Forty Plus Miles

       I creep into the cold to not stir an alarm at the neighbors, a four-legged one of the canine variety that could wake my still slumbering family. I enter this sacred beginning with intentionality, considering this profound and quiet calm that speaks peace in the chaos. Busy seeks to break this unique peace, yet something stirs inside to rise up, take arms, and hold ground of this beautiful fortified moment.          To tell a story through the actions of embracing a day (whatever that looks like). To live with focus of appreciation, intentionally, where joy is found in truly embracing this day that the Lord has made.           Hope! Hope! Hope in the busy, and I'm listening. Rest! Rest! Rest, as my spirit leans in to the presence of Jesus calling me to trust and depend on Him.          To tell a story, of a renewal, a restoration, and ...

 Trying, today, through Tuesday's tough times; taking time to try to triumph today...Tuesday.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

              Just a word, then one more, to process busy, life and living. Just some effort, carving out a moment to decompress...somehow. Here, going, and going, and going yet more on another busy weekday.                "Just a word or two", I'd tell myself, "Enough to create a healthy release in this over saturation of activity." . Just a word that became two, three, and so on; building something to grow through the pressure. Just some "self care", some time to recover, hopefully, on a ridiculously busy Tuesday.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

           Dreary and cold, still, steps are taken. This is where the Light is. To enter a day, do your best, even when it isn't the same "best" as others. This is where the Light is. Gray gives way to sunshine, bright and encouraging, shining hope and encouragement to worn souls and tired bodies; grace in the empowering on a Monday. This is where the Light is. No parting of a Red Sea, no miraculous healings, no dead raised......unless you include the parting of "Red Seas" we all face in life, the healing of faith in hope growing past the temporary circumstances that seemed otherwise, and the "dead" parts of us rising to new life inside. This is where the Light is; Jesus. This is the grace that yields strength to continue on, trusting by faith that IN AND THROUGH Jesus we can do all things given, even when that faith is a mustard seed (small); we all know what mountains that kinda faith can move.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a...

  One, rising, walking. Two, forward moving. Three, steps into the busy living of a day.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         Strength was all but gone (energy of any kind really), and the sweet taste of freedom appeared unreachable. Light was far and small, though it always is when you're looking up from a pit.           Despair drowns and covers further when an overworked soul is lost in the endless oceans of life, the ones that demand we respond, where we must sink or swim. Endless "seas" of responsibilities and activity leave us all spent far beyond our physical bodies; this is the reality of overwork and it's effects.          The walls are sheer and no escape looks to be a reality, though it isn't. Lying down in the dark, sleep takes our surrender and we are restored. Waking to the light of possibility in another day we enter it, look up once more, and realize the footholds in the wall. Climbing at once we eventually reach the top, see hope's light remind us it'll be better and we live again, all while remembering to res...

          It's work, waking, breathing, walking through each day (and all that comes with that). It's effort, to embrace life and not merely exist. This is the business of living.            I say all that to highlight one thing: work is MUCH more than effort given for financial income or some sort of goods and services rendered between two parties. Work is living, and this is a good work. The moment we begin to view work through this lens is the moment we get excited for the good work ahead (and the adventure that comes with it). This is the business of living, a great endeavor I hope we all remember is good work worth doing (myself included). Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         It's rainy, again. It's dreary and dismal on a weekday, today.  The snow may have left, though the wet landscapes have not. This is the garden, one of my mood and thoughts. This is the difficult place where everything can change (even on brutal days as these); "How?", is the question. By remembering.           Here in this "garden" of my thoughts I MUST remember. Remember good is still possible. Remember the good that HAS happened in the past. Remember that this too will pass, for it has before. I don't ignore what's wrong, I simply don't focus on it; that is how "weeding"( or clearing out the unhealthy thoughts) will take place. That is also how new constructive seed will be planted and grown in making room for the good.             It's rainy again, but it will not remain this way forever, both in the weather and in the garden within my soul; help me to remember that Jesus.  Sidenot...

