At the break of dawn

This is the view I get every morning just before I go to sleep. The rest of the world is waking but I get to sleep with this picture firmly embedded in my mind. There's something about having been up all night and then when you finally do come out seeing a sky like that. A feeling of such awe overcomes you. Fire in the Nighters live a life between two days. We wake up in the middle of one day and go to sleep at the beginning of the next. I've sort of lost myself in this lifestyle. It feels like I was made to pray in the darkness and the awesome thing is that I am doing it with people who have exactly the same goal as me, which is pursuing Jesus with our whole heart.

Last night really confirmed to me why I am being insane and staying up to pray in the night. Two of my friends and I were sitting outside in the dark because the cafe was closed. All of a sudden this drunk guy comes lumbering over to us. We weren't scared because we had one of our guy friends. I found it amusing at first but after a while it was really sad. One guy was telling me that this man came to the missions base a lot and would sometimes come and sit in the prayer room but had now gone back to his original lifestyle. Last winter they found him crawling around in the bitter cold. If they hadn't found him he would have probably frozen to death. But what really disturbed me was that the guy who was telling me this finished by shrugging his shoulders and saying: " You get used to it around here"
That really scared me. All I could think was " O Jesus don't ever let me become desentized and uncaring towards the broken and the poor."
It's so easy to become caught up with praying for revival and the ending of abortion and good stuff like that. But I hope I never forget those that society has rejected. My prayer is that I'll never turn my back in disgust but will always walk in the footsteps of my Humble King. I pray in the night because it is in the night that those who have no where else to go and who have no hope left come out. Never forget the forgotten ones of the night.

Of bugs and the petitions of a longing heart.

In passionate intercession before the throne of God, music picks up speed and the room joins in chorus as we sing out scripture. I'm on the mike, I'm asking God to reveal himself to our generation. All of a sudden I feel something crawling on my back. I can't swat at myself or suddenly begin to hop around because people would think I'm possesed. So I finish my pray as if everything is normal and then race to the washroom and rip off my shirt. Out plops this massive black beetle. I would have screamed if I were the screaming type. I stared at it in horror for a few seconds and then came to my senses and violently took of my flip flop and proceeded to schmush the little bugger to a plup. But o horror of horrors it refuses to die and runs happily underneath the stall and visits the person with the red sandals next door. Very shaken I exit my stall and slowly make my way back to the prayer room still extrememly disturbed. Eventually I calm down and enjoy the rest of the night. However the next day the same thing happens. This time I'm sitting at the back of the prayer room checking my emails when I feel somthing tickly on my neck. I grab at it and a bigger black beetle skydives to the floor and runs happily away. So as you can expect I am completely paranoid about black beetles crawling on my back. Ugh anyway enough of the beetles;nasty little creatures.
I have completely adjusted to life here. I love being up at night and my sleep has not been affected at all. The minute my head hits the pillow I'm out. I still need to get used to some of the rules here. Like for example the one where girls can't walk from their apartment to the missions base without a guy. Not even if there is two of us. Annoying because I like being independent but o well I'll get over it.
I wish you all could be here. God has been speaking to me about so many things. But the main thing right now is that I'm learning to be whole heartedly sold out to him and to desire a holy lifestyle. Tomorrow the global bridegroom fast begins which is a three day fast they have here every beginning of each month. Please pray for me because I love my food and its going to be extremely difficult to part with it. My roommates and I went to this place to eat today called Chipotle, to celebrate our last day with food. I had this amazing humongous fajita burrito. The girls were so amazed that I finished it all! haha they aren't used to my eating habits. My size fools them I think. There is so much more that I am learning but it would be an endless blog if I start explaining now. If any of you want to hear whats going during Fire in the Night you should go to www.ihop.org and click on internships and then sign up for the free podcast of the nightwatch. It will almost be like you're with me here in the prayer room in the middle of the night. I miss you all a lot but I know that I am in the place God wants me to be right now. Hope to hear from everyone soon. lots of love,
Angelina