Traveling downward

Image: Loyalton, CA (taken by yours truly)

It’s SO hard not posting here on my regular daily-ish schedule. But I can tell that, during this silence, things are stirring in me. The Holy Spirit is pulling some levers creativity-wise with this blog (and a lot of things in my life) that I can’t now name.

It’s so hard to keep quiet when you own a bullhorn. But oh-so healthy for the soul. God does God’s best work during our quiet times. We’re more malleable when we’re quiet.

My family and I are also in the midst of some (good - albeit crazy!) life changes that I have to be fully present for. Right now, I'm spending a ton of time with Rory because Alex is working a bunch. And Rory has a special sniffer for when Dad is on the screen (it's amazing how hypocritical kids are when it comes to screentime).

I hope I can update you more in the week to come if/when things solidify. Until then, I pray that your summer is going... Simply.

Simple is my word right now. I tweeted this the other day (yes, I've been playing around on Twitter even though it terrifies me)...

Jonas Ellison @JonasEllison

I can’t tell you how many small, simple, sacred everyday things I’ve put off over the years in pursuit of the “epic” that crept through my fingers like sand.

The god of my past - the god of American success, I’ll call it - had me always looking up just above the horizon line looking for more. For better. For more epic.

But this Christian God has me looking straight down at the ground that my feet are on. Right here in the mundane everyday moments - this is where God lives, moves, and has God's being. Right here in the dirt of rural Northern California, in this little town of 900 people (though that number varies depending on which sign you look at), God is doing God’s good work in ways I’ll never even know.

BTW, it's so damn beautiful out here. Up top is a photo of the sunset from the other night.

Anyhow…

I pray that, wherever you are, you can look down and - even in the midst of the direst circumstances (especially, even) - God sinks towards the low places. God travels downward, not upward.

This, dear friend, is good news.

Grace + Godspeed,
Jonas