heath miller, abraham, and the birds

this weekend I'm helping direct our conference's local pastors' licensing school. it is amazing to see these young kids (wasn't i young once?) and some not-so-young ones who feel called by God to leave something behind and follow to somewhere new.

maybe i'm thinking about because i got the shocking news yesterday that heath miller is retiring from the pittsburgh steelers after 11 seasons wearing the black and gold. eleven seasons! the entire time my children have been alive, he's been a steeler. and now he won't be. life goes on. change happens. and God calls us to new things.

today i was blessed to be up to see the sunrise. it was beautiful. a painted reminder that God's grace comes to us fresh and new every day. and as i stood in prayerful awe, i heard birds. BIRDS!! and i thought about those birds and their winged journey. i thought about the lands they'd seen and the shores they'd rested on. i thought about how they somehow know inside them that God is calling them to new shores and lands. i thought about heath. i thought about abraham, called to follow in faith into the great unknown. and I thought about these new pastors at licensing school; learning new things, exploring new lands, and plunging into the wild, painted sea of the unknown, knowing only that God has called them to follow. and i thought of myself, too. and how i was once one of them, and how God has led me through several different lands, and continues to call us forward on the journey. it is beautiful, and i can only hope that every one of us, when we wake up to the sunrise over new shores, will sing with joy like these birds.

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bad haircuts (for a laugh)

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the unlikely orange

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