cheers to the passing of our youth

a toast to the lessons not yet learned and to the trials that will teach them

viewing dusk

The blue sky began retreating into the horizon running from the black night close in pursuit. The sky bled orange and purple as the night pierced it with sharp but shiny pricks of light in an attempt to finally cease the ageless chase. How could the day keep enduring the seemingly cyclical pain and keep running forward? He could not see an end and kept having to look behind to make sure he was still ahead of his pursuer. Every stab of evening light the day took seemed to slice into the weakest points of his sky often leaving him stumbling, trying to catch his breath and footing, but having no time to rest. Things were moving too fast and the day had to keep up. His breathing was heavy and his pace was slowing going into the season of winter. He must find rest.

***

The boy sat on the top floor balcony of the tallest building on campus watching the miniature versions of his peers dotting the bricked pathway below him. The change of perspective gave him a refreshing detachment of the microcosm he ascended from and yet a focus on the overall picture he was seeing. He needed the time to step out of the turbulence of scheduling and instead fly above it. He fixed his eyes upward to see the sunset he was soaring into. The scene never seemed to change, day after day. Despite the successes or the failures he had to go through, the finale was always the same and will continue to be. Somehow the sun never set without leaving behind a final medley of warmth that was always enough to sustain the earth through the night.

confidence

I don't know what I am doing at all.
What the heck do I say next?
When is the right timing for that?
What if?

It's a hard thing for a man to accept that we don't have complete control over a situation. The pride creeps up and we want to say firmly, especially to someone we dearly care about, that we have it all planned out and securely settled. If God has been showing me anything lately, it is that I can't. It's really hard for me to say "I don't know" to ministries I serve/lead in, specific people, and my future, but that's the truth most of the time.

I'm a noob in so many ways.

But for some reason there is so much confidence in that confession. I might not know what's going on or how to fix things or the next best step to take, but my God does. He knows what's best. What a great reminder to boast not in myself or my own ability, but in the fact that God loves me enough to always be leading the way.