Good morning friends. I don’t know about you, but I am loving these cool, late summer/early fall mornings. Cooler temperatures bathed in the warm glow of morning sunlight. I’ll take all I can get.

There’s something that’s been on my mind a lot lately: what’s next? I’ve always been a ‘what’s next person. What’s the next thing on the “to-do” list? What’s the next trip I’d like to go on? What’s the next surgery I will need?(no joke. THIS has crossed my mind, more than once).

As you know, I am retiring in a little over 10 months. So, naturally, I’ve been asking myself, “what’s next?” For the past 6 months I’ve worked to get some things lined up: I have a little part-time job as substitute start at the Ohio State Golf Club(what a great ‘job”: I work roughly 6 times a season and get free golf!); I’ve been volunteering at Nationwide Children’s Hospital on Thursday afternoons; I am going next Friday to volunteer at a mission that our church supports. I’ll help serve lunch to about 300 needy. Hope to engage in meaningful conversation. But, WHAT’S NEXT?

Stepping out. I recently attended a prayer walk on the Ohio State campus one evening during the beginning of the school year. Our church has a campus outreach ministry at OSU, University of Cincinnati, Bowling Green University and Wittenberg University. In addition to the Campus Outreach staff, there were roughly another dozen or so of us in attendance. I’ve never done this before. So you know, walking around campus, praying out loud, and being vulnerable, to that degree, is not something I’d even ever considered. Yet, something pulled at my heartstrings. I felt the need, the want, to be part of it. To STEP OUT.

Steeping out. Trying something new can be scary. It can even be paralyzing for some. I’m not trying to diminish real fear. Nope, not what I am saying. What I am saying is that, sometimes, when we do step outside of our comfort zone, and let go of that imaginary safety blanket, we grow. We discover a part of ourselves we never knew existed.

Oh, what happened to me at that prayer walk, you ask? Well, I loved it. I discovered that I could pray out loud, in front of others, friends and strangers. I GREW. I was praying for others, that I didn’t even know, but I experienced joy BECAUSE of the effort. I discovered another part of me BECAUSE of the act of STEPPING OUT.

Be well,

Jeff