(This is a copy of the message I wrote for my friends from 8ers camp which was the first week of July. I didn't really want to rewrite this soooo... Bare with the personalized parts of it...)
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So, I wanted to share this with y'all on Saturday at camp, but honestly if I had tried, I probably would have broken down and ugly cried pretty bad.
I wanted to say thank you because I saw God through y'all in a kind of silly way, but it was definitely something I needed.
I'll shorten the back story to this quite a bit (Khrysti knows some of it already and this is an excellent/super important part of me and Justin's story for a later time) -
In November of 2014 at the CYF retreat (which was at disciples crossing) I got a call from my cousin, Philip, telling me that he would be coming home for Thanksgiving. Originally I hadn't planned on going home just because of work and school but the second he said he was coming, I put all the on the back burner. Philip was a Marine and was stationed at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. This was the first time I was going to see him since he had come back from being deployed.
The was one of the best phone calls ever bc Thanksgiving was OUR holiday and he was one of my best friends and the little sibling I had always wanted. Even though he was only four years younger than me, I always called him my baby cousin. Phil was in a fatal motorcycle accident in January (as in 6 months ago) while on base in NC. This has been hands down the hardest thing I've ever gone through and it still weighs on my daily.
That being said, I can still remember the exact spot I was standing in when I answered my phone at the fall retreat and for whatever reason, when I go to the exact spot it feel like Phil is so much closer and I can still hear that exact conversation and hear his voice. I went and sat there for a while in February at the CYF midwinter (it had only been 3 weeks since we lost him at that point) and then again at 8ers on the last morning. I went when the sun was coming up and I was completely alone and as I sat there talking to Phil, I begged him to give me some sort of sign that he was safe and that everything would be okay and that he was with me.
This is where y'all come in - when I was sitting on the porch swing before breakfast and y'all came up and sat up there, Khrysti said something about Cherie going to see her new baby cousin (that's one) and then just to be sure I picked up on the words "baby cousin" either Hannah or DeLaney said they wish they had a baby cousin (that's two) and then somehow the words "baby cousin" were spoken by all 4 of us at some point in that conversation (cue three, four, and five). The first time I heard it, it caught me attention. And then next four times I KNEW with all of my heart that Phil was letting me know he was right there with me just like he always had been.
You don't know how significant those two words were to me that morning, but I am so grateful y'all sat down there and affirmed God's promise of eternal peace. I truly saw