things i learned

This past weekend was like a mini-break. Thursday's 8am class was canceled on Wednesday night, due to my professor being sick with the flu. Yesterday was MLK. 5 day weekendddd!!


So from Friday to Saturday, I was at Big Bear for GNC's single young adults' retreat. The theme was Fellowship, I think. I don't remember that word ever being mentioned. But, I learned a great deal about love (never a boring topic) (and I guess you need to know about love to have genuine fellowship) and idolatry. I don't feel like going too deep into it because in my mind, I'm hyperventilating from the thought of all the reading I have to do and the material I have to study for. (Thought within a thought... inception?)

But a few things about my time at the retreat:

1. I learned that my 2 biggest idols of the heart are Approval & Control

APPROVAL
Good it corrupts: affirmation, love, relationships
Price we will pay: less independence
Greatest nightmare: rejection
Others often feel: smothered
Problem emotion: cowardice

CONTROL
Good it corrupts: self-discipline, certainty, standards
Price we will pay: loneliness, spontaneity
Greatest nightmare: uncertainty
Others often feel: condemned
Problem emotion: worry

Pretty self-explanatory and if you know me well enough, it would make sense.

2. The speaker for the retreat was Pastor Alex, founder and pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Los Angeles. Yes, the church particularly known for its gorgeous churchgoers in their best outfits, not because they want to glorify God in their appearances, but because they want hollers, numbers in their phonebooks, marriage, whatever.
Anyway, I enjoyed him a lot.... too much that I laughed really loud when no one else did and made him forget his next point. It was... truly... embarrassing.
Anyway (again), he was so freaking hilarious. But more than that, his points were so well illustrated by his personal stories and helped everyone to better understand the value of the gift of salvation and God's unconditional, sacrificial love for us.

"We work so hard to avoid the things that the Gospel confronts -- our deepest issues of sin. Just accept the unconditional LOVE of Christ." So true and so simple.

3. My 3-year-old leather boots, which I splurged on in 2010 as part of my once-in-a-blue-moon/only-in-severe-cases retail therapy, are now ruined from the snow. Goodbye, leather boots.

4. It was great being at retreat and worshipping God together with 13 of my fellow UCSanDiegans.