So… how do you like the new look? I love it! When I first started the website back in 2008 (!), I was an Atlanta Bread Company, corner booth, coffee-drinking kind of writer. I was doing Southern fiction quite happily. And then along came Freefall. And it became apparent that my “look” just didn’t match my writing anymore. My friend Mandy Roberson helped me pick out a new theme, worked her magic, and created what you see now! It’s sleek. It’s gorgeous. And most importantly, it’s orange. 🙂
What I most wanted to do with this first blog of the new website was tell the story of the picture that is at the top of the page. It was taken immediately after one of my favorite moments in the world at one of my favorite places in the world. Want to see my favorite moment?
Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012. We were on Hatteras Island and got up super early in the morning to drive out to the old lighthouse site for Sunrise Service. I knew it would be beautiful. After all, as I’ve said so many times before, something in this place just soothes my soul. The thought of watching one of the holiest moments of the year while standing there just shot goose bumps all up my spine.
And then we arrived. From where we stood, I couldn’t hear a word any of the preachers said, so I stepped away from my family and moved a little closer to the water’s edge. Me and Jesus. Standing still. Watching.
That’s when it happened, and I never expected it to feel like that. There was nothing but an ever-increasing orange in the sky until there it was. It was like the world held it’s breath waiting for the sun to peek up over the edge and suddenly, it did. You can’t tell from the photos, but the whole light of the sky and the ocean changed.
And it hit me like it never had before. It was like Jesus leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I did that.” Just like the world waited for the sun to rise, the world waited for the Son to Rise. And when He did, it was light. Ever increasing light. Warmth. Hope.
Until the world ends, the sun will rise. We can count on it. God said so. And we can count on God, because He said so. It was, on that first Easter morning when the Son rose, the ultimate in new beginnings.
My life and my whole relationship with Jesus has been about new beginnings. And so, I also thought it was time for a new tagline… but that’s another post for another day.
Hope you like the new look!
-JB
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