Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,123

better let you guys practice,” Frank said. “Take care.”

“You too.”

Coming around, Ryan stood there, looking worried as Greg glanced out and saw Clara come in as well.

“Were we supposed to come early?” Ryan asked. “I must’ve missed the memo.”

“Nope.” Greg took off the guitar and handed it to Ryan. “I’m just killing some time, trying to remember how to play this thing.”

“Yeah, right. You could play that in your sleep.”

While that was probably true, it did feel like it took more effort to remember how than it used to.

“You want to play through a couple?” Greg asked.

“Sounds great.”

Messing with her phone while driving wasn’t the best idea, but Taylor got the song Yoli had told her about pulled up. She listened to it once all the way through as her body flooded with goosebumps. It was like the lyrics were written specifically for her. Getting out of the boat, stepping away from her comfort zone and into the realm of the unknown? How could they have possibly captured what this felt like so perfectly?

Her mind and spirit were flooding with ideas so that they were bouncing around in no apparent order, and about the time she tried to remember one to write it down later, a new, even better one showed up. Frustrated with her own limited ability to capture any of them, she stopped at a convenience store in the next town and bought a notebook and a pen. Then, instead of continuing on her way, she sat in the parking lot for an hour just writing as fast as she could get things down.

There were notes about Lily and art, Nelson and music, Meow Wolf, the fairy tales and stories. The faster she wrote, the more came pouring out of her. It was like a dam had burst upriver and the thoughts and ideas came tumbling down, overwhelming everything. It was only when it began to get truly dark that she came to the surface of reality enough to realize she was, in fact, still sitting in the parking lot of a convenience store. She really needed to get back on the road, but her mind slipped two more thoughts onto the notebook pages before she got that to happen.

Two miles down the road, the dam burst again. She could hardly pay attention to the road because something other than reality had completely overtaken her. This was crazy. Good crazy. Amazing crazy. But crazy nonetheless.

Knowing she would lose these thoughts forever if she didn’t get them down, she stopped at a roadside rest area, parked, and turned on the light over the console. Her penmanship was atrocious, and she had no idea if she would ever be able to decipher her scribblings when she got home. However, that didn’t deter her in the least.

Mystery = God

God = Energy

Energy = Moving

Moving = Motion

Motion = Motivation

The MYSTERY of MOTIVATION is GOD’s ENERGY ALIVE IN YOU!

“As we travel through life,” Pastor Dave said when they had sat for the sermon, “it is important to stop and take stock of where we are, what we are doing, who we are becoming, and what we believe is truly important. Too often, life just sweeps us along on this endless push toward… Well, toward something, something that the world says will bring us success and happiness, something that we are told will be worth it at some point down the road. Even heaven is couched in terms of someday.

“But what if, by living for someday, we are missing the here-and-now? If we do not make the truly important, important now, we will never make it important later. It’s like saving money. If you’re always going to save someday, that removes the thought of saving today, and what you will find eventually is that someday never really shows up like you thought it would. Do not someday the important things. If your friends are important, make time for them now. If you value love and hope and dreams, make time to pursue them now. Friendships, relationships cannot be built on someday. They must be built right where you are now. Use this time to encourage each other to become your highest selves. Don’t seek worldly success and perfection at the expense of Godly excellence. If being a good, upstanding person in the community someday is important to you, start practicing that today.

“You see, Jesus spent three short years with His disciples, but think of all of the stories and lessons and memories He packed into