At 8am each day, a reminder pops up on phone's home screen that reads "Jesus time". I can swipe it to mark "completed" or "not completed". Most times, I just ignore the notification until I find time amidst my hectic schedule to squeeze in thirty minutes or less of being in God's word and maybe journaling a page or two if I have enough time. As we are redundantly reminded in Christian circles not to make spending time with the Lord a thing to check off our to-do list, I have to admit that is what it has become for me lately. I aim to be in the Word each morning, but I find myself waking up later and later each day as papers, studying, and lack of time management keep me up into the wee hours of the night. So when I wake up in a panic, frantically getting ready for the day, I maybe manage to pencil Jesus in with a quick reading of a Psalm while I'm simultaneously brushing my teeth and Sparknoting the passage of the book I forgot to read for class. Or I just skip Jesus time all together, reassuring myself I will get back to it later on that day, and eventually never get around to it.

"Never getting around to it" has been the theme of my crazy life the past couple of weeks. Making excuses for not spending time with the Lord has left me empty, drained, and unsatisfied - feelings I very much despise.

In an effort to fill the void left by intense hunger for good, solid Jesus time - Jesus time not squeezed into fifteen minutes of spare time - I finally found a moment the other night after work. I went to the Starbucks I knew was open late and opened up my Bible for the first time in what seemed like ages.

It was so refreshing.

It was refreshing until Starbucks closed, though, and I found myself still engulfed in the presence of the Heavenly Father, mid-sentence of my journaling prayer. I looked around. Nothing else is open at almost 12am on a Monday night. I looked across the street and saw the neon green sign that read "Sprouts".

I shrugged, hopped into my car, and drove the twenty feet to the Sprouts parking lot where I sat in my car and finished spending time with Jesus.

I laugh because that was one of the best times I have spent with the Lord where He revealed so much to me about His overwhelming love for me and it was in the parking lot of a grocery store.

Hallelujah that we serve a God whose presence is not confined in a church building!!

God is everywhere and He can find us anywhere if we just make time for Him.

Jesus time doesn't have to be in a super hipster coffee shop early in the morning. It can be anywhere as long as you make the time for the King of kings who is pursuing you - wanting to spend time with you.

Make the time for Jesus—even if it is in the parking lot of Sprouts at midnight—make the time for Him.