to another site I'd never heard of, and I clicked on it. ...EUREKA!!! I found myself on a new-ish site whose very FEATURE was that it was a repository of photos with no restrictions whatsoever. My heart began pumping hard but I told myself to calm down, because there HAD to be a catch somewhere. So I spent the next hour pouring over that site as though with a magnifying glass, looking for fine print anywhere which would tell me that this "free" site had SOME restrictions -- but there was none. I could hardly believe it! I was so exhausted that I went to bed, thinking that tomorrow when I have a clear head, I'll look again and surely find the fine print. But there was none. That site had no terms, and no restrictions whatsoever.

Something that amazed me later is that this new site would not come up on a Google search. Just for fun, I tried to retrace my steps to find out how I had stumbled on that site, but was unable to. I could not find the place I had been which had a link to this site. And again -- I just knew this was "a God thing." I now have several hundred new photos appropriate for putting messages on them. I saved each with a filename containing the name of the site I got it from, and the number of the picture.

Shortly afterwards, my "ministry" began to explode. Resources started coming to my attention that I never knew existed. Not only am I creating more beautiful and inspired messages, but there is a strong urging upon my heart to begin to write too. From the new resources I "stumbled on," I learned more in two weeks than I had learned in all the time since the beginning of this.

Walking with the Lord is an awesome adventure filled with surprises as well as challenges. If there's one thing I've learned from the beginning, it is that there MUST be integrity in all that we do, otherwise the blessing of God will not be upon it and we're wasting our time. Sometimes the demand for integrity will lead to great frustrations and disappointments. But if a person desires to walk with the Master, and commits himself to obeying even when it hurts, that obedience sets forth streams of blessings one could never have anticipated. It's easy to say in retrospect, and excruciatingly difficult to do before the fact. Let this testimony encourage the reader to make integrity the foundation of every endeavor, and thus be a vessel the Lord can use "without restriction!"