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Book Two
Between Arrivals and Departures
Notes for the ones who have left but not yet arrived.
A deeply reflective book about thresholds, transition, and the strange grace of being unfinished. Using the image of airports, gates, luggage, delays, departures and arrivals, it explores what it means to live in the space between what has ended and what has not yet begun.
You are not behind. You are in transit. There is a difference.
Who is this book for?
This is a book for pilgrims, not settlers. It is for those who have outgrown old rooms, carried too much for too long, questioned inherited versions of God, survived burnout, waited in silence, grieved what they once loved, and wondered whether being "in transit" means they are lost.
For people in transition: after the move, the loss, the diagnosis, the retrenchment — the closing of a season that once defined them. For anyone tired of the lie that says one day you will finally, permanently arrive.
What is a liminal season, and how long does it last?
Liminal comes from the Latin for threshold — the in-between condition of being neither here nor there. Most of a life is lived in that middle. The book's argument is simple and, I think, freeing: transit is not a failure of life, but the condition of it.
Nobody can tell you how long yours will last. What this book offers instead is companionship inside it — and permission to stop treating the middle as a problem to be solved.
Why I wrote it
I did not write this book because I have arrived. I wrote it because I kept standing at gates I did not feel ready to cross — and crossing them anyway. This is not punishment. This is pilgrimage.
Part memoir, part meditation, part spiritual companion, it does not rush the reader toward closure. Instead it makes room for the holy middle — the place where old identities loosen, faith changes shape, love becomes more spacious, and the soul learns to keep walking without needing every answer.
| Title | Between Arrivals and Departures |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | A Companion for People in Transit |
| Author | Dean Cothill |
| Publisher | Urban Publishing |
| Format | Paperback, 148 × 210 mm (A5) |
| Extent | 260 pages |
| ISBN | 978-1-83489-078-4 |
| Published | September 2026 |
| Category | Christian Living, Memoir, Personal Growth |
The other books: Poems & Prayers · SOUL · The Five Questions — or start with the question that fits where you are.
Questions readers ask
What is a liminal season?
Liminal comes from the Latin for threshold. It describes the in-between condition of being neither here nor there — after something has ended but before the next thing has begun. Most of a life is actually lived in that middle.
How long does an in-between season last?
Nobody can tell you honestly. What this book argues is that the length is the wrong question. Transit is not a failure of life but the condition of it, and the middle is not wasted time.
What should I read when I feel stuck between two lives?
Between Arrivals and Departures is written for that precise feeling — after a move, a loss, a diagnosis, a retrenchment, or the quiet end of a season that once defined you. It offers companionship rather than easy answers.
Is it normal to feel behind in life?
It is extremely common, and usually inaccurate. The book's central line is a direct answer to it: you are not behind, you are in transit, and there is a difference.
Is this a Christian book?
It is written from a Christian perspective, honestly and without pressure — including about doubt, burnout and inherited versions of God that stopped fitting. Readers who would not call themselves religious have found it readable.
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