My path in a few words…

Attracted since my youth by nature and wildlife, I was lucky to grow up on a sort of island clinging to the shores of Lake Geneva, this lake set like a jewel between the Alps and the Jura. Lulled by the pages of the stories of the naturalist Gérald Durell that our mother read to us and soon by my own readings of adventure stories, I contemplated, during the days of fishing on the lake, the comings and goings of migratory birds, anticipating my own explorations : those of a fabulous world that clearly awaited me beyond the mountains that formed my horizon. I didn't know at the time that the fish I was bringing home were hiding a strange treasure : the mercury that an agrochemical plant located upstream was dumping by hundreds of tons... The place where I grew up resembled too much a forgotten corner of paradise to let me a chance of escaping unscathed anyway. Photography quickly established itself as the preferred way to retain some of this fleeting grace, which barely born is already caught up in the whirlwind of time. Life always goes much too fast for a contemplative person, and as with writing, photography allows you to have this second glance at things, perhaps with the hope of discovering some pieces of the puzzle of your own identity…

The world is an enigma. Some journeys abroad only increased my wonder, but also my perplexity. I had grown up in a traditional Christian home, at a time – in the sixties – when it was fashionable to question everything. This is how books on Darwinism coexisted on the coffee table with those on astrology or Eastern philosophies. The big Catholic Bible watched them circumspectly from the top shelf it never left. Not convinced by this religion of rites and traditions, I had quickly relegated the question of the existence of God to oblivion, to focus my attention on what occupies young people. … As for nature, the Bible claims that it is an open book. Still, you have to know how to decipher it. At the time, school brainwashing was operating at full throttle and the Darwinian explanation suited me perfectly.

However, as I entered adult life, some disappointments about my ability to integrate into this competitive and yet fragile world, reminded me of this crucial question: “Who am I ?” After some hesitation, I finally took the big Bible off its shelf and, for the first time, read the Gospels and “The Acts of the Apostles,” a story that could just as well have been titled: “The Acts of the Spirit of Jesus in the Lives of Ordinary People.” Something overwhelming and that I dared not tell anyone happened in me when I read the words of Jesus. As if the breath that had inspired his life, was approaching me to reveal the existence of a sacred aspect to my interiority. Let’s be frank : I had the impression that this book was also talking about me, and about a hidden destiny available to every human being. I was amazed. But I was also indignant as I realized that I had almost missed the most important thing in the universe due to what my parent's religion had shown me. One day, an invitation came, to a meeting. There, as I was lost in the midst of a bunch of Jesus-freaks, God inspired a word for me. The man—an itinerant Australian minister who didn’t know me from Adam—revealed things so personal that it struck me to the heart. I had been prevented from pursuing my dream of traveling and photography, halfway around the world, due to a back injury. It was also a heartache, being now separated from my soul mate. The words I heard made me realize that nothing that had happened to me had escaped God. And as I listened, I felt a warm hand resting on the painful spot–though no one was touching me–and I was miraculously healed from the crippling pain. God had spoken to me through the book, and now he confirmed the truth of the words with this tangible act of pure and gratuitous love…

I had to learn it : our greatest enemy is not the devil, but it is this old "me" that lives within us. Although I had at that time received the seed of a new and immortal life, the years that followed were not very glorious. They were probably like a Christianity that, in its fascination with the things of this world, lives for itself and trys to blend into the landscape. The religious man prospers, and the new man cannot be born. Many people suffer as they see our world gradually lose its primeval beauty, its natural balances and its rare species. In Revelation 21:5, Jesus announces the color of his electoral program: "Behold, I make all things new." These new things are the wonderful things that the Bible and the Gospels speak of, but which we have not believed. Extraordinary things ! The upheavals that take place on earth, which are only beginning, are in reality the harbingers of the restoration of the world to that original Eden. The Advent of the Messiah’s reign of love and the establishment of unshakable peace—for this is the universal perspective of the Bible. Let us not yield to the illusory temptation to expect this from our governments. My prayer is that God will reveal to you His awesome plan for your life and the loss that any unfulfilled destiny will represent for the Universe and for humanity. The links below provide some resources, which I hope, some will prove helpful.

 

• Blog: The Thought of the Month

• The most Amazing Adventure on Earth?

• Contact

 

 

“Without homily and without words but by its ephemeral beauty, nature bears witness to an invisible reality. Nature expresses the song of a universe where every exhalation brings life through a creative breath, and where every inhalation is a reminder of a primeval dust. For it should be reminded that, if it offers some wonderful sights, life is first and foremost a constant miracle”