"Leaving Egypt" : Leaving Security for a Life of Faith
Sometimes old patterns--though unhealthy and undesirable--are very seductive, because they seduce with their promise of familiarity and safety. They appear to be lots better than being out there in the desert, not knowing what is coming, going through big change, taking a chance on new life, growth and faith. ... It is the Promised Land, via the desert, to which God calls us. God calls us out of Egypt. Once we have broken free from a past that is without true life, we are in a totally different place. Just agreeing to leave Egypt and entering the desert is tantamount to reaching the Promised Land. For Egypt is the Law, but the desert
is Grace.

In Egypt we live lives structured to keep us from taking wing, to keep us from becoming that for which God has purposely given us potential. Egypt requires only submission, but in the desert we must take responsibility for our own lives, and at the same time trust God to be true to His word. It is when we venture forward in
trust, though we cannot see what lies ahead, that we are living in Grace and have left the Law behind. The desert is where we follow God though we cannot see Him, where we experience freedom of heart and spirit. The desert is where we have the faith to risk, living freely through the conviction that God delivers on His promises.

--from "To Fly or Not to Fly"
by the Rev. Canon William A. Kolb