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That was a Good Friday…. “It is Finished”

The Grand Architect of this Website — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:16:45 +0000

Happy Good Friday everyone! Today is one of my favorite days of the year. If you have ever wandered about this photograph on my website I offer a brief story. Many of you may be surprised by this post as my website is traditionally a home for things of the photo/video or chiropractic nature. For those of you that know me, you probably have noticed the large vertical tattoo on my back. I received this tattoo on March 29, 2002 – Which was Good Friday. I had heard the word used the previous summer at Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp in Kingston, OK. The message that night was in reference to Christ’s work on the cross and the minister used this term “tetelestai.” This one Greek work has a lot packaged into it. It was a marketing term used around the time of Christ’s life. When a sale was completed in the marketplace, it was not uncommon for the seller to say the world, “tetelestai” after receiving the money. This word literally mean, “paid in full.” Now obviously, Christ did not speak in Greek, but the New Testament is completely written in Greek. They chose this word because of the significance of what happened on the cross. If we look in John chapter 19 we come to a familiar passage just moments before Jesus died…

“Knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. -John 19:28-30-

In this one moment time was split in half. The son of God who came to save the world from their sins cried out “It is finished” as his redemptive mission was accomplished. The New Testament writers used the word “tetelestai” as the word that represented Christ’s final words. There is a lot of debate within the Christian world about performing good works and their role in salvation. I truly believe that God’s redemptive work was finished at that exact moment. When Christ cried out a word that meant “paid in full” I truly believe that he meant it and that nothing else was required on our part except to believe and put our trust in Him. It is not my point to start some kind of theological or philosophical debate with this blog, but this is simply the viewpoint of mainline Christianity. So why this tattoo? Why on Good Friday? Well my tattoo says “tetelestai” and it only seemed fitting to have it done on Good Friday near 3:00 (the hour Christ died). To me it was a very significant day and the tattoo created a daily reminder of Christ’s redemptive work. By having this tattoo I have had the opportunity to tell hundreds about Jesus. When people see an “Jesus fish” on your arm they typically know what that means, but only the greek typically know what the word “tetelestai” means.

Well that’s my story, I could go on forever about the grace of God and the significance of John 19:30 and the cross but that is not my intention today. My prayer is that you will spend a little time today, even if only a moment, thinking about that redemptive work and how it single handedly changed the world. Even if you do not believe in God or that Jesus Christ was the son of God, the crucifixion of Christ is a historical event and represents one of the primary reasons that the United States of America was created and was instrumental in how it is governed. May you all have a blessed Good Friday…. and Easter Sunday -Barnezy-

FCA Leadership Camp – Olathe, KS

The Grand Architect of this Website — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:10:58 +0000

My wife helped out at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp two weeks ago at Mid-America Nazarene University and I thought I would swing by to grab some pics/video at a few of the chapel meetings. The camp speaker for the week was Kennon Vaughn of Downline ministries in Memphis, Tennessee. The camp focus was on leadership and challenged middle-school and high school kids to take a leadership role in their communities by serving others, leading by example, and sharing the love of Christ with their peers. A few of the campers from this camp were at the Iowa FCA camp last week where two campers drowned. From talking to FCA staff, it appears that the two young campers accepted Christ the night they drowned. It’s an obvious tragedy, but hopefully lives will be impacted positively through this incident. My wife and I grew up in FCA in Oklahoma and ultimately met through the organization, so this tragedy has hit home with us. If you’re new to this website, you can see our Proposal video which took place at FCA camp in 2006 and is currently the #1 rated proposal on YouTube. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the two young men who passed away this past week. -Barnezy-

Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City

The Grand Architect of this Website — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:22:06 +0000

