Panama City Skyline and Clouds, and Names are Important

Clouds fill the sky behind the buildings of Panama City, Panama, during our 2024 Panama Trip.

I liked this view of the city buildings of Panama City from Panama Viejo. It was a contrast between the old, old buildings of the original city with the new, modern buildings being built today. Of course, in this view you can only see the new buildings, but you can see the old buildings with the new buildings in that earlier post.

I was looking for something different to share when I found this photo. Read more about that in the About the Photo section below.

See more from our Panama 2024 Trip!

What’s In a Name?

I don’t know about you, but I like for people to get my name right. It is always a little frustrating when someone gets your name wrong, or when someone spells your name incorrectly. For example, every now and then someone will send something to “Steven”. But that is not my name. My name is spelled the Biblical way, not that I consider myself anywhere near the level of that other guy. Just a minor point, and I do not usually bother correcting those who do that.

We want people to know our names. In a good way, of course. We do not want our names to be associated with bad things, but rather with good things. I sometimes feel a little sorry for people who have diseases and other medical conditions named after them. That might be a slightly heavy burden to bear.

Maybe you have heard someone say, “All you really have is your name.” And that is true, to a point. Maybe you were blessed to be born into a family with a good name, and your parents warn you not to do anything to ruin the reputation of that family name, because it reflects on others in your family as well as on you.

But maybe you were born into a family that does not have a good name. If so, you can be the one to turn things around and bring change to your name, setting it up to be a blessing to those that come after you.

Names are important. Back in the Old Testament, God had specific rules to keep people from misusing his name, because it was important.

But even more important than our individual names are what our names really stand for. Do your best to make your name be associated with good Christian character, so that God will be glorified.

A good name is to be chosen over great wealth; favor is better than silver and gold. Rich and poor have this in common: the Lord makes them all. - Proverbs 22:1-2

About the Photo

As I mentioned above, I was looking for something different to post. It seems like some of my photos are starting to look the same, and I wanted to change things up a little. Also, it seems like I have used most all of the photos from our past trips, except for lots of Hawaiʻi sunset photos, but I do not want to post those over and over again. So for the future, I went outside with my camera to take some new photos, which you will see later.

So for something different, I gave this photo a bit of a dramatic look, which was pretty easy to do since the clouds were already adding a bit of drama. I increased the contrast a bit, and I actually lowered the color saturation, which is different from what I normally do. I did consider having this be another black and white photo, but I have done a lot of those lately. And that red sign at the lower right really stands out, so I wanted to leave it, along with the blue sky behind the clouds.

Sometimes finding a photo to share is easy, and sometimes it takes a little more work. But there is never anything wrong with putting work into making something worthwhile.

Photo: Each photo is a single Raw exposure, processed in Darktable
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Rokinon 35mm f/1.8
ISO: ISO-200
Shutter Speed: 1/3200 sec.
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal length: 35mm
Date: October 10, 2024
Location: Panamá Viejo, Panama