without you I'm just water and dust

Tonight I left my house and just drove.  Usually, I don't have the luxury of not having a destination, but tonight I rolled all of my windows down and turned my music up.  And then I sang.  It felt like freedom.  Watching the cars and the lights and listening to the symphonies of all our lives going on at once makes me breathless.  We each have a story, a puzzle piece of a bigger and more beautiful picture.

I stopped for coffee and ended up reading in Philippians.  Paul is in jail and he tells the people of Philippi that it's a good thing.  I tremble at the thought of having joy in jail.  In all honestly, I'm not that selfless.  No struggle I've ever experienced has ever come close to being thrown in prison for what I believe.  He even goes on to say that being thrown in jail was worth it because of one jailer who sought faith.  And I just sat there with my overpriced yuppie coffee and let my mind tilt backwards on its axis.  Joy.  Patience.  Struggle.  Running a race that doesn't seem like it has an end.  Endurance.  Encouragement.  People.  Perspective.  Value.  Pain.  Triumph.  Finish line.  It hit me that sometimes the things that happen to us aren't about us.  Maybe there is more purpose in our story than we'll ever really know.

Would you go to jail just for the jailer?

If something that you're doing only effects one person, would you still do it?  Sometimes in my life it seems like I pour myself into things and nothing happens.  At least not that I can see.  And so I give up a little.  I lose heart.  But if my effort makes a difference in one person, is it worth it?  Some people would say no.  But I say YES.  I shout it, I laugh around it, I dance to it.  I think so.  I think one person matters just as much as ten thousand.  One life, one story, one song, could be changed by you.  Your diligence.  Your hopefulness.  Your love.  Your willingness to be inconvenienced.  Your story.

"Sometimes when you're in the middle of something, it feels like you're in the middle of race.  You're sweaty and tired and you want to go home.  You forget that there are people at the finish line waiting for you, cheering for you, and expecting you to finish.  And for a split second, you almost buy into the lie that you're the only one running, when nothing is further from the truth.  We are six billion people with six billion finish lines.  And the truth is, we're all in this together in ways we'll never understand."