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Not too long ago, I took a walk on a beautiful spring afternoon. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I was miserable.

Life at that time felt particularly burdensome to me, with responsibilities that seemed overwhelming and big unknowns about the future, and I just wanted to get out of the house to clear my head.

In July 2022, on a Tuesday evening, an eclectic group of seven gathered in the Philadelphia airport to fly to the Worship God conference in Louisville, Kentucky. We ranged in age from teens to 60s, and though we all knew each other from church, most of us hadn’t interacted much, beyond a passing conversation once or twice.

My Bible reading plan recently took me through Ezekiel, and in case you didn’t already know, I’m here to tell you that book is tough! Ezekiel’s visions and instructions are among the strangest in all the prophets.

“If ye saw Him who is standing on the shore, holding out His arms to welcome you to land, ye would wade, not only through a sea of wrongs, but through hell itself to be with Him.”  – Samuel Rutherford

Picture John 21 with me: seven men in a boat, weary after a fruitless night of fishing. Dawn just breaking over the Sea of Tiberias, gray light reflected on the water. A voice from a figure on the shore that nobody recognizes—until suddenly their nets are bursting with fish, so many that they can’t even haul them into the boat. Who else could it be?

“Hey, how’s it going?”

If you’re like me, that simple question is complicated to answer right now. Personal stress is one thing, but it also feels like every time I read the news, I find out that the world just got a little more chaotic: Explosive politics in our country threatening to divide friends and family. A prolonged pandemic without an end in sight. Wildfires. Flooding. Even the spotted lanternflies in my backyard feel like a harbinger of doom!