A clarion whistle calls out to the horizon, then fades into a trail of charcoal and ash funneling high into an arid sky.

Her life will never be same again.

But this is not the story’s end. This is a new destination.

The life she led before she will lead no more. From this day forward, with every thought and every breath, her heart will beat for someone else… for everyone but herself.

Though around the bend, storm clouds may descend. But in the fear and doubt of night, she will recall the vows she swore before her Father and her pledge of devotion to her one true love. She will look back on this day and find hope.

Today is a new beginning. A date circled in luscious red, warmly recalled, and blessed.
She may not remember the moment she first fell in love but she wll remember today.

Each of us may find our Come to Jesus moment along a different road to Damascus. Some may remember the heart-touching moment in enraptured detail, whether amid the jubulant throng of an open-air crusade or the soulful reflection of an empty quiet. Others… only the journey.

But wading into the river Jordan… that’s a day to remember. A sign post on the trail between nowhere and somewhere to glance back on… from that moment on and forever more.

But immersion is more than sunday school pageantry or an entry on a checklist: T’do and be done with.

“Just do it.”  ^{Acts 2:38 (Nike Edition)}

To be buried in Christ and raised a new creation is to confess that you were redeemed and choose to follow Him. But you must deny yourself to claim His name.

Charades is party game all about self:

Arrayed in white satin, a player parades past bridesmaids arranged like so many orange blossoms and orchestral strings on the arm of a man whose authority she never really respected to be given to a man whose name she will never accept.

The prize is a faux-leather gender-neutral NIV rent of Ephesians Five.

The unredeemed preach fulfillment in freedom from him. But in running from one of life’s most cherished pleasures: Needing and being needed, they end up liberated and alone on an empty platform far from home.

To find yourself you must lose yourself. Surrender all: No turning back.

“…no turning back.” ♬

Tickets are all one way.

Jail breaks are the boyhood fancy of Hopalong Cassidy and Saturday matinees: A twilight whirlwind of hell-bent mustangs and desperados kicking up prairie dust for the border. Yeah… the outlaws flee but are never truly free. Just as wedding vows can be cast aside but cannot be unvowed.

“For love’s sake, I am a prisoner of Jesus Christ.”  ^{Philemon 1:9}

In the years following the close of its infamous prison, Yuma notably regained fame as the go-to getaway for couples escaping Californy’s denial of drive-thru weddings.

…for those who valued being married over getting married.

Leave your baggage at the station.

And in a flurry of lace-trimmed kerchiefs and a chorus of tearful farewells, a new story begins at the end of the line – two tickets, one heart, and a preacher waiting in Yuma.

The Way Outs
Kids need less classtime and more playtime, time with dad, and the Flintstones.

Free Parking
“Ride it like you stole it.” ^{Thomas Paine (sorta)}  Well… he might have said it, had he opened a novelty t-shirt outlet.