 In ten words, dreaming, writing. In ten words, praying, hoping. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Heavy traffic down busy streets called days, driving, driving, down busy byways through heavy traffic called busy seasons of this thing called life. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 Onward, on word, on writing words. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Not just therapy, progress; writing to create. Creating to find better for us, our little family.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         This week our area got hit hard by a sizeable snowstorm. It's effected alot (I even had one day off and took another to try and get things right). I work outdoors mostly, so navigating weather that isn't pleasant is rough. While navigating through it all, this thought came to me: "You're still struggling, and that means you haven't given up.". Whether this was Jesus encouraging me or what I don't know, still though, in spite of things not being perfect (or even easier), this fresh perspective was very much welcome (and STILL is).             When we struggle, we refuse to just give up (especially when it's very tough), and this shows we are still fighting through something. It doesn't have to be perfect, just possible. If you're struggling, keep struggling to overcome, and remember, so long as you fight IN THE POWER AND PRESENCE OF JESUS you will ALWAYS overcome, even if the way forward seems slow and only a little at ...

Icy ways, slow going....and that's not even the weather; still we're going. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 Climbing, cold mountains climbing, through a winter; little by little. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

       Cold thoughts, slow steps through a winter; trying not to "slip" in life.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

        Somehow, there's life, living a little through a snow-covered setback. Somehow, there's shifting, and we are taking steps toward more than existing...my family and I. Past the cold, past the struggle of a cold war of massive snowy proportions.            Somehow, still walking, praying for a grace and a new way to live...one that doesn't get restrained as easily by a surprise snowstorm my family and I are walking through in a new year. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

          Awaken; though the skies fall! Awaken; though the ground shakes beneath you! Awaken; as your world crumbles! You were born for this moment, the one where you come alive, give fire to the dying embers of lives that have nearly extinguished! Awaken; to awaken others around....in Jesus' name! Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         Waiting, here in these storms of life, here in these showers of difficulty pouring down, these flashes of challenge through sudden change.  .         Waiting, while walking still, praying still for some sorta grace, making way through messy days like these. Here, there, and still I see the promise of grace for the fallen down, the tired souls in the upsets and knockdown kinda days, in these days looking, with tired eyes and a heavy heart.             Teach us to see past the rains, winds and storms of living Jesus. May we hope in You even here, even now, we pray in Your name Jesus.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

            Watching the faces, considering the places, everything encountered through a day. The fancy cars at some humble house where two surprised faces responded to the unexpected: me. Remembering the old house in the old city full of a life of memories, sitting there quiet and still, very still.               Watching the restless man resembling a mechanic of sorts, the messy business of living all over his overalls in grease. Watching. Faces and roads taken, the young man of around ten waiting for life to continue; red shirt, sad face and all. Even from a distance it was obvious, it was felt. To move on from the stalemate. Me too kid, me too.                Watching again. Praying again. Writing again. Reflecting on the busy of a wild and unpredictable day, one that happens to be a Thursday.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your ...

            A place reached. A way navigated. A bark heard...again. This is the reality of working in certain industries (like mine). Today was no exception, and probably MORE so than usual were the presence of dogs. I still like animals, but when you see them as often as I do it can be alot at times. You'll have to cross the terrain of interacting with each one and that can daunting at times. Still, in these "dog days" (like today), when you see the kindness of animals, or something goes better than you expect there is a sense of reward.....especially when that "good" is simply not getting bit. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

      Under gray clouds and dreary days a new year begins. In The unwanted and unwelcome life continues on: gray and cold days of a January month. We rise, we step into another day, and we wonder how this will be different; this is dark. Along the roads of a new year in the beginning month we travel through, but we aren't through.. for the dark will not last forever. We wake and we rise, wondering what will be in this new year, and this the new month, while walking through Winter's icy grasp. It is here that light breaks through our "clouds", shines upon the mundane, unknown and unpleasant roads we are traveling through a beginning.. through a winter.           Dark then light as our "clouds" break and our thoughts and expectations change, for this is the natural order of things, and with it the encouragement that light still comes even if it is after the dark. Dark then light, first the cold and the dreary and the dismal, and then hope; this...

