Framing Faith - Book Review

Have you ever experienced that moment when something strikes you, figuratively, causing everything around you to fade and noises to muffle as you focus on the moment?  Matt Knisely calls them “chasing sunsets” – the moments we experience something so powerful, so intense, so beautiful, that our soul snaps an internal picture, forever engraving in our memory what it was that suddenly grabbed our hearts and made us think.  He chases those moments as an award-winning photojournalist, seeking to capture the emotion of the moment through an image that tells a story.  Sometimes it just happens, but sometimes you have to keep your eyes wide open and searching, stopping long enough to make the observation.

When I experience moments like that, I want to draw someone else into it, to experience it the way I did, even if that person is standing right there next to me.  Are they seeing the way I see it? Or are they seeing something that I don't?  Sometimes it seems there are no words to describe the moment, the story taking shape right in front of us that can be easily overlooked.  

Sharing stories connects us, forges relationships, and brings understanding.  Jesus used stories signs, metaphors, and symbols to communicate truth about God, and through these He reframed reality in a way that helped his listeners see things differently.  Sometimes we have to slow down to see it, slow down long enough to listen. When we do, we will want to share it in a way that others can feel as if they are experiencing it too.

Matt Knisely approaches faith as a photographer approaches its subject or an artistic approaches art in his book Framing Faith.  Through the concepts of photography he shows how to focus, capture, develop, and savor the moments of life that really matter. Focusing our faith involves discovery, attention, purpose, and listening.  Capturing our faith encompasses recognizing the moment, perspective, subject, and composition.  Developing our faith includes processing, seeing light and darkness.   Through these, he shows how to move faith toward God and better lift Christ up.

After reading the book, I realized that I want to be more focused and less distracted.  Matt Knisely inspired me see with different eyes and showed me how to frame it so that others can see it too.  This book isn't a feel-good book about faith.  It isn’t a book trying to explain faith by spiritualizing photographic concepts, nor is it full of photography jargon.  It’s a book about seeing…and then conveying what you see in a story that touches the heart of the listener.  Whether or not you know anything about photography, this book will help show you how to deepen your faith and then express it.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishing in exchange for my honest review.