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It’s been about a week since LT has ended and it’s been a bit uncomfortable since I’ve been back to College Park, MD. Not in a bad way, but in a way that makes you really wonder what happened for the last 10 weeks. It’s a little depressing to be back because I miss everyone.

But I think it’s okay to miss everyone. My friend Matt Hillegass said to me that it should be hard to move away from people you care about. I think he’s right.

In the mean time, I’m spending much of my time planning for the fall semester. I’m a little anxious of what it’s going to look like, but I’m believing God for BIG THINGS. I may be a little naive…but I think these are good things to pray for.

I’m going to share them here. I am praying that God would help me see these goals by the end of the spring semester:

• 300 people to attend our Sunday service. (If you’ve never come, you should check it out Sundays at 11:00 AM in the Art/Soc building.)
• 100 people in small groups.
• 20 student leaders.
• 25 students that go to LT
• 20 people that come to Christ and join MCF

Now, I don’t know if God will do this. Frankly, I don’t think he will. But, regardless, I think it’s a good thing to pray for. And I want to believe God can do this. I know that I cannot do this alone.

Some of my personal goals are to finish my whole bible reading plan by the end of the fall semester. I’m also going to memorize the verses that were given to me at LT. I promised the director that I would and I’m going to give a try. 50 verses…sounds like quite a mountain. But I want to see what God will do.

I think I’m going to call this next school year “The year we will celebrate.” And I think it will be worth celebrating. And I’m looking forward to what the year will look like and how it will shape. I’m still praying through what grad school will look like and whether I will do the Appalachian Trail. There are other things up in the air, but I’m excited of what God will do.

This is what the LORD says: “At just the right time, I will respond to you. On the day of salvation, I will help you. I will give you as a token and pledge to Israel. This will prove that I will reestablish the land of Israel and reassign it to its own people again. Through you I am saying to the prisoners of darkness, ‘Come out! I am giving you your freedom!’ They will be my sheep, grazing in green pastures and on hills that were previously bare. They will neither hunger nor thirst. The searing sun and scorching desert winds will not reach them anymore. For the LORD in his mercy will lead them beside cool waters. And I will make my mountains into level paths for them. The highways will be raised above the valleys. See, my people will return from far away, from lands to the north and west, and from as far south as Egypt.”

“Even the most desolate parts of your abandoned land will soon be crowded with your people. Your enemies who enslaved you will be far away. The generations born in exile will return and say, ‘We need more room! It’s crowded here!’ Then you will think to yourself, ‘Who has given me all these descendants? For most of my children were killed, and the rest were carried away into exile. I was left here all alone. Who bore these children? Who raised them for me?’”
–Isaiah 49:8-12, 19-21 (NLT)