It's like erin with a p: February 2012

Monday, February 20, 2012

the magnificence of the gospel

Richmond Weekend was beyond great. Traveling there on Friday afternoon I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning- so giddy and excited. I couldn't wait to be with the Young Life leaders in our region and to see my sweet friends and family and to be spiritually fed. I came into the weekend craving Jesus. And He did not fail. He used Casey Dunn and spoke right to me.

Casey talked about the magnificence of the gospel and how the gospel is the one thing that changes everything. There were so many great reminders of the gospel and other things that I was so convicted of doing or teaching. The gospel is news, not advice- making it unique because every other religion gives advice. And with that, he asked the question, "How often do I teach kids what to do, not what Jesus did for them?" Wow, convicted of that one. A sweet reminder was that if I am in Christ, I am perfectly righteous without blemish and I am not to let the evil one take that away. Don't you love when the same themes come across your path over and over again and you know it must be the Lord wanting to teach you something? Well that's how this weekend felt. I've been studying Galatians lately and if you don't know, it's all about Paul teaching the Gentiles that faith is not earned by being "good," obeying laws or traditions, or by works. Salvation is only earned by faith in Christ. Only by faith in Christ. And I know this, but it's so easy to forget it. I know the Lord has been trying to show me this over and over again. Because then Casey said, "I am accepted therefore I obey, not I obey to be accepted." Ouch. I'm guilty of this one. How badly I want to remember that and know that nothing I do will ever make me lose or gain the Lord's love for me. Casey said that this is the great dichotomy of the gospel: That we were so sinful Christ had to die for us, but so beloved that he wanted to die for us. Have I forgotten the great love of Jesus? Am I applying the gospel to my life before sharing it with others? HE LOVES ME DEEPLY & REMARKABLY. Do I believe it?!

Gosh, I was convicted with so many things. I'm so grateful for the Lord's forgiveness and so glad He has called me out on these things.

Friday night we had our first session and hung out and caught up with friends afterwards. Saturday morning we had another session and then broke out into 2 smaller sessions which were awesome. Saturday afternoon was my favorite though. It was so laid back and spent with all my favorite people. I went to Red Robbin with Virginia Beach and afterwards went to HomeGoods, REI, Starbucks, Target, and Hobby Lobby. I am officially obsessed with HomeGoods. I got the 2 cutest aprons that I cannot wait to cook in next year! (probably won't happen though). It was just the best afternoon. Mom, Dad, and Morgan were there with Rob and Stacey and Lauren and Mrs. Bradshaw and Hannah and Grace and Abby and Erin. Ahhhh they're all just the best. Anyways, that night we dinner together as an area which was so great and afterwards had another session. We headed out the next morning before the last session to avoid the snow. The weekend did not disappoint. Still my most favorite weekend out of the entire year.

These are the only pictures I took ALL weekend. Can you believe that?!

Lauren and Grace!

Jenna, Lauren, and Grace!

Such a sweet friend! Excited to see you Thursday, Erin!

The sisters! We've been neighbors and best friends since Kindergarten! Crazy!!

Virginia Beach ladies!

2 of my most favorite people.

Love you Grace!

Grace and Kelly!

My beautiful sister.

These ladies are all incredible.

xoxo,
erin with a p and a double r

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Capernaum, dates, and birthdays!

I feel like the only thing I’ve blogged about this semester has been our weekends. Maybe that’s because it is all I’ve blogged about. But that’s because the week is filled with boring stuff like classes and the weekends are when fun things actually happen.

This weekend was no exception. It was filled with of lots of fun things. My weekend started Thursday at 3:15 when I finished classes for the week. I came home, took a 2 hour nap (yikes!), had dinner with Trish, went to small group, went to late night breakfast and got a funnel cake, and then went to bed. Perfect Thursday.

Friday I slept in until 10:00, which felt sooo good, did a full springish cleaning of our suite (it was disgusting), and had coffee with Christie. Then we had YL Leadership and each team got their shadow placements! Shadowing is for people thinking about leading. They go with leaders to everything to see if leading is something they want to do or not. We took our shadow to Chick-fil-A and then to a Spotswood basketball game. When we got back some friends had a bonfire at the Treehaus.

Saturday was filled with more goodness. Kayla and I slept in and had a lazy morning drinking coffee and talking to our parents. Then we headed to a Capernaum Movie Day and pretended to be the paparazzi for them while they entered on the red carpet. It was so awesome to see leaders love kids and see the kids feel like such celebrities with so much joy. Then later that night we had Team Date Night. Team Date Night is where one person on your team chooses a date for you and you all go do something together. It was a lot fun. All of our dates were awesome (mine was probably the best though, thanks Jackson!). We enjoyed dinner at Dave’s, a good game of Taboo in the ice box attic of Narnia, and then a movie at Barbie Dream Mansion.

Today we are celebrating. We are celebrating our sweet friend Laura’s 20^th birthday! We went to church and brunch and then came back and had present time. Later we saw The Vow and all went to E-hall because it’s Laura’s favorite! It’s been an awesome weekend and the best part is….I don’t have any classes until Thursday! It’s a 6-day weekend for me!

These things are why I love college. What other time and where else would I be able to all of these things within 3 days? That’s why I want to soak up every minute of it now, while I can.