Charlie Hall has a new CD out called "Flying Into Daybreak".

I have been listening to it quite a bit lately, especially track number nine.

There is one line . . . "You bring daybreak in the night." . . . that keeps repeating in my mind.

Yesterday afternoon I traveled down to Oxford to have dinner with some friends.

I took this photo on the way home this morning.




I think the imagery of daybreak in the night is very fitting for the thoughts I processed on my way home this morning.

My cover got blown last night . . . and I did not even know I had been "under cover".

The friends I have down in Oxford have come to know me well over the last year . . . well enough to "call me out" last night.

I was surprised . . . but very grateful.

It would seem that I was trying to hide behind a lie . . . instead of living out what know God is asking of me.

The conversation we had over dinner and then "tetonka" brownies prepared the way for my daybreak.

I think I am no longer in search of resurrection . . .

. . . I think I am in the process of coming alive.

Three years ago this night . . . probably close to this very hour . . . I was sitting on my friend Christa's couch wondering if I had made the right decision.

I had made it half way on my mini journey of a lifetime to Columbus, Ohio to start a new chapter of my life . . . and I was starting to get scared.

She told me that everything was going to be fine . . . that I had a life full of mystery and adventure ahead of me.

As it turns out things have been more than fine . . . and there has been plenty of adventure.

If you know me, you know I am date person . . . my life, my memories are all cataloged by date and sometimes even time.

So as I come up on three years of life in Columbus I have been thinking a lot about the life I have here and how I came about having it.

And it happens, that any time I take to reflect on my life here . . . I think about how I got here.

Which leads to me think about my dear friend Mark Palmer . . . and my heart gets a little heavier.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about Mark this week . . . thinking about the life he asked me to come be a part of . . . the life I have created for myself amongst the people here in Columbus.

When I spoke at his memorial service . . . I said I would never take this life that he gave me for granted.

And I really hope that I have held true to that statement.

Because it really is a beautiful life that I have here . . . filled with some of the most beautiful people . . . who have changed me so much.

I have learned so much about love, relationships, community and family in the last three years . . . I have grown so much because of these people . . . because of this life.

My hope is to grow and live and experience so much more here . . . because though I have been here for three years . . . I plan on being here for many, many more.

It has been three long and beautiful years.

And here is what I know . . I am not going anywhere . . . I am rooted . . . I am home.

A year and a half later I am still learning about grief.

There is more to come on this line of thought . . . just not tonight.

"May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done."
~A Franciscan Blessing~

Walk bravely. Christ is in you.