This photo was taken in downtown Lansing in January of 2022, right in front of the capitol building. It was taken at a really rough time in my life. I was in a dead end and dangerous job, working in local news on the night shift. I had just broken up with my girlfriend at the time, who I thought I was going to move to Georgia with and marry, but instead cheated on me when she got there months prior.

This was before I came to faith, so it was all hitting me pretty hard. My friend Blake, who was the meteorologist at the news station I was at, asked me if I wanted to walk around downtown with him before our shift and I agreed. Lansing still had its Christmas decorations up, and it was snowing decently hard while we were out there. It all looked so beautiful. Looking at this photo now, I was so drawn to this wreath with the bell lit up in the middle, and I see it as God shining a beacon to me. Calling me to Him so that I could take comfort in Him, instead of trying to find comfort in the world.

It was later that year, in October, that I went to my church for the first time and started to find God for myself. Not more than a month after that, I went on the first date with my now wife.