I want to hunger and thirst...

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

Matthew 5:6

A couple of weeks ago, as a Young Life staff team, we fasted for 24 hours in order to focus on praying for the kids of the Salt Lake Valley. We were allowed to drink juice and water and such, but man, I'll tell you, when the afternoon rolled around and I was sitting there doing homework and able to think about how hungry I was, there was nothing else that could replace the thoughts of my hungry stomach!

What if we were to have a hunger for God like that? Where we had this ache to feed a burning fire for Him? How much different would we be? How much more awesome would our lives be?

John 6: 35 says "... I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes will never be thirsty."

Now, I know I have never really experienced what it is like to be truly hungry and truly thirsty in the physical sense. But I do have a glimpse of what it is like to have an insatiable desire for more of God. But after going to church tonight and hearing the message, I feel like all too often I fill that hunger for God with things other than seeking God. And, I'm fairly positive, I'm not the only one doing that.

I want to have the kind of hunger for God all the time that I did the day I fasted. Because like that verse in John says, whoever comes to him will never, ever go hungry.

Just something to ponder.

A Utah Man Sir, a Utah Man am I!

Before a sold out Rice Eccles Stadium, the University of Utah Utes did what they have been unable to do for the last three years... Beat BYU. Not only did they beat BYU though, they totally blew them out of the water. And with that win, they completed a perfect season. And, to add icing to an already overly frosted cake, we've busted the BCS. So, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl or Fiesta Bowl, here we come. We're ready.



It's funny to see the way a student body and a city can be united around one common purpose... seeing your team on to victory. Tonight, from the first U-T-A-H we yelled, we were one body of people united around a common purpose. It was amazing. I can not explain to you the feeling of rushing the field after a perfect season with chants of B-C-S flying up in the air. No one noticed that it was 28 degrees. No one cared that we had half of the student section on the field with two minutes left in the game. Nothing other than Utah beating BYU mattered.


I have always felt the most collegiate during football season. I have kind of defined my college career by football season. And tonight, after an interception and a short pass by Matt Asiata into the end zone to put the Utes up 41-24, I actually cried a little, weird, right?! I know! But seriously, it really hadn't hit me that my college career is ending until that very point where I was sitting by Phil and Kyle who I've known since my freshman year of college and looked at them glowing with this anxious anticipation of a huge Utah victory. It was a weird, but amazing moment.

I feel like a lare part of my college career ended tonight when that clock hit zero. Or perhaps it was just because it was really truly the first time I was able to think about the fact that college is ending. Regardless, I could not have asked or dreamed of a better season to leave this fine university on! Wow. I can remember back my freshman year when I realized the BYU vs. Utah game was going to be at home my senior year. There was no way I was missing it. And I have been so excited for this day since then. And it lived up to/exceeded my expectations!

Man, it feels good to be a Ute tonight.

I want to get my feet dirty...

A professor of mine recently encouraged those of us in class to keep a personal blog. I have always been skeptical of the idea of blogging. Somehow the idea of exposing my inmost thoughts to a group of people who know nothing about me is the perfect definition of being vulnerable. However, after sitting on the idea for a while, I thought it a fitting mode of conveying my aimless thoughts and ramblings to an unknown audience in a way that I would not be able to otherwise do.

So... here I go... Hello blog, my name is Katie. It's nice to be your friend.

The title of my blog is Dirty Feet. Why, you ask? Because I want to get my feet dirty. To me, dirty feet imply that you're doing something with your life. To get your feet dirty you've got to take some sort of action, right? That picture was taken this summer when I was working at a camp called Crooked Creek Ranch. Probably one of the more memorable months of my entire life. I spent the entire month serving High School kids as they came to camp, crazy, I know. I got to be the hands and feet of Jesus as they spent a week of their lives being kids. You see, I work with an organization called Young Life. Young Life seeks to share the message of Jesus Christ with junior high and high schools kids who wouldn't normally step inside the walls of a church.

When I tell people what I do, they often look at me as though I am crazy. They respond with, "why in the world would you want to spend hours upon hours with kids that are 5-10 years younger than you?!" And, I would think for a minute, and look back at them and respond with... "because I love to." But, ya know what, it's more than just loving to do it. It's because every time I look into the eyes of a junior high or high school kid and see how lost and lonely and confused they look, I desperately desire to share the message of Jesus with them. Ya know, just in the last few years have I really truly realized how radically Jesus can change a life. And I look at this lost and desperate generation of kids who come from broken homes and have broken relationships and I so desire them to know that they are loved by their creator, that they are cared about and thought about and that they are so beautiful just the way they are.

Just yesterday I got an email from a girl who had been coming to Club (our weekly meeting) but has kinda fallen off the face of the earth. She said, "I'm ready to come find a friend in Jesus." It's moments like that, that make me realize why it is I do what I do. Because the moment these kids realize they can't do life on their own is monumental.

I am convinced that I could not do this job... no.... I know for a fact that I couldn't do this job without a loving God who grants me the ability and the patience and the heart to put myself out there to these kids. And you look at the life of Jesus and how he walked around from city to city sharing a message of hope... He got his feet dirty. And not only did he get his feet dirty, he changed lives. Radically.

So, simply said, I want to get my feet dirty.