It had been way too long since I’d spent some quality time with my younger brothers, so last weekend Jonathan, David, and I headed into the mountains for a quick camping trip!

Whitetop Mountain in Virginia’s Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area was a fantastic spot! You can drive to the top of it and the vast fields that span the south-facing slopes make the views epicly panoramic and spacious. It isn’t exactly glamping, but you can camp pretty much anywhere you want, you’re free to fly a drone, and with hardly anyone else around, it’s an amazingly quiet and peaceful place!

I’m hoping Jonathan will post some of his video footage on his YouTube channel soon.

The spot where we set up camp was so beautiful that I simply couldn’t resist spending some time to find the best angle to take pictures of it the next morning.

I found what I thought was a good angle and took the following shot:

Composition is nice; the tent is facing out toward the open view and the rocks in the foreground sorta fill in and give it some depth.

Subject is pretty clear, though I wish the tent was a contrasting color like red or orange (maybe I could take care of that in Photoshop).

But as for lighting? I wasn’t impressed.

It’s flat. It’s cold. The colorful dynamic of direct, golden-hour sunlight is missing. Sadly, it was pretty cloudy and the sun would only peak out occasionally so there was not really anything I could do about it….

….except wait.

I didn’t know if the sun would peak out again, but I kept the tripod set up exactly where it was. And waited.

I pealed an orange.

I ate a boiled egg.

I started planning the day with Jonathan and David over some granola bars.

We started packing up the car.

And then it happened!

The sun shone for only a matter of seconds, but it was exactly what I was hoping for!

It’s amazing the difference light makes on the landscape!

Yes, I still feel the scene is a little too cluttered, and I still wish the tent was a different color, but wow! the background now fades into it’s proper place, the rocks become a frame, the trees become three-dimensional, and the tent now takes front stage.

And it was just a matter of waiting.

Which makes me want to ask….

Am I willing to wait in other areas of life?

Have you ever experienced the death of a vision? Have you ever been in a situation where you were expecting one thing and then suddenly, unexpectedly, God changes directions?

Sometimes God says “No”.

And when He does, what is my response?

Do I quit trusting Him, out of disappointment, and throw in the towel?

Do I stop trusting God’s timing, and plow ahead to make what I wanted to happen, happen in my own strength?

Or do I say, “Yes, Lord, I trust you. I will wait for your best.”?

In the midst of disappointment, things may seem flat. Cold.

But when I am willing to trust God to bring His best in His time, His best will happen in His time, and it’s amazing the difference Light will make on the landscape!

It’s worth waiting for.

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2-4

This isn’t the first time this has happened to me….here’s another example from an amazing photo excursion in Vermont!