My Experience at IPS

By: Krysten McOsker


My experience at IPS was beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
By the time I arrived at Loyola, I chased nearly every worldly desire, but my heart and soul were still restless. I had everything the world told me I should have, yet I kept feeling a nudge, a yearning for something more but I was afraid to let go of my worldly values.
I was also afraid of some religious people that I thought I would be waiting to shame me. I was certain I would not fit in because God school was such a far leap from where I was at in life so all I could say was that I would explore IPS. I would start Loyola by exploring. All I could commit to was attending the first day of school, the first class, and go from there.
When I arrived for my first class at IPS I felt content for the first time in my life. I felt alive. I felt energized. I felt passionate. I found a place with people who wrestle with their faith like I do. I met people who call bull&*$@ when they see it. I met people who are not afraid to be bold. Who are not afraid to speak truth. Who are not afraid to get uncomfortable. To wrestle, learn and question. To keep questioning. I met people who questioned like me. Who wrestled like me. Professors and classmates encouraged me to keep questioning and keep wrestling.
I met a God I had never encountered elsewhere. A God who is revolutionary. A God who flips the Empire & power structure on its head. I fell in love with a God who liberates and heals. A God who disturbs the status quo. A God who disturbs the comfortable. A God whose call is so great, that I can’t not go out into the streets to care for our friends who live on the street. I am so in love with this God of revolutionary love that everything, everything in my life has changed. Through IPS, I have been uprooted from worldly values and have been rooted in the values and love of Christ.
IPS was the most transformative experience of my life. It was a gift far greater than I could have ever imagined.