Crossing the Bridge

August has been a month of crossing bridges for me. This month, Harbor Bridge Promises was released into the world. It is the second book in the Harbor Bridge series, and like any book, it began long before anyone could hold it in their hands. There were characters to discover, stories to untangle, pages to write and rewrite, and eventually the strange moment when I had to stop working on it and let it go. This month also marked the end of a much longer journey: I graduated with my Ph.D. Both are things I have worked toward for a long time. Both involved seasons when the destination seemed very far away. And now, almost unexpectedly, I find myself standing on the other side.

There is something strange about finally reaching a place you have spent so long trying to get to. For years, the question is, How am I going to finish this? You know what comes next because there is always another chapter to write, another deadline to meet, another problem to solve. The destination gives direction to your days. Then one day, you arrive. The book is published. The degree is finished. The thing that has occupied so much of your attention moves from something I am doing to something I have done. And suddenly the question changes.

Now what?

I imagine Joshua must have understood something about that feeling. Deuteronomy 31 takes place at a major transition in Israel's story. Forty years of wandering in the wilderness are coming to an end. Moses, the leader who has guided Israel for all those years, will not be crossing the Jordan with them.

Joshua will. Behind him is everything he has known. Ahead of him is the land God has promised.

He is standing at a threshold. And Moses tells him: “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you.”

I love the order of those words. God will be with Joshua. But first, God will go before him.

Joshua isn't being asked to step into an unknown future and hope that God catches up. God is already there. The road may be unfamiliar to Joshua, but it isn't unfamiliar to God. Maybe that is one of the things we most need to remember when we find ourselves standing between seasons.

Transitions naturally make us look ahead. We want to know what's next. But there is also value in turning around for a moment. When I look back across the bridges I have just crossed, I don't only see accomplishments. I see God's faithfulness. I see days when I wasn't sure how everything would come together. I see work that took longer than I expected. I see things I had to learn and things I had to unlearn. I see plans that changed along the way. And I see the faithfulness of God woven through all of it.

The other side of the bridge gives us a perspective we couldn't have while we were crossing it. When you're in the middle, sometimes all you can see is the next step. But once you've crossed, you can look back and recognize how far God has brought you. Maybe you're standing on the other side of something right now too. Before rushing toward whatever comes next, take a moment to look back. Where did God meet you? What did He teach you? How did He provide? Who did you become while you were crossing?

The destination matters. But so does the person God formed along the way.

Finishing Harbor Bridge Promises reminded me of another part of transition: eventually, you have to let go. There comes a point when you have to stop editing the manuscript and release the book. There comes a point when you submit the dissertation. There comes a point when the season you've been living in becomes the season you used to live in. And that can be harder than we expect.

Even difficult seasons can become familiar. We know who we are in them. We know what is expected of us. We know what we're working toward. The next season doesn't always come with that kind of clarity. Sometimes faith means releasing what is finished before we fully understand what is beginning. That's part of crossing a bridge. You can't keep one foot planted on each side forever.

Maybe that's why Deuteronomy 31:8 has been speaking to me in this season. “The LORD himself goes before you.” I don't have to know everything that comes next. Neither do you. Some seasons, God gives us a clear destination. Other seasons, He simply gives us enough light for the next step. But He never asks us to go somewhere He has not already gone before us.

There's something especially meaningful to me about releasing a book with Harbor Bridge in the title during a season like this. A bridge is an in-between place. It exists because where you are is not where you are going. You don't build your home in the middle of a bridge. You cross it. And sometimes we don't realize how significant the crossing has been until we reach the other side.

This August, I'm grateful for the bridges behind me. I'm grateful for a book that is no longer sitting on my computer waiting to be finished but is now finding its way into the hands of readers. I'm grateful for a degree that represents years of learning, stretching, writing, questioning, and growing. But I'm also learning not to cling too tightly to what I've completed. Because there is another side to every bridge.

And somewhere beyond what I can currently see is whatever God has prepared next. I don't know exactly what that will look like. But I know something better. The Lord Himself goes before me. So, I can look back with gratitude. I can release what is finished, and I can step forward without fear. Because whatever waits on the other side of the bridge, God is already there.