oh the ways we go, getting from beginning to end.
they are terrible and beautiful, and sometimes they are both.

there is no road map to where you’re headed, my friend - but by now I’m sure time has taught you that. instead, there are other things that will lead the way, to serve as our directional guide.

our choices define us, often times the the little moments in life determine where we are going. the things we choose on a daily basis result in where our next step lands.

so what do you want for your tomorrow?
you have to decide on something because inevitably you can not stay in today and although leaving it to chance might sound appealing, I promise you that way is not wise.

the turns you take are important…
they will be scary and you will have to be brave,
they will be brilliant and you will have to be humble,
they will be impossible and you will have to cling to faith,
they...

every day we encounter love in a million different ways,
when the breeze blows a strand of hair from your face,
when a friend looks you in the eye with a sparkle of knowing,
when you are met with the calming sound of your favorite song…

have you ever thought of love this way?
love is thought of typically as the stuff of passion and heartache - the greatest heights and the lowest depths, a powerful agent no doubt.

but what if we unboxed what love could look like?
what if we saw it more in everything,
how could that change us?

love is not something to be withheld for a chosen few, it a gift to be given to many in all it’s glorious facets and colors.

a smile to the stranger handing you your morning coffee,
a message sent to remind someone how worthy they are,
a whisper to the world that you still believe it to be a wonderful and beautiful place.

to release love into the world in...

so let me ask you this…
what is it that you wanted yesterday?
what do you want today?
what do you think you will want tomorrow?

some of the answers to these questions will vary over the years and some will stay the same our entire life through

what we want drives us or paralyzes us, it can bring us great joy or great sorrow, it can either fill our heart or break it

so lately i’ve been asking myself
what is it that I wanted yesterday?
what do I want today?
what do I think I will want tomorrow?

and the answers to the questions have varied over the years and some have stayed the same my entire life through

but what I have seen, and what I am sure of is this…
there are things that I thought I wanted yesterday that standing in today I realize were not meant for me,
there are things that I thought I wanted yesterday that would’ve led me down roads that didn’t lead to the life I’m in...

“…if God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? what I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving.” Matthew 6:30

God did you mean it when you said walk by faith and not by sight, because that sounds great but that’s scary, walking that way requires me losing my senses - not knowing in certainty where my foot will land next, not seeing fully what tomorrow will look like. Do you know how much courage that will take?! Do you know how much leaning in, how much trusting?! I believe you can do anything God, that your power is limitless, but if experiencing that fullness means losing my grip, will I chose it? I have plans that seem great Jesus! Have you looked them over? I have an outline of...

today as you sit wondering how you’ve gotten to where you are. fearfully watching as the chasm between yesterday and today widens, I want you to remember what you’re made of. you are the sum of wild, wonderful things. you are the beautiful places you’ve been, the magic you’ve touched and the love you’ve shown. you’re made of the dreams you dreamed as a child, the simplicity of home, the freedom of being known fully. you’re made of moments shared and not easily forgotten. you’re made of every joy and pain you’ve ever known, you’re made of your bad days just as much as your good, you’re made of contrast that brings beauty. so, today as you sit wondering how you’ve gotten to where you are. fearfully watching as the chasm between yesterday and today widens, I want you to remember what you’re made of. that no matter what it might feel like, that the essence of who you are is still true, you...

right now, you’re in the middle and in the middle is a very scary place to be. to be in the middle is feeling like you’re treading open ocean, the shore somewhere far off on each horizon - maybe out of sight. the middle is a place where drowning feels very possible.

right now, you know enough to realize that there are things that matter and things that don’t, unanticipated forevers and shocking goodbyes, breaking and thriving, there are days that are good and days that are bad, you know enough to realize that life is full of contrast and that contrast brings depth.

right now, you are finding out the strength in your legs as you tread in the middle, wondering which shore to aim towards. you are feeling your heart beating and being shown what you are made of. even in these deep waters, you will not drown.

what is true right now?
I am still here, God is good.
I am still dreaming, God is faithful.

in life we are drawn to good,
oftentimes good is comfortable
oftentimes good is what we work hard for
oftentimes good is a good thing -
but i think that we were made for more than good.

in life it is hard to fathom great,
to reach beyond what is in front of us
to take a chance on something
to believe that there is more than good
and I think in believing that great is possible, incredible things can happen.

I believe dreams can be realized
I believe that trajectories can be changed
I believe that the impossible can become possible
I believe that we can walk fully into everything God has imagined us to be.

not just good, but great.

the decision that requires truest courage,
the hardest thing you’ll ever do,
the most faith and fear filled word you’ll ever speak is
“yes”

it is daunting, and the specifics are often unknown but over and over again we see God calling us into the unexpected by faith with the first step being a “yes”

sometimes our “yes” means staying, sometimes it means leaving.
sometimes our “yes” looks like getting our hearts broken,
sometimes our “yes” looks like wrecking our plans,
sometimes our “yes” looks nothing like we thought it would.
sometimes our “yes” leaves us in a place that we never though we’d be.

… but always our “yes” in faith is honored,
our obedient trust, is honored by miraculous outcome.
we see it in healing, we see it in restoration, we see it in blessing
and we see it in the overflow that follows a life continually throwing itself into the things that God calls us to, even...