"..and love your neighbor as yourself."

"You wake the sun in the morning.
You paint the sky in the evening.
You make the stars shine brightly
just because you love me.
You allow the rain to fall, let the wind blow.
You brush the trees on my window.
You dress the moonlight softly
just because you love me."

First of all, praise God for his unchanging love (romans 8:38-39) and the beauty of all His creation.

Second of all I would like to say that I love college. It's so much better than I could have ever imagined. The communities I'm a part of, the people who have embraced me and the girls who live around me have made my first semester a pure joy. Not only am I growing as a person and a student, but as a child of God. I have been a follower of Jesus for a little over a year and I could have never imagined that I would ever be where I am, thinking the way I do, loving the way I do and craving to serve and grow more and more the way I do. I LOVE it and I don't want to ever lose heart. I have reached a mountain top and I don't ever want to come down. In every aspect of my life, God is ever-present. Sometimes I just want to cry tears of joy because I'm so thankful for everything I have been given. Things like breathing, sight and laughter have all new meanings in everyday life.

Today I listened to a sermon on Fasting and Feasting. Feasting is a metaphor. We can feast with almost anything at any moment by extracting every bit of joy with it. You can feast on walking, biking, sex, food, even breath. Through eating a piece of chocolate, the audience learned how to feast. He told them to breath, relax, open up and enjoy the chocolate like it was their last. To conduct the joy of their mouth to their hearts. When we are feasting on the last piece of chocolate we will ever get, we don't want it to go to our stomachs.. you want it to go to your heart. Your stomach may be empty, but your heart is ALWAYS full - full of hope, full of love, full of light, full of joy, full of peace. Our hearts are full in endless amounts, but most of us forget it's even there. He called the audience to reactivate their heart's endless fullness.

Our only job is to feast because the groom is always with us. Pay attention, taste, and be joyful. Take what you love and transform it into the vehicle that takes you to God.

For a while I thought that I should be fasting from the things that I was giving too much importance. The fact that I almost always have an excess of meal swipes so i eat more than i should or the extra time in my day I spend napping.. little things I take for granted. I have learned that there are so many great things in my life. If I would take the time to feast on the good things that God has brought into my life, I can praise Him in new ways and feel full. Full of joy, full of peace, full of light, full of hope and full of love (hmm.. John 10:10?) When I am full and aware of the fullness of my heart and the huge presence of God I have more of myself to give away. More of myself that I can use to love people and serve people (Mark 10:43-44.)

It's weird that in College Life, bible study, my growth group reading Crazy Love, Synergy, Shift, 608, Centerpoint Church and just random occurances in my life, EVERYTHING is fitting together. You wouldn't think that YL, CSF, CPC & Southland .. 4 different organizations would all be on the same exact page. It's so awesome how God is bringing all of these things together like puzzle pieces revealing a bigger picture, slowly but surely.

"I see a generation rising up to take their place..
with selfless faith, with selfless faith.
I see a near revival, stirring as we pray and seek..
we're on our knees, we're on our knees.
Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest."

We're all on a mission to save and change the world with God's love. To show hope to the hopeless and love to the lost, confused, broken and sinful. They need us.. they need Christ. (James 2:15-17.) Let's get on our knees in prayer for the lost and needy people that are so close to us. Let's not miss the little opportunities. Lets not miss God's whispers.

A big God can do a lot with a little.