I've had so much coffee today that picking just one drink isn't going to be easy.  Ok, honesty hour, I've had so much coffee this week  that all the drinks blend into one (no pun intended).  Yet the root of the extra caffeine is simply because my increase of coffee is making up for a decrease in sleep hours - which happens to be nineteen hours of sleep this week.  That is a new record if anyone is counting.  Thankfully homework has settled down, midterms are done for the most part, and I am ready to embark onto another week of coffee sipping and hopefully sleeping.

     Where was I? Oh right, coffee reminiscing.  Can you tell I'm still a little sleep deprived? I'm going to have to go with the new spiced pumpkin latte from Panera with my "What I'm Drinking" for the week.  Every Saturday night I swing by that bakery and this week I saw that their coffee menu had changed to include this beauty.  Guys.  It's amazing.  And call me the typical white girl as long as you want (minus the Starbucks, more on that later) but there is nothing quite like a pumpkin coffee as you watch the leaves off your back porch.

Ah, a site of beauty. 

Would you look at that? Just look at it!

      Now onto the thoughts of my crazy, jumbled brain, if that wasn't crazy and jumbled enough for you.  My little sister is eighteen years old, which is a fact that usually blows my mind.  It doesn't seem that I'm old enough to have a little sister who has also crossed the bridge to the adult world. Yet, eighteen years old she is, and I'm incredibly proud of her.  It's an incredible blessing to go to the same college as her as well - we share a professor this semester and it is exciting to know that when he talks about his 'Freshman class,' he's talking about her.  

     Earlier this week she came home from classes and said that she wanted to go to Nicaragua over the winter break.  This floored me - because she's not a super adventurous gal.  Yet she was not only wanting to go on this trip, she was excited about it.  She pulled up pictures, schedules, and sent off her request for a passport.  As I'm typing this, she just came home with her passport picture all printed and ready to go.  Her deposit was put down Tuesday.  Talk about delving into something that you are passionate and striving after a goal that you've selected for yourself.

                                             

 

     She is going to be able to expand into a better version of herself on this trip, and it all stemmed from the ability to get out of her comfort zone.  Getting out of your comfort zone is what I'm thinking about quite a bit this week.  Mady is taking a leap of faith and adventure that I wish I would have had the bravery to do in my freshman year in college.  Not that my freshman college experience was horrible by any stretch of the imagination, but it was safe. 

     Our faith life isn't meant to be 'safe.' Or 'convenient.'  Instead, it is a call to get out of our comfort zones and interact with other human beings on this road to Heaven.  It means talking to people, and being vulnerable.  It means admitting you don't have it all together - and realizing that perfection is a goal that is only reached when Heaven is attained.

    Take a lesson this week from Miss Mady.  Side not - she also blogs, I am beyond excited to be able to follow her adventures.  Get out of your comfort zone - and apply that to faith and general life goals tat you have in mind for yourself.  You do not have to travel internationally to accomplish amazing things for Christ.  You can be His hands and feet here with your own family, campuses, friends and workplaces.

    Saint Teresa of Avila (yet another one of my favorites up in Heaven) once said, "You pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him."  Don't be afraid to ask God for something that seems out of your reach.  If it is in His plan for your life, it's going to work out.  Awareness that the answer could be 'Yes,' 'No,' or 'Maybe' is also 

     I wrote about this earlier this week, but it's still relevant.  Get into the trenches.  Get out of your   comfort zone.  Life is too short - take it from the twenty year old who is realizing that my life could be over twenty percent lived.  Honestly, who knows? It could be that my life is already ninety percent completed.  But I know this - I don't want to look back on my life (however much of it God gives me) and think "Wow, I could have done so much more for Him if I'd only put my plan aside and let Him take over."

Be bold.  Jump into the deep end.  Drink some coffee.  Be Not Afraid.