living on a prayer.

I have a confession to make: there are moments in my life when all I want to do is blast some Bon Jovi at full volume and sing along at the top of my lungs.  Though some (Alex Recker) might judge my poor musical taste, I no longer live in shame of my fondness for obnoxious rock music, particularly Bon Jovi.  Because, one, who doesn't have a little soft spot for Bon Jovi somewhere in their heart, and two, his music (ok, one sentence of one song...) pretty perfectly describes where I am sitting currently.

Woah. We're halfway there.  (JBJ sounds a little more excited when he says it...)  But last week marked the halfway point for my internship at The Warehouse!  Three months down, three months to go...  It's pretty incredible to think that my time has flown by so quickly so far.  In some ways I feel like I've only been here for a day, but then it also feels like I've been here for forever.  The thought of halfway brings up a myriad of emotions: terror of being already and only half-done, yet excitement about three more months, which will probably fly even faster than the first; joy over what I've been able to experience here so far and what I will continue to be a part of, yet sorrow over the painful stories and situations that I've heard and seen in my time so far and will continue to hear and see.  All those feelings and more tend to run through my head about 17 times a day at the speed of sound.  Though this has been somewhat constant throughout my internship (and my life...), the halfway point has given me a good excuse to sit a while and reflect on life.  And in that reflecting, I've realized that the second half of Bon Jovi's song is equally appropriate in my life, both right now and in general.


Whoa.  Living on a prayer.  If I've grown in any way since I've been here, it's been in how I see and value prayer.  Prayer is an integral part of life in the Warehouse, and their passion for communally seeking God and justice together has reminded me and further revealed to me the absolute power of prayer in our lives.  Not only have I been challenged in how I pray, I have been challenged in how I then live as a result of the power of prayer.  I am so incredibly blessed to have such amazing friends and family across the world praying for me in my time here.  I wanted to take time at this halfway point to both thank you for your prayers and for your love.  I'm reminded anew how vital they are to my time here.  And I'd also love to update you in how you can continue to be praying for me.  More than ever I'm seeing that I really am living on your prayers throughout my time here.

So in terms of specific things for you to be praying for, here are a few random but predominant ones: pray that I would continue to strive to be fully present in every moment here, and not hold people or experiences, both beautiful and painful, at an arm's length, but really let everything affect my heart and mind and life; pray that out of communally seeking God together as an organization so passionately, I would be more persistent and consistent in seeking God in His word and in prayer on my own; pray that I would continue to listen deeply and be courageous enough to speak when God calls me to speak; and please pray that I would live in faith, trust, and hope even more deeply in the second half of my HNGR journey.

We're halfway there, folks.  Thanks for your prayers.