the beginning of the end.

in all the celebration of Easter, i don't think i give good friday enough credit.
Easter Sunday is what we as Christians base our whole faith on - true.
but none of that would feel as significant as it is if we didn't understand the sacrifice that was first made on good friday.



this article is coming out as the cover of next weeks newsweek magazine.

when you first see the headline and read the ensuing article, there is a clear note of "panic at first, but then shake your head and say 'what an over exaggeration'"...
but after reading it, i came to this conclusion...
the biggest scare in the article was the fact that the percentage of people who call themselves Christians has dropped significantly over the last decade. we would think, crap, our numbers are dropping or i can't believe those jerks...turning their backs on God.

but what if we stopped to think about it in a better way. what if those "self proclaimed Christians" never really were. what if they were the part of the population who called themselves Christians and then went to church on Easter and Christmas, prayed once in a while and felt like it was all just a chore. what if that group of people finally just decided to stop playing games and didn't call themselves Christians anymore because they realized the truth of the matter...that they weren't.

without that fake cover anymore, those people now have a chance to hear the good news this Sunday for real. maybe now they will reexamine Christianity. maybe now that they have renounced their fake cover, they will truly feel alone and search for something more. maybe they will rediscover faith for what it was intended and maybe they would have never found that truth if they hadn't first stripped themselves of their misconceptions.

...there are always numbers and statistics on everything. they can freak you out, make you feel like the world is ending as we know it. but i see a bigger shadow behind it all. and it is moving. God is moving.

remember.wrestle.renew your mind.

do you know that you are...

dearly loved.

i am sitting in the library right now and realized i forgot to finish my last blog. i was mentioning the great time i have had this year and what a great decision it was for me to live with friends this year, although it has been a lot harder. one of my roommates in particular (*coughcough*) keeps reminding me that the end of the year is drawing closer and with it some of my roommates college careers are also drawing to a close...instead of dwelling in sadness and regret of things not done i figured this blog would be a way for me to make record of the great people i had a chance to share life with for one year of my life...


1. Roommate Round Two = Kaelyn Elizabeth Petras
this year i had a chance to live with kae for a second time in our college lives. the first being when we met as suite mates freshman year in good ol Lyman Briggs/Holmes Hall. we survived crazy roommate experiences freshman year and ended the year switching into one room together while both our roommates were gone for the weekend...oops...

i love kaelyn because of the trials our friendship has survived. we come from very different backgrounds and have a lot of different viewpoints, but somehow we have remained friends. after freshman year bringing us closer because of the crazy people we were surrounded by, sophomore year served to challenge our friendship because both of us were alone in our living situations...as weird as it sounds. we were both dealing with hard things and feeling the effects of being alone. we decided to live together this year though and thank God for that...

kae is a wise and relaxed person. when she is excited about something everyone knows it. when something weird/gross/abnormal happens, kaelyn knows and then so do the rest of us...she has a way of slicing any awkwardness in a situation and getting to the point. i think her best line of advice throughout our friendship has been "stop overthinking everything". she has taught me to relax and she has been a testament to me of the fact that God's will causes everything to work for good...taking classes together since freshman year we both aim for something beyond MSU and it has been tough for both of us to get there...after heartbreak, kae found that where there is a will there is a way and she is confident that she will reach her goals. kae causes me to believe in something better and never lets me settle for something she knows i won't be happy with.

next year will be weird. kae graduates in the winter and will move to St. Kit's in the Caribbean to go to vet school and pursue her dream. it will be weird not to be with her and her family on her birthday...it will be weird not to hear her random facts and stories...i will miss kaelyn a lot. she probably wouldn't think it, but she has definitely been a great part of who i am today.

I LOVE YOU KAE!

dearly loved.

this past weekend i got to spend a lot of quality time with a dear friend. SELMSELM!

this year has been an amazing adventure for me. after a few hard years of feeling alone i decided to move in with some friends for a chance to live in a Godly community rather than save a few thousand dollars...some people would probably think that a rash decision, but after this year i can testify that it was one of the best decisions i have ever made...

it is very early in the am right now, so i will be back later this afternoon to finish my thoughts on the people i live with, but for now i will leave you with some photo documentation of our adventure in the D to watch the MSU boys play in the final four! it was exciting and a fun chance to escape the reality that this year is coming to a close...



*sad day for UCONN....NOT!



*we're gunna WIN!



*fun fans to be celebrating with...we are SPARTA!



*beautiful evening with a great friend :)