A step.

Love: giving knowing you might not get back. Still giving, just to give. Love.

My friend is “branding” a logo for my company. He asked me to send him two paragraphs, the first in which I give my mission statement, the second where I say what the name of my company means to me. Here is what I sent him.

“Please Provide Pictures’ main goal has always been to show the truth. Run primarily by Jon Strong in Central Florida, the company aims to allow life to speak for itself. Without (much) agenda or (any) manipulation, Please Provide Pictures is not afraid to capture the ugliness of life, as well as the beauty — even the mundane. What matters most is that growth occurs in the viewer, and also in the artist himself, because: truth changes people. Please Provide Pictures is committed to capturing reality; that is all.

Thoughts on name: I chose the name originally because so often while I was filming or editing or just in my life, I would be praying: please provide, please provide a shot, please provide for me a way to do this. So it just seemed natural that it would be the name. So, it’s a lot just about prayer. It’s about faith, and trust; again, closing your eyes so can see. Allowing your desires to be known, and waiting for God. Not that I want it to be explicitly religious, obviously, no ichthus hidden in my L’s.

Dependence. Humbling one’s self. In whatever situation, to be content in Jesus. (No subliminal crucifixes in my T’s.)

That’s what it means to me.”

I’m mourning not being Amber’s boyfriend, so I can fully be a good friend. The process feels like my soul is getting lightheaded. I constantly open my hands to remind myself that it’s not mine…it’s his.

I pray to be her boyfriend. I pray for the strength to be her friend.