Before the sun came up over Austin, while the skyline still looked half-asleep and the water by Auditorium Shores held the last of the night in it, Jesus knelt in the dim blue quiet and prayed. The grass was still damp. A breeze moved across Lady Bird Lake and
Before daylight had fully opened over Fort Worth, Jesus was already awake. He stood near the Quiet Pool at the Fort Worth Water Gardens while the city still held that thin hour when even traffic sounded tired. The rush of water moved against the concrete with a steady sound that
Before the city found its voice, before the traffic thickened and the towers began reflecting a hard clean light back into the morning, Jesus was alone in quiet prayer near White Rock Lake. The sky was still dark enough to hold the last of the night, and the water moved
Before the first light had fully opened over Oklahoma City, Jesus was on His knees in the quiet stillness near Scissortail Park, with the skyline standing dark and patient behind Him and the city not yet loud enough to hide what it carried. He prayed without hurry. He prayed like
There is a strange kind of sadness that can settle over a person on a quiet day. Nothing terrible has happened. The world has not ended. The bills may still be there, the grief may still be there, the stress may still be there, but on the surface everything looks
Before the sun had climbed high enough to turn the water gold, Jesus was alone at Shelby Farms Park with His head bowed and His hands open in the cool hush of the morning. The city had not fully woken yet, but it was already gathering itself. A runner passed
Before sunrise touched the lake, Jesus knelt behind the stone curve of Promontory Point while, a few parking spaces away, a woman gripped her steering wheel so hard her hands had gone white. The city was still half asleep. The skyline stood in the distance like a wall of dark
Before the first orange line of daylight reached the water, Jesus was already alone at South Shore Park with His head bowed and His hands open in the cold. The lake moved in the dark like something breathing slow and deep. Wind came off Lake Michigan sharp enough to sting
There is a kind of pain that does not leave bruises anybody can point to. It does not usually have one dramatic moment attached to it. It rarely gets the same sympathy as a visible loss. Most of the time it builds quietly. It gathers over months, sometimes years, in
Before the light had fully come up over Detroit, Jesus was already awake and alone in quiet prayer near the river, with the cold edge of morning moving across the water and the city still holding that strange silence it gets before the weight of the day drops back onto
Before the first real light had settled over the water, Jesus stood near the Scioto Mile where the city was still half asleep and the river carried the soft gray of a sky that had not decided what kind of day it would become. The towers downtown were only beginning
Before daylight touched the top of the Atlanta skyline, Jesus stood on the upper level of the Grady parking deck with His head bowed in quiet prayer. Below Him, ambulance lights flashed against the concrete walls, tires hissed over damp pavement, and a woman in blue scrubs sat halfway down