My Trek

September 1st I am embarking on a journey. This journey is unlike any I have traveled. This journey is one of community, relationships, beauty, challenge, peace, rest, discovery, growth and glory.

My journey will begin in my white- slightly beat up- Toyota Corolla as I drive from Woodstock, GA to New Jersey where I have the pleasure of photographing a friends wedding. Ruth is not just any friend. She is one of those friends who comes into your life for a brief moment but forever changes it. We met on a missions trip to Ecuador in 2003, and over the course of two weeks knew each other better than most friends do in a lifetime.

On September 7th, I will meet up with a crew of incredibles: Scott- a talented, big-hearted, visionary, Krissy- a genuine, beautiful, artist, Emerson- a bundle of joy, cute as a bug's butt, lovable toddler, Rachel- an adorable, gifted young lady (whom I'm quite sure we will be kindred spirits) and Britton- a funny, young gentleman, I have only briefly met but am positive is splendid.

From Niagara Falls, ON, to wherever the road leads us... we will travel, commune, share, laugh, grow and see what there is to see- all while living out of a backpack.

My hope for this journey is to experience community, grow in my relationship with Father, and live a simple life.

Please check back for updates as I prepare to leave and stories of my journey.

This song by Brendan James keeps running through my head.

I want to walk through this doorway
I want to open my mind
I want to pledge my allegiance to all I can find.
I want a car that will crash through the barriers
to a road no one knows.
I want to feel less control,
want to bend and I want to land far from home.

The revolution of the earth around the sun
is the perfect lesson of how it should be.
So if i cannot learn
to journey and return,
to never rest till I've seen all I can see...

I want to learn a completely new language,
one I don't understand.
I want to help someone lost, someone helpless,
with the strength of my hand.
I want to come to the base of a statue built
before they counted the years,
and there i'll fall with my face in my hands and cry
and feel their hope in my tears.

The revolution of the earth around the sun
is the perfect lesson of how it should be.
So if I cannot learn,
to journey and return,
to never rest till I've seen all I can see...

Train rides and pastures colliding...
colors and customs i've never seen...
I know I, yes I know I,
I know I will stumble
but time is precious my friend.

I want to know where the stength of a person lies,
in their past or their future.
Is it in the way that they hurt or they love themselves
or is it all an illusion?
I want to crawl from this skin that i'm painted in...
Body, please let it give.
I want to find the creator of all good things
and ask what it means to live.

My Guitar

Today for the first time in months I picked up my guitar. I had forgotten how much I love to write. For me, playing the guitar is an avenue for my thoughts. It is a porthole into the depths of my heart where I store my most sacred fears. While playing I began to realize what I was really feeling about life. I had no idea this is how I felt.

These are the lyrics I wrote:

You look outside your window and imagine what could be

A world where you’re in it and you’re free. You see the children laughing and you dream of the day...

someone comes and finds you, helps you put your fears behind you.

You hope and wait pray. But until that day...you stay.

The days go by and you forget to dream.

Somehow nothing matters but this false reality.

You settle for the existence of a two demential world and the lies you keep telling yourself about the outside world.

You wait for the day someone comes knocking at your door.

They come to take you back to what you knew.

A life filled with color and a heart filled with song. But most of all the person that used to be you.

But too afraid to make a move you sit and wait and pray...

That someday you will see the light but until that day... you stay.

Despite the lies, the tale that has been spun; you know deep down who you are that this battle’s been won.

You know it doesn't matter what is thrown your way. There is hope and peace and true love... and it’s here to stay.