pray like it's real

so, at my church, OneLife Henderson, there has been a series going on called "pray like it's real." this is in anticipation of planting another church on the west side of Evansville. pastor Bret has been challenging us to go through the Lord's prayer in Luke 11:1-13. it's been really good for me. praying in an unconventional way, with persistent audacity. (man, I love that phrase.)

October 8-12, I went to Kansas City, MO to spend some time in the prayer room at IHOP. my time spent there was absolutely incredible. one morning, I spent 6 hours in the there. God was really speaking to me. 

seeing that I graduate college in May, my life has been one big journey to find out what to do in my life after college. going to Ukraine this past summer, sparked my passion for missions. I don't want to live my life with no purpose. I want to be living for God and being all that He wants me to be. it's taken some time, but I have turned my future over to God. He has it all planned out anyway. 

to connect all this together, I want to live a life filled with constant conversation with my Father. OneLife and IHOP combined has put this desire in my heart.

september 28

yes, I know it's late.
I know I should be in bed.
I've been working on projects for school.
so here I am, awake.

my to-do list just keeps growing.
that's what happens when you are taking 18 credit hours.
when you are the president of an organization.
when you switched your major late in the game.
when you forget to breath some times.

I have the best roommates ever.
knowing that I usually go to bed before midnight or I'm at least in the house by then,
I got 3 text messages while sitting in the Mac lab while working on my projects.
they were all checking in on me to make sure I wasn't dead.
I'm so thankful for such wonderful people in my life.
God knew what he was doing when he put the 5 of us in the same house.

back to school to prove i'm not a fool

well, I'm back in Evansville for my senior year of college. I can't believe I'm already in my last year of college. it feels like I just started my first year yesterday.
my summer in Ukraine went by super quick, but I loved every minute of it and I can't wait to go back. God was doing some awesome things in my life. if you didn't get a chance to read about it over the summer, you can read about my time here: Evan's Ukrainian Summer. 
after I got back and was debriefed in Indianapolis, I spent a week in Florida with my parents. it was the perfect way to get over my jetlag and sleep as much as I wanted. it was just what I needed. as usual, we stayed in Seagrove Beach, near Panama City. we went to eat in PCB one night and had to visit the WalMart once to get dad new glasses, because the Gulf stole his. it wouldn't be a family vacation to the beach, if he didn't. it rained a lot, but we still got good tans and got to spend time together. I spent a lot of the time talking about Ukraine, I'm sure my parents were tired of me at the end of the week.
I got back to my beautiful home of Illinois, and I was able to see my wonderful church family at Little Chapel Church. I felt like such a celebrity, I had missed everyone while I was gone. it was so good to see everyone and get to share stories from the summer.
I was barely home before I had to pack up and move back to school. I moved back to Evansville on Friday August 19, so that I could be in town to help freshmen move-in on that Saturday. it was a lot of fun helping wide-eyed, scared freshmen. I actually met a lot of people from Illinois, which was pretty cool. that night we had "fall training" for SCF [student christian fellowship]. just to get ready for the semester ahead and be praying for our campus. it went really well. between then and classes starting on Wednesday, we were just hanging around on campus, meeting people, playing frisbee, hanging out, praying, reading the Word. it was a great couple of days.
classes started on Wednesday. I have 3 classes everyday but Friday, when I only have 2. I'm taking Typography, Senior Seminar, Portfolio Preparation, Strategic Public Relations, Basic Web Production, and Oil Painting. 18 credit hours, which is a full load. and I'm going to try to get a job. so this should be a very full semester, but fun at the same time.