This morning I attended a mega church called Willow Creek Community Church. It was a little different than the church I am used to back home. It seated several thousand and had two balconies. They also had two bookstores, a gym with three full sized basketball courts and eight places you could buy food. The building was about as big as convention center and I felt as if I could easily get lost. At first I wasnt sure what to think but I tried to keep a very open mind.

The service and message was very good. I felt touched by what the pastor said and felt as if his message really applied to my life right now. I am going through many changes and transformations in many parts of my life right now, which is very challenging and stressful. Today I was encouraged to reach new heights in my walk with God and given some advice as to how to become stronger.

The first point of advice was too surround myself with others that have the same beliefs in order to support me. I feel like I am pretty much forced to do this one since I live with 17 other christians in a very confined space and spend a large portion of my day with my neighbors at Jesus People. I have also been very lucky to have a close group of christian guy friends for most of my life. The second bit of advice was to spend time each day in prayer and devotion. This time can be spent as a group, but also should be done alone consistently. This is definately something that I need to work on. I spent my first two weeks in Chicago caught up in the excitment and opportunities of the city, but it is really time to relax and spend more time with God. I feel confident that this area of my christian walk is going to start to pick up soon with the help of my friends. The last point the pastor made was that growth normally occurs when you are stretched in some way. I feel like I have been stretched more in the past week than I have during most years of my life. Not being at home with everything that is familiar to me is hard. Losing contact with a majority of my friends and family has been the hard.

This morning was a new experience and even though I am struggling with many things right now I feel encouraged. I have started to feel God moving in me the last few days and I am starting to understand and look for God in different ways than I have before.