Hillsong United is Amazing.

I'm going to see Hillsong in Grand Rapids on June 8th and I'm super stoked about it! Seriously, can you even imagine how amazing it will be to worship God with them. The presence of God will be so completely overwhelming, I can't wait! 

If your interested, here's the info:

tickets are $29.00

The link: http://www.itickets.com/events/229716/Grand_Rapids_-_Grandville_MI/Hillsong_United.html 

Basically the best $29.00 you will spend on a concert. you won't be disappointed. 

So wanna hear a sweet God story? i do.

So at Macomb, I took so many credits and passed out of classes that I'm in a position to transfer after this next fall semester to an art school because I will have all my transfer credits completed. That means I only have this one year to run track since I would be transferring.  So about a week or so ago, I realized that I had 3 track meets left to race in my whole track career. Then I got really really sad and I was like "well maybe I could run another year like if I stayed for some reason and took 12 random credits so i would be eligible and ran for Macomb another year. yeah that would be sweet." Of course that would interfere with the whole go with Kensington to Orlando to start a church plan but my mom was like well you never know what God might have in store we'll see. So then yesterday the macomb track team had a meeting with the athletic director. They announced that Macomb would be cutting their track team for the next year because they can't afford it in this economy. That means no track. at all. gone. done. not a chance. So i started cracking up inside because it was just like "Oh hey carissa, this is God and I'm thinking your not gonna run track next year. In fact, I'm just gonna get rid of the option for you because I know you and so I'm gonna make it easier for you =)" ahahhah then I caught myself smiling in the middle of everyone being mad and sad and I felt bad. lol God is soo cool. And I'm really glad he has a sweet sense of humor. 

Whiskers.

Long time, no post! The craziness of life is keeping me busy I'm sad to say. but funny story to blog about: so today I ran at the University of Toledo. I ran the 1500 for my first event and I was trying to hit the qualifying mark for nationals, right? well of course the qualifying time is 5:04.22 and of course I run a 5:04.46. When I found out I just burst out laughing. typical. my sophomore year I needed to run a 5:31.0 mile. I ran a 5:31.7. My junior year I had to run a 5:31.0. I ran a 5:31.7. again. I think it should be expected from now on that this is just going to happen when I need to hit a certain time.  How ridiculous. but it wasn't all bad since I am going to nationals because apparently I was regional champ? lol and I ran my fastest (conversion) mile since freshman year of high school!! 5:25!! woohoooo party!  oh happy day =) 

So I found out this sweet fact that cat's whiskers grow as long as they are wide so that they can sense if they can fit through places and I was like seriously? that's amazing. and then I got to thinking how can anyone seriously think that was just an evolved feature? I don't understand it. It is obviously well thought out by our Creator. I love how we are surrounded by God's creativity all the time. He makes me smile =)

This morning I went to church at the North Broadway Church of Christ and for the time I was there, it was quite delightful. My humanities class is comparative religions so this was our christianity field trip so of course I went to it. The best part about it was the way they worshiped Jesus with their music. There was no organ, no piano, guitar, drum set, violin...you name it, there were no instruments. The church is predominately made up of African Americans their voices were beautiful. This one guy got up and would begin every song at the front of the church and everyone, every last person, would join in and sing. and it was so awesome because they were singing accapella and it was from the heart. God definitely showed up there this morning.  About halfway through the sermon I ended up leaving though because I wanted to go to kensington, which was an excellent service and message, as usual. The remainder of my day consisted of painting value scales and going for an intense bike ride. today was happy and relaxing. I wish it didn't have to be over and there was't school tomorrow.

Orlando, FL

I bought a plane ticket to Orlando!!! yayyyyyyyyy! I'm going to visit  Full Sail at the end of May and I'm sooo pumped for it. I'm really praying God will speak to me clearly down there about where he wants me to go....whether Florida is His will or somewhere else. =) 

hmm so coldstone today. someone called at like 9:50 and we had closed at 9 but we still answer the phone, so, this woman calls and shes like "hi, how late are you open" and my manager was like "we're closed. we closed at 9." so then she gets really mad and is asking if thats the time that was listed on the door and my manager was like "I believe so." and the lady's like "you believe so or you know so? your the manager and you don't even know what your hours are on your door!?!?!??!?" blah blah blah. so long story short, we went and checked and it of course said 9 so then she got even more mad because we told he she was wrong and she asked who the owner was, like she's gonna contact her or something. ha. people are really funny sometimes.

There aren't too many interesting things to talk about tonight so I guess I'm calling it a night. 

Sunburn.

So today I won my first college race!!! yayyyyyyyyy! It doesn't really count though since there were only 5 people in the 5k haha oh well I got a free t-shirt. guess what color it is? black and gold. I just can't seem to get away from those colors lol. anywayss I'm super sun/wind burned and it was only 45 degrees outside! how does that happen? idk you tell me. Ohio was super beautiful today. It was nice and sunny out. It's supposed to be gorgeous in Kentucky next weekend too!!! 70 and sunny baby woooooo. The college we were at today, Walsh University, was really sweet. It was a christian college which was a nice change and not that you don't ever hear people swear at a christian school because thats far from the truth unfortunately, but it was really nice not to hear the f word come out of everyones mouth every 2 seconds. It's become the norm so it's pretty out of the ordinary to see anything different. props to Walsh University. =) 

Lighthouse had a really amazing service at midnight the other night. we got to look at the passover and it's meaning and the significance of the bread and wine. what a powerful message. and just an amazing time to just be with and worship God. Kensington also had a great message. Jesus didn't just die for mankind. He died for me. He died for real people. when He was there suffocating to death on that cross, He was thinking of me. and you. because He loves me that much and I soooo don't deserve it. So I got to thinking, if God died for the sins of everyone and everything, then when I go through suffering and hard times, why don't I just give it to God. Why do I take it and keep it and worry and try to carry the burden myself because the fact is I can't. and I'm weak and I will fail. and God already suffered for that hurt. He died for the sin that caused my hurt, so why do I not give it all to God. why do I try to suffer through it as if I can handle it. I'm basically saying "No God, I got it, don't worry about it, you already have a lot on your hands...." and He's sitting there laughing saying "Carissa, don't you see, I already suffered through that so that you didn't have to, why are you trying to carry that sin and suffering when i came to do it for you. because I love you that much."  - ( i totally didn't just write that by the way.) seriously? how awesome is He? 

"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you" - 1 Peter 5:7

He is risen. Thanks Jesus. 

Diseased.

I am so tired. and my eyes are hurting worse. yesterday i had to work from 6 to close at coldstone creamery and I hadn't worn my contacts in a week and my eyes were getting better so I figured i could wear my contacts just for the 4 hours I was there and my cronic dry eye wouldn't get too bad. I was wrong. and Cronic dry eye is a ridiculous disease to have. It never goes away!!! I have had it since fall of last year and it's still not getting better. I don't even know how you get it I guess you just develop it. for those of you wondering what the heck I'm talking about, I have this thing called Cronic Dry Eye, meaning my eyes don't make a sufficient amount of tears throughout the day to keep my eyes well hydrated. this results in me looking like I'm high all the time and my eyes hurting a lot all the time, especially in the sunlight. it's rather annoying, really. I guess I need to cry more. lol On the brighter side of things, at least I have eyes that can see the beauty of a sunset or the leaves that change all different pretty colors in the fall. They help me to create and design. Without them I wouldn't be able to do the things I love so if all my life I just have to wear my glasses in exchange for being able to see the all the beauty of God's creation, I guess I'm ok with that. 

tomorrow I have to get up at 5 to leave for a track meet. I love running, just not at 5 in the morning.