This past weekend my wife and I had a quiet weekend at home (for a change). She has been wanting to visit the Nelson-Atkins Museum for over a year so we decided to check it out! Because of the proximity of the Nelson-Atkins museum to the greatest barbecue restaurant in the world, we were forced out of practicality to eat at Oklahoma Joe’s. The Jumbo Chicken Z-Man may be the most amazing sandwich in the world. After perusing the long line and enjoying the most incredible barbecue known to man (Oklahoma Joe’s is considered the best Barbecue in the world by several food publications), we headed to the Nelson-Atkins Museum. We checked out the new Egyptian exhibit as well as most of the the museum. I absolutely fell in love with Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” and was blown away by the sheer magnitude of this painting. I’m told there is a Van Gogh on rotation here as well as some other incredible works of art. My favorite photo was easily Nat Fein’s pulitzer prized shot of Babe Ruth waving to the crowd as they retired his number. The new addition to the museum was remarkable and contained some incredible works of art that I was not allowed to photograph. The rest of the weekend was filled with crazy storms, rainbows, and sinkholes on I-470 overpasses, but overall it was a great time just getting to hang out with my wife for a change! I’ll post some photos from last week’s FCA leadership camp in the next day or so. -Barnezy-Nelson-Adkins Museum Back Camera Back Camera Back Camera Back Camera Nelson-Adkins Museum 17 Nelson-Adkins Museum 01 Nelson-Adkins Museum 04 Nelson-Adkins Museum 07 Nelson-Adkins Museum 18 Nelson-Adkins Museum 15 Nelson-Adkins Museum 16 Nelson-Adkins Museum 06 Nelson-Adkins Museum 13 Nelson-Adkins Museum 12 Nelson-Adkins Museum 09 Nelson-Adkins Museum 08 Nelson-Adkins Museum 10b Back Camera Back Camera Back Camera Nelson-Adkins Museum 21

“Wisdom Walks” Book shoot

The Grand Architect of this Website — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:16:21 +0000

This past week I had the opportunity to eat some great chicken and do my first “book shoot.” I first met Dan Britton and his family on Easter Sunday 2008 when some friends invited us to come along to their home for an Easter lunch. Shortly after that time, Dan and I began spending time together where he consistently sewed seeds of wisdom in my life. He’s one of my favorite people in the world and has been like a father to me during my time in Kansas City. “Wisdom Walks”, co-authored by long-time friend Jimmy Page, is Dan’s first publication. I have not read the book yet as it’s not available in stores till August, but if it’s anything like Dan’s life, it will be an amazing read! We chose Dan’s desk for the setting for his book. Dan told me the desk was 100 years old and belonged to both his father and grandfather. These men were great mentors in Dan’s life and I thought how fitting it would be to capture a book about mentoring in this setting. I used my Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 100mm 2.8 Macro lens mounted to my Gitzo Explorer tripod to accomplish this shot. I used three Canon 580EX II flashes with colored gels and PocketWizards to handle the lighting scenario. The coffee mug was added to create the mood for reading a good book. My wife suggested two mugs given the books content. It took about a half-hour to get the shots we needed and I’m very happy with how they turned out. Hopefully these images will be used for a long time in the promotion of this book. I plan on ordering one from Amazon in the next few weeks. I wander if I can get the authors to sign my copy. On another note, I’ll be posting photos from the Olathe FCA Leadership camp my wife worked last week sometime in the next few days. The Tulsa Firecracker 5K photos are still probably a week away. I hope everyone is enjoying their day, well maybe except Mel Gibson. -Barnezy-

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Took a Visit to FCA’s World Headquarters

The Grand Architect of this Website — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:10:43 +0000

My wife’s FCA Group at the middle school she teaches at decided to take a little field trip to the Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s World Headquarters in Kansas City, KS for leadership training. Like a good husband, I tagged along with my wife. Ali and I have been involved with FCA since we were very young and neither of us had ever been to the big building off I-70. We were welcomed by some of FCA’s incredible staff and fed some pretty darn good pizza. The kids had several mini-clincs they could go to where they could learn anything from “How to start a Bible Study” to a deeper understanding of the Gospel. I got a tour of the facility from a good friend who works there. It’s structurally a magnificent facility and I one I imagine is a blast to work at! I hope you enjoy the pics. My only regret is that I didn’t bring a tripod. I could have gotten some great stuff!!!
You can visit FCA’s website at http://www.fca.org/ -Barnezy-

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