The Big Apple

Two weeks ago, I was in my happy place. I hadn't been to New York in 4 months, which for me seems like FOREVER. I went a little stir crazy, so in 1 day I managed to go from Penn Station to Roasting Plant (7th/ Greenwich ave), then to macdougal st, WTC, Wall Street, South Street Seaport, battery park, times square, Rockefeller's center, St.Patrick's, FAO, Apple store, 20 blocks through Central Park, Soho, Lombardi's, and then finally ended the day with some delicious gelato from some place in the west village. Yikes! This was partly because I was showing a friend New York for the first time...but also because I felt homesick and needed to see as much of the city as I could as quick as possible. It felt SO good to be back, that I could barely contain myself.
My favorite day by far was Saturday. Drove into the city (still know my way WITHOUT a GPS) with my pseudo-sister Kendra and Yasmine. We went to the Top of the Rock for the first time and my heart melted when I saw the city from that view....Then, 7:00 rolled around...and one of my dreams came true! I saw the great Lionel Messi in person!!!!!! It was truly one of the most awesome soccer games I've seen, to actually see the worlds best player ( not just in my opinion) was an amazing experience. I actually found the Argentina bus afterwards and ended up being 30 ft away from him....wowza ( p.s. he looks WAY better in person).
Now, the part that made me miss the east coast the most was being back at Liquid all day on Sunday. To see the people that I worked alongside all summer was such a blessing. The sermon also moved me and motivated me to take part in the Daniel fast that the whole congregation doing. Fasting is something that I've always wanted to do, but whimped out on. The thought of going to food or anything worldly for comfort instead of God, made me step back and reevaluate my relationship with God. So for the remaining 16 days, I'll be fasting alongside my peeps in Jersey. With fasting comes prayer, not just our normal prayers...these are focused and determined prayers. The pastor brought up the fact that we are so quick to give up on praying for certain things because they don't happen immediately. In Luke 11:9, Jesus is talking about how we need to be persistent in our prayers and keep pestering God with something that is on our hearts.
Needless to say, but man that was a good vacation for my heart. I needed a refresher from life, and to get back to where I hope to be someday. New York never fails to put a smile on my face :)