 Under gray, walking today. Driving, fighting, praying today; for a better way. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

            This phrase (the title of this post) stuck out to me when I was listening to a talk on waiting on God today. It was poetic and profound. It was addressing that time in our waiting when we are not sure what to do. In between the wait, where all feels off somehow, where we are tempted to give up believing God for good (trusting Him even), and when we just feel forgotten and abandoned.               It is here where there is still activity; in between the wait. Here where our activity is an ACTIVE trust in Jesus, in God. It is here where (as we hope and believe Jesus) that we find our faith growing with each moment of unbelief and faithless thought made right in the presence and power of Jesus. There is still good activity here, activity that is constructive and truly empowering, in between the wait and the promise fulfilled of something we could never have done on out own.          ...

       Diamonds for the digging, when we're willing to, when I'm willing to; and today I'm going to (willing or not). Diamonds in some disguised "coal" and I'll mine in each dig, apply pressure to what is there, and be ready for beautiful results.         Praying, pressing, practicing consistently what it means to find diamonds in our "coal" moments of life, no matter how our "consistently" is.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

Saturday,  super sonic,  seeking solace steadfastly somehow;  Saturday.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 Fast furious Friday fighting forward ferociously. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

            Under a blanket of gray it's felt. Something is shifting though I know not what. On a weekday, at the end of a work week, there is something changing I am left anxious about. Is it good? Is it fast or large? I know not.  .            In the tense unknown I cling to what is true: I have made it this far, seen the miracles of Jesus protect, provide, and even heal me; and the full week isn't over yet! On the edge of something I pray for grace, for restoration, and dare to hope for good still possible.....under gray skies and disappointment I am walking through, wishing there was some sunshine today.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         Of two minds, to rest and to continue forward. Of two perspectives, where a deep desire to heal and recover from a constant busyness remains.. yet a strange stirring to create something good and impactful pushes me onward.          Of two minds, where the cold bids me rest while being intentional in a healthy pace that promotes something meaningful in life are blending. Of two minds, on a extremely busy Thursday, where a meeting of these divided perspectives is being seen, even when it looks otherwise.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 Another time, another day, praying, asking for new grace to stay.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 Fourth day, fighting forward.

        On A cold winters morn, I rise. Listening, walking, taking small steps along cold roads under gray skies. Quiet, at first, until wave after wave of humanity seeks to strangle a fragile peace within.           On a cold winters morn I continue on, dreaming of rest, hot drinks, and a much needed reset from the constant running. On this gray and cold day, I looked once more for the sun, for a light outside and inside the "winter" soul that is mine here and now.           On a cold winters morn I remember that this is a BEGINNING, ONLY PART of a journey, and NOT all of it. This warms a hope grown cold somewhere deep inside, an active and stirring hope I am grateful for; on a cold winters morn.

       Rising, then falling, flames of inspiration stir and die off. Rising, then falling, this deep desire to create again, being nearly choked out by the exhaustion of a busy life; still there are flames.          It is here, on a busy start to a new year I stir. Breaking up the dead embers through words written in faith I stir, stoking the flames with more fuel for productivity I feed the hungry fires trying to grow. One motion, then two, these "hot pokers" of writing mix the dead to new life, urging them rise. One action turns to many and flames are growing again. Rising, then falling and I keep "stirring", keep "waking" the dead coals in me as creativity ascends higher and higher. Here they are rising, and I with them. Here there is new life and a new me, waking to this creative surge! Here, I am ready, writing and rising with each word written and each rising flame burning in my soul, thank You Jesus; for I know it's from You! Sidenote:...

       Walking, praying, working through another day. Cold, tired on a Tuesday, expressing to live, through story and poetry. Listening, inside, something not natural to a talkative soul, still I strive to live this out: to listen and follow as Jesus leads. Here, faster than I thought, finishing up work early and seeking to be a light in the ending of a shift, past the middle of a day where I'm processing it all...through story and poetry written here.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

           Two times, taking time today; just journeying January....two times today.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

 One, two, writing new.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

       Steps, one word, one writing release, one forward progression ahead.  Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support! 

         Walking, from the end into the beginning, the new year that's started, from the inside out. Shaking off the heavy, casting the burdens backward and off, throwing them toward the past with each step forward, forward from the inside out of me to walk into growth and healing in this new start of a new year. Sidenote: If any of the writing on this blog has made a good impact on your life in someway (EVEN if it was something you may have enjoyed reading for a particular reason), please feel free to share this blog with someone else who could be blessed also. Thank you for your support!