September 4th Devotional
Luke 22:14-23
On this day in 1888, George Eastman patented the first
roll film camera. Eastman didn’t
invent the camera; the earliest renditions
of the camera stem from the early 1800s.
The camera went through dramatic changes over the course of the years
but none as dramatic as the ones that Eastman conceived. Eastman was born in July of 1854 in Waterville
New York. His father died when he was
young forcing his mom to take in boarders to make extra money. Because of the tight financial restraints, George
had to drop out of high school. Despite
dropping out George remained determined to be a success. George dappled with multiple jobs over the
years and eventually fell in love with the hobby of photography. Photography was not a common practice at the
time. Cameras were huge, bulky, clumsy,
and expensive. Through the late 1870s
and 1880s, George started to tweak every part of the camera. He upgraded and invented multiple new areas for
the camera, but none were as dramatic as the first film roll camera. Prior to this photos were taken on different metal
plates with chemicals. Sometimes the
exposure time would need to be 15-30 minutes.
Plus the average person would never be able to take pictures let alone
have the skills to develop them. Eastman
created a single box camera with a paper roll of film. The paper could take 100 photos. The photos would then be sent back to Eastman’s
company to be developed. The camera was
called the “Kodak.” By the early 1900’s
Eastman had created a new camera called the Kodak Brownie. The camera was mass produced and only cost
$25 to purchase. Eastman made little profit
off the camera itself. His major profit
came through film development. His company was the only one capable of developing film and the film development would cost
$10. This simple, quality, cost-effective camera opened the door for middle-class families to take photos of
daily life. Kodak’s motto was “You press
the button; we do the rest.” The simplicity
of the new camera allowed people to take pictures of birthday parties, weddings,
vacations, and everything else in between.
Today film-based photography is basically extinct. Each of us have cameras on our phones and we
take pictures of anything and everything.
One of my favorite things to do from time to time is to look over the
photos on my phone. Those photos cause
memories to flood back. Those pictures
bring back long-forgotten smiles, tears, and laughter. Looking at old photos is a great way to go
back down memory lane. There are certain
things that we as a believer need to remember, remember almost as if a photo were
taken of the event. One of those events
took place nearly two thousand years during Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus and His disciples were in the Upper Room
celebrating one of the holiest feasts in the Jewish calendar. It was during this feast that Jesus girded Himself
with a towel and washed feet. It was
during this feast that Jesus exposed Judas as a betrayer. It was also during this feast that Luke
records these words “And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He
broke it and gave it to them saying, This is my body which is given for you; do
this in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19).” His last night before His death was spent at a
table surrounded with His friends. He
told them the details that would transpire in the next few hours. His body would be broken and His blood would
be shed. The bread represented His body,
which the text says was given for you (yes, you reading this). His perfect body would soon be turned over to
cruel men to be beaten and bloodied, but why?
For you and I. His body must be
given and His blood must be shed in order for us to be saved, for our rescue to
be complete! As a believer, we need to
pick up this spiritual ‘photo’ from time to time to not forget about the high
price that was paid for our redemption.
Today look at that picture, hold it in your hand, and do not forget the depths
of His great love for you!
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