S-H-I-V-A-S-H-A-N-K-A-R.

so andrew and i have this tradition... it's called SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE! and it happened... TODAY. it has to be the most amusing, awkward, hilarious t.v. moment of every year. i mean seriously, where else can you watch hundreds of socially inept, lanky, genius middle schoolers compete for a trophy that will shoo them into Harvard?! this year's winner was KAVYA SHIVASHANKAR. congrats! you should start receiving offers from colleges as of monday.

It's the Africa in Me.

Never have I wanted to be somewhere so desperately.

Africa my Africa,

I dream of you.

Trust Fall.

Change has always invigorated me. Training wheels to two-wheelers. Passenger to driver. Suburbia to city. Broken to redeemed. I am who I am because of the change God has placed in my life. Without last summer, I would not be impregnated with a passion for politics. If I had not lobbied against child soldiery in northern Uganda, I would never have known Christ’s calling on my life. Devoid of Christian High School, I would not have the beautiful friends and mentors I have today. If change has been such a positive element in my life, why has it become my biggest fear?

For the past year, all I have wanted to do is move out, head off to college, and experience change. Moody Bible Institute. New friends. Chicago. A completely alternative lifestyle. But now, as I prepare to spend the entire summer in California and with less than 100 days left until I move to Chicago, all I want to do is cling to today. I don’t want to leave my family, high school, church, or friends. Life is so comfortable. I want things to stay the same, unchanged.

I’ve always thought it important to embrace faith- to allow God to write my life story and mold me into me. But recently, I haven’t trusted God the way I should. I’VE been making the calls in my life. I haven’t been surrendering. I haven’t let Him be everything. So Jesus, as hard as this is for me, I give you my future. I completely trust that You are going to make something out of my life and use me to further your Kingdom. I believe you’ll use San Francisco and Chicago to grow me. I know Your unrelenting love is going to see me through. It always has…

So go ahead. CHANGE ME!

The chaiwalah has done it again!

Slumdog Millionaire

the. best. soundtrack. ever.

it is written.

Perspectives

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

-Howard Thurman

go life.

Where the WILD THINGS are!

Nothing excites me quite like this movie!

Today was Beautiful.

Today was beautiful.

I woke up with the sun,
beams of light flooding from the skylights.
Mocha Frappes at Cappuccino’s with beautiful friends.
Ran in the Rain.

Started a new John Piper book.
Lunch with dear friends from California;
no one understands my passion for ministry like these two…
Talked about love.
Talked about peace.

Feasted on frog legs for the first time.
Learned about the Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Reimagined the world.

Good Friday Service. Thank you, Jesus!

Sang with Andrew Bird, RadioHead, and Death Cab.

Made a new friend.

Reminisced with old friends.

Italian food with beloved friends.

Jessica's surpise 18th birthday party.

Couldn't stop smiling all day long.