They are still calling me.
Just before the bike crash, I was wondering how I could add some fresh diversity to my cycling photography. I had pretty much run the limit of my riding range, and the day of the crash, I was on my way into the City to shoot some urban images. That isn’t really what I like, but it would have been hard to do anything different within cycling range.
Now, I want you to know that there was mercy in that crash. It’s quite likely I would have encountered the heart trouble on some huge long ride and would have run the risk of not getting timely help. Keep in mind that this isn’t a heart-problem as most men have them, but a wiring issue within an otherwise very healthy heart. The wiring problem was coming to a head and I had no way of knowing that. Human parts wear out in their own time and in their own way, and God isn’t through with me, so this was a merciful way of bringing about changes.
So now the long rides are out of the picture, and my heart no longer desires them at all. What I desire is riding that mountain bike for the sake of access to places I couldn’t drive. I had already planned on extending the range of my riding by using my bike carrier on the car. I now believe that was an incomplete picture.
You might imagine that I have given a lot of prayer and contemplation to what all these changes indicate in terms of how to move forward. I’m still here and I have a powerful desire to keep exploring with my camera. My heart calls me to push out farther, but not by riding from home. There is something still very powerful happening between nature and the camera in my hands. There are places out there not yet seen calling my name.
I have come to believe that I need to pray for a pickup, and some way to pay for keeping and running another vehicle. This will make it easy to take the bike out with me, among other things. There are a hundred details yet to reveal themselves, but this is the direction I feel called. And while I don’t take myself too seriously — this could be a mere pipe-dream — it’s where my expectations are pointing and where I’m praying.
Even more important is that something in my soul signals that we really need to pray for more writers to join our faith community. We have yet another contribution to the booklet project pending and I’m sincerely hoping that we can use tools like this booklet to reach out to other folks who are just waiting for the message we bear.
Sure, we all love the idea that this could become more universal, but it’s not time for that yet. Right now it’s just a matter of reaching those relative few out there already seeking what we have. There is a sense in which they already belong, but the awareness hasn’t connected. Pray the Lord grant us more souls discovering this grand freedom in His Spirit.
