My Very First and Last NEXT

There I go again... not blogging. And I have no excuse for it.

This past weekend, Josh, Kel and I made a trip down to Orlando, FL, for the NEXT Conference. Since we moved to Florida, I was unable to go these past years. So this was my first time, and my last, as it is the last NEXT Conference Sovereign Grace is doing.

The worship was AMAZING and so encouraging. One song in particularly was encouraging is the song off of the Gathering cd, Now Why This Fear.

Now why this fear and unbelief?
Has not the Father put to grief
His spotless Son for us?
And will the righteous Judge of men
Condemn me for that debt of sin
Now canceled at the cross?

Jesus, all my trust is in Your blood
Jesus, You’ve rescued us
Through Your great love

Complete atonement You have made
And by Your death have fully paid
The debt Your people owed
No wrath remains for us to face
We’re sheltered by Your saving grace
And sprinkled with Your blood

Be still my soul and know this peace
The merits of your great high priest
Have bought your liberty
Rely then on His precious blood
Don’t fear your banishment from God
Since Jesus sets you free

How sweet the sound of saving grace 

How sweet the sound of saving grace
Christ died for me

What a truth we need to be reminded of daily. Something I am ashamed to say I forget. Since our time at NEXT, I have caught myself singing in a whisper, "Jesus, all my trust is in Your blood." Then I think, "Why am I whispering?" Yeah, I don't have the greatest voice, an yes I do sing off key, but God doesn't care! Sheesh! So I'll begin to sing it loader. Because how sweet the sound of saving grace! He died for ME! At NEXT and even now, those lines almost bring me to tears. Isn't it sweet???

On top of the worship, the teaching was amazing as well! Jeff Purswell did a great job explaining that we are apart of something that is way bigger than us. He took us through the whole Bible from start to finish... and you know as a kid that the Bible is one big story, but you don't actually see it until it's presented in the way he did it (unless I didn't).

I also really enjoyed Kevin DeYoung's messages as well. His one on friendship was very provoking to me. God has given me so many wonderful, godly friendships since moving back to VA, and for which I am very thankful! But his message really got me thinking... am I a faithful friend? Do I go out of my way to see how a friend is doing, and just stop right there and pray for them? No. I was really convicted.

The last two messages I LOVED. Matt Chandler and C.J. Mahaney. Matt Chandler's message was very convicting to me. Honestly, at times I'm a shamed to say that I hid from being a Christian... because I want to seem "cool". I have no problem blaring Pitbull in my car, but I do have a problem with turning Chris Tomlin up. Why? I know it's my sin nature... but I hate that. I love the verse that Tebow had on his eye blacks once, "May I never boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ." (Galatians 6:14) He should be the one I boast in... not the world. One think that Matt Chandler said that keeps running through my mind is this; "When you present a 'cool' Jesus to our world, it's no longer the Jesus of the Bible, but a Jesus you created." What a convicting thought! Something I have never thought of before... it's not the same Jesus. Wow!

 C.J. has always been one of my favorite preachers (followed by Aaron Campbell :) ). So this was the one message I was most looking forward too. His message was on the Church and Disappointment. He encouraged everyone to think of things that you find disappointing in your church and things that you see God at work. I have to confess that for a while there, C.J. lost my attention. I listed many things that I found God at work in KingsWay... but I couldn't find anything I was "disappointed" with. And after talking to my dad when I got home, I realized that after going to different churches in Florida, there were so many things we were without, that it makes us so much more thankful we are back here at KingsWay. The worship, the teaching, the pastors, the friendships and fellowship... everything! What a gift from God it is to me! And a job too!!! What an E.G.G. (Evidence of God's Grace).

Something else C.J. said got my attention. One is to never bring books on your honeymoon :). haha No. He shared a story of a pastor that was meeting with a man from his church. And the man was complaining about the things that he didn't like in the church... the worship, the teaching, etc. And the pastor who was meeting with this man leans forward and gave the man a 5 word antidote for this complaining. "It's not about you, stupid." Man! I couldn't find anything I was disappointed about KingsWay... but how I so often forget that this life isn't about me! It's not! There is only one who my life is about. And his name starts with a J and a C. So tell me who's in the house! J! C! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself. haha That's what you get for growing up in the early '90s I guess... :) ).

It's not about you, stupid! Those five short, little words are so grounded in truth. It's not about me, or you, but about Him who created us!!!

Sorry for this rather long post... and that I haven't posted in a while, but that's what God has been so graciously working on in my life. It's not about trying to be "cool", and it's not about me! But it's about Jesus, and all my trust needs to be in His blood.

Thanks for reading! :)

Adventures In DC

Last Monday for Spring Break, Kelsey, Josh and I went to DC with our great friends Stephenia & Chris Deloglos. We had a blast! I kept picking on Kel cuz she kept saying this was our first trip without an adult. She just happened to forget that I am 21.... but that's ok.

Our morning started at 6:00am. And yes, I did get up that early! They picked us up at 7am, and can you guess where our first stop was? Starbucks! And that is when we made our way north. It was a pretty easy drive.

We hoped on the metro in Springfield, VA around 10:00am, which took us to the heart of DC. After 40 minutes on the metro, we got off near Pennsylvania Avenue. So our first stop was the White House. We then sat near the Washington Monument for lunch, and that is when our walking adventure began. From there we walked to the World War 2 memorial, and then we made a visit to Abe. That place was packed!

At that point, someone in our party really wanted Starbucks. So we made what looked like on my Starbucks app a small detour. The building that the app said the Starbucks was at, happened to be the Federal Reserve, which had a few guards that were clearly not holding big water guns.

The man at the Reserve was very nice, and helped us with what we were looking for. As we walked a few more blocks to our destination, that same someone who was going to die right in front of us if she did not have Starbucks, saw it several blocks aways through many beginning to bloom trees (which none of the rest of us could see). I won't say this person's name, but I'll give you a hint. This same person that is beast on an electric guitar, has a built in radar for Starbucks.

From our rest at Starbucks, we headed for the Smithsonian's. At this point in the day we knew we only had about 2 hours till we needed to be back on the metro. We first went to the American History Museum, and stopped to see the Star Spangle Banner. Last time I was in DC (1999) they were repairing it, so we could not really see it as it was laying on a table. But this time I got to see it's magnitude. I got chilly bumps seeing it. I thought of all the lives that have fought for this land, past and present, and what an honor they are to our country. They have spared their lives, so that I might live in a free land. Something I don't think enough of.

We left from there to go to the National Archives, but the line was redonkulous! So we skipped that and heading to the Air and Space Museum. Lame. Sorry, it was ok. I guess I am so use to P'cola's Air and Space (which I love), that when I was going to DC's, I was expecting for something much bigger. What a let down!

This was the part of the day when everyone began to drag their feet. So we decided to go sit in front of the Capital to rest and have a snack. I think we spent the longest time here. We just talked, ate, and talked some more. It was rather relaxing. It wasn't crowded here like it was everywhere else.

4:45 rolled around, and we decided to hit the metro early. And what a blessing that was! No lie, our first stop after getting on was a flood! It was so packed, I have never seen that many people in such a little space.

After an hour ride, we finally got to the car. And surprisingly the traffic wasn't all that bad.

So that was our adventure. Thanks for reading! Here are some pictures I put up on Instagram. I took some with my "not pink but red" camera, and hope to put some of those up as well.

Our stop near Pennsylvania Avenue

Abe!

The infamous Starbucks

Loved finally seeing this! Spirit of St. Louis

The gang