“Dare you to move, dare you to move I dare you to lift yourself off of the floor.  I dare you to move, dare you to move like today never happened, today never happened before” — Switchfoot

When You Wish Today Never Happened…

Hard Days. We all have them, and if you are reading this, you have survived 100% of your hard days.  It is when hard days turn into hard weeks that get strung into hard years that it feels impossible to think about pulling yourself off of the floor.

These seasons send us searching for a way to numb the pain, even if for a minute.

Everyone deals with pain and loss differently, but the human condition requires that we avoid pain at all costs, and so humans become amazing escape artists.

Every one of us has a preferred method of escape, but regardless of the medium, when life gets unbearably hard, we are transported to another world. It is automatic. Escaping to the imagination of another world while also requiring that we use our own is a special kind of analgesic.

Reading transposes us from an often unkind world to the imagination of another human being who has been brave enough to put a story on paper.  We love the cadence of story.  We laugh at the funny parts, cry at the sad parts, and if you pick a really good book—highlight the woodshed moments.  

Suddenly, reading isn’t just a hobby, it is a life vein.  It becomes a way for the world you are avoiding and the world you are imagining to meet at the perfect intersection where Jesus can meet you there.  The pain of your real life meets the Truth in the story and suddenly it doesn’t hurt as bad anymore.  

What if by reading, your soul is bathed with much needed stories of forgiveness, healing, redemption, and even some laughter along the way?  What if reading is how Jesus chooses to speak to you?  If you are like most of us and could use some help in the painful parts of life….

We dare you to read.