Futuresketch

This week my article is going geek (as if there weren’t geeky references already). According to Gizmodo, the “gadget blog”, “Photosketch is an internet-based program” that can take a rough sketch and turn it in to a beautiful montage. Until I watched the video online at Gizmodo.com I was very skeptical of this computer program. According to the authors of Photosketch, the software can take any rough sketch with each shape labeled (i.e. crude drawing of bear with the text “bear” next to it) and find images that correspond to each drawn element. The program then judges which images best match the shapes and seamlessly merges them in to a single image. Photosketch’s “blending algorithm” (I hope I didn’t lose you there) analyzes the images that it finds, traces the images, and matches the scene by adding shadows and lighting. So, you can have that photo of you and Batman fighting a Tyrannosaurus Rex in the center of a volcano that you’ve always wanted!
I wanted to mention this program not only because I am a Photoshop nut and it’s revolutionary, but because reading about it instantly made me think about the dissonance that sometimes exists between the plans we have for our lives and the plans that God has. We really have little idea of what our futures will look like. One can speculate on what type of person that he or she will marry, what job that he or she will have, or where he or she will live but only God knows for sure. We only know that, according to Jeremiah 29:11, God has “plans to prosper” us. Those who live in Christ have hope and can live knowing that God will not harm them. It’s acceptable to draw a rough sketch for your life and to make the choices that lead in certain directions but ultimately, it is left up to God to fill in the details. The process involves faith and dedication, but God can create a future more beautiful than we can possibly imagine.