The Eighteen Inch Journey Book

Written by Allie Sampson, Writer for Cageless Birds

Photography by JD Gravitt

A huge component of the 18 Inch Journey is surprises.  We believe that the Trinity loves to give good gifts and surprise us with extravagant love, and our community loves to do the same.  Journey surprises take on many different shapes, but this week it looked like a pristine, freshly printed book.  

On Tuesday, each of our 32 students received their own copy of The Eighteen Inch Journey book – a compilation of art, writing, photography and prompts from the Cageless Birds community put together by Melissa and Justina.  This book is a dream that Melissa and Justina have carried for 2 years and this is the first official volume to be released. Over the past 6 months, the two of them have been pouring their hearts into these pages – collecting and reviewing pieces from our community and lovingly formatting and designing the layout of each page. Just as the Live at Home album is a culmination of songs from our community, this book is a culmination of art and writing that have come from moments we have spent cultivating friendship with the Trinity. Each of our staff, interns and extended community have contributed to this collection that we hope will inspire its readers in their time with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Throughout the remainder of the Journey, our staff will teach their prompts from the book during our Art/Heart rotation: a twice-weekly rhythm where students spend half of the block in an art lesson and the other half in a teaching session. During this time, students will be able to hear more of the back-story of what inspired our staff to write their prompts and will have intentional time to sit with the Father as they engage it on their own.

We are so excited to present The Eighteen Inch Journey book to our students, and now we have some other exciting news! Beginning July 4th, these books will be for sale at our Cageless Birds online store! If you are interested in supporting the Cageless Birds and the ministry of A Place for the Heart, purchasing one of these books is a great way to do so! It is our great privilege to share with you some of the incredible things that we have learned and created from time spent with the Holy Spirit. Our dream is that each person who reads this book will find themselves inspired in their own time with the Father. 

Journey Moments: The Journey Begins // Adam Cox Teaches

On June 1^st, our community welcomed 32 new students onto the land of A Place for the Heart as we launched this year’s 18 Inch Journey. Students traveled from all over the world (including Canada, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Norway, Scotland, Switzerland and Singapore as well as 13 different states) to be transformed by the Love of God. On our opening night, students were invited to participate in an extravagant dinner where they were welcomed to the land with a beautiful meal, handwritten declarations and intentional gifts. Our staff, interns and Second Phase students spent countless hours preparing all of the details for this night. If nothing else, we wanted to communicate to the 32 new students that they were loved, celebrated and prayed for before they did a single thing. Simply, we love them because the Father loves them. They were showered with love and surprises—and that is only the beginning.

Each week during the Journey has a specific theme as well as a focus on one of the Fruits of the Spirit. Last week was Jesus week and Joy was the accompanying Fruit. We were honored to have our dear friend, Adam Cox, from Kansas City Boiler Room here with us. Adam has come to teach during Jesus week over the past several Journeys and every time, we as a community are changed and transformed. We were blown away as Adam shared the God Story with us again, unpacking the story of Jesus in a fresh and inspiring way. By putting the Gospel within the context of history, we understood the radical love of Jesus that is revealed through the Scripture. This year, the staff and students were undone by the love and humility of Jesus as Adam taught the God Story and the revelation that we are the Beloved. Adam shared that we are “found in the Father and formed in the family”, meaning that our identity is rooted in and discovered in God and that, by His intentional design, we are shaped and grown in the safety of community. We are overwhelmed with gratitude that Adam and his family gave another week of their time to come be with us and invest in the Journey students that we love so much! We highly encourage you to check out Adam’s teaching on The God Story that has impacted our community so deeply!

If you’re interested in learning more about Adam and the KC Boiler Room, check out www.kcboilerroom.com. To purchase The God Story, visit the KC Boiler Room Store.