Theodor Suess Geisel, better known to all of us as Dr. Suess, is perhaps America’s most beloved children’s book writer, poet, and cartonist. The whole nation mourned when he passed away in 1991.

Before his pen went silent, he had authored 46 children’s books. Who among us can’t recite at least a few lines from one or more of his classics?  His best known works include Green Eggs and Ham, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Cat in the Hat, Horton Hears a Who, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Ironically, the single Dr. Suess phrase that means the most to me is a quote attributed to him regarding relationships.

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams,” Dr. Suess has been quoted as saying. Since Dr. Suess had big dreams, I believe the quote indicates he was also intimately familiar with great love.

It is awesome when our hearts know great love first hand. It can also be incredibly uplifting when we see others experience it.

A couple of weekends ago, I had the privilege of snapping a few photos (and getting much needed photo-remedy) at the wedding of a young couple at our church. As the collage below illustrates, they really looked like they were living “reality is finally better than your dreams.”

My wish for Kevin and Angela, and, actually, for all of us, is that we experience many  ‘beyond our dreams’ moments.

I also hope we are able to capture many of these treasures in photos. Because, as I wanted to tell Kevin and Angela, don’t blink. The next thing you know you will be having children, and then time will fly by so fast that your children will soon be nourishing the next generation. Photos help us to remember milestone moments, and even people we have loved, before we forget notable details that might otherwise float away like a dried up rose petal on a gusty pre-tornado Oklahoma day.

At least that has been my experience. This June, Mary and I will celebrate our 30th anniversary. It really doesn’t seem possible – that we have been married that long and that the next generation has come rushing through the door.

It’s all good, though. Before you know it, we will be dusting off our old Dr. Suess books for little Emmett and future grandchildren. We’ll be using the books and pointing to the drawings. We won’t, however, need to read the lines. While I can’t always remember what I did yesterday, I can somehow never forget, “The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold wet day…”

Liturgically speaking, today, Holy Saturday, technically lasts until 6pm or dusk.

In many Christian churches around the world, the Easter Vigil is then celebrated. This marks the official start of the Easter season. As always, Mary and I will be participating in the Easter Vigil in our Faith Community. It is our favorite mass, or service, of the year.

Wherever you are on the your spiritual journey, may the spirit of Easter and re-birth be with you and yours.

And, for those of you who are looking for a little more photo-remedy in your life, may you remember that the process of producing great pictures is always an opportunity to brighten your life and the lives of others. Looking through your lens is always an opportunity to help others see the beauty that God sees in this most wonderful world.

Happy Easter!

– Greg

Mark 16: 1-7

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices so that they might go and anoint him.

Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb.

They were saying to one another,”Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”

When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, “He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.'”

Note: The photos featured in our Easter series are part of our Exploration Communication spring 2012 Phoenix area collection. To see the full gallery, visit:

In this post, we continue our three part Easter Series by marrying a few samples of our new Exploration Communication spring desert photography with Holy Scriptures that are particularly relevant to Holy Week.

The thought for this approach flows from Jesus telling the woman at the well, “Whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Christians everywhere believe that just as water can bring beautiful color and life even in a desert, Christ can be the ‘living water’ for which our soul’s thirst.

Today’s post comes on what is traditionally known as Good Friday – the historic anniversary of when Jesus was crucified and a day when Christians worldwide recognize that Christ’s suffering was offered for our salvation. Salvation that is available to all, as is demonstrated in his words to the good thief on the cross.

Luke: 23:33-43

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. (Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”) They divided his garments by casting lots.

The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.”

Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.”

The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

An old French proverb tells us, “There is no perfect marriage, for there are no perfect men.”

That may be true for human beings–just ask my wife–but, fortunately, it can happen in the creative realm. As I finished up our complete Exploration Communication Arizona Spring Photo Gallery, I got the idea for the perfect photo-remedy marriage.

With this being Holy Week for Christians, I thought it would work well to marry a sampling of this year’s original spring photos with Holy Scriptures.

As a result, photo-remedy postings today through Saturday will feature biblical readings that illustrate why the Easter-related historical events (that happened this week approximately 2,000 years ago) cannot be forgotten.

Holy week leads us to Easter, and as writer Scott P. Richert  has noted, “Easter is a day of celebration because it represents the fulfillment of our faith as Christians. St. Paul wrote that, unless Christ rose from the dead, our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:17). Through his death, Christ saved mankind from bondage to sin, and He destroyed the hold that death has on all of us; but it is His Resurrection that gives us the promise of new life, both in this world and the next.”

New life in the desert this spring; new life ‘in this world and the next’ for eternity. It’s a match made in heaven.

–  Greg

Today, Holy Thursday, we begin our three part Easter series with a reading from the Gospel of John.

John 13: 1- 15

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.

He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,

“Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”

Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”