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.