Joy in the Presence of Others

So tonight I was reminded of one of the greatest gifts God provides us, and that is joy. In the truest sense of the word. It is amazing how in the most unlikely of times and after the most stressful of situations, God brings joy. And between school getting in full swing, plans for Kenya starting and my increasingly failing effort to find a job, joy just wasnt happening. But God is great and he always knows how to use impeccable timing. I had alread been looking forward to Ichtus all week, as I hadnt made it to it yet this semester. And it did not disappoint. There is just an indescribable energy (as John said tonight, a power) about taking part in a community of God like that. As soon as I walk in I am just overtaken with joy and hope and a sense of calm. It really is indescribable which means there probably isnt a point in trying haha but I just really felt the urge to share this. And added on to the joy of being apart of an incredible community of people who share a love of God and a true sense of faith and purpose, getting to know my team that I will be sharing 8-10 weeks of my summer with has been awesome. I am getting more excited by the day and truly feel like this experience could be life changing and something that stays with me forever. In addition to my summer team another group has really been tickling my fancy lately and that is my life group. Again this comes back to joy in the presence of others. Between our Sunday night get togethers, the trip to St. George, dinner at Little Apple Brewery, and Wednesday lunch it has been a week full of community in the true form that God intended for it. I'm really excited for what the rest of the semester has in store and am encouraged/hopeful that some great things will come out of all this.

p.s. I hadn't blogged for awhile so it all sort of just came out just now. I'll try not to make it so incredibly long ha.

First Day

Well today was the first day of semester. i can honestly say that i was actually sort of looking forward to it. my classes went well and i think that my history class is going to be interesting and possibly even fun. but im a nerd for that kind of stuff.

American Idol Recap and Observations:

• the new judge can sing better than a pretty girl in a bikini. nice work.
• the new judge has some tude....i like it.
• Favorites so far: AZ- Stevie (girl named after Stevie Nix) and Scott (blind guy who seemed like a real cool dude); KC- [*forgot names for this one] girl from Wamego (gotta pull for the "hometown" girl), teacher whose wife died, and the woman at the very end who had three little kids.

Ichthus starts up again tonight and i am very excited about that. I definately feel that i will be leaning heavily on my faith and the positive energy of ichthus and the people associated with it a lot these coming months. I am also excited to start up going to life group again. It was something that i slacked on late in the semester but not out of a decrease in desire. I just had a lot of things get real crazy towards the end there and am super anxious to start up again.

Back in the Hatt

Well suprisingly enough my return to Manhattan has been quite productive so far. I guess I got my beginning of a new semester "jolt" of diligence. Just to prove my productivity I will add that not only have I turned in to applications, but I have taken down all the christmas decorations, almost finished the book I've been reading (A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier), but also made three trips to the rec. Dang I'm awesome. I also vacuumed which is something I just don't do. All of this kinda got me thinking about things to come and this semester in particular. I guess because I'm hoping I continue to get stuff done haha. But here's a short list of things I am excited for:

1. American Idol new season (always good)
2. House on Monday nights
3. Going to Ichthus again
4. my classes in general
5. preparing for my trip to Africa
6. actually going to Africa
7. K-State beating KU (home or away, no preference)
8. Royals Spring Training (watch out for the Royals offense this year!)

New Years brings New Things

Welp I came back to Manhattan today and I couldn't have waited any longer I dont think. Most definately it was time to get back and away from the whole home scene. I'm looking forward to having these next few days to just relax and get settled again while having some peace and quiet. Alone time can be good sometimes and perhaps that is just what the doctor ordered.

Obviously its the New Years and that means everybody has there resolutions to get fitter, eat better, blah blah haha. Personally I am not into that whole thing that much I guess. But i decided to come up with a few things anyways. They are as follows:

1. Blog more (hence what I'm doing)
2. Read more (other than crappy school stuff, but i also should do that more)
3. Learn more names in my classes (i am horrible at names)
   3b. Meet as many new peeps in my classes as possible
4. Get a freaking job!
5. Have more fun this semester
6. Go with the flow

Ok so those are the basic pretty boring resolutions that are typical and most likely won't come to fruition (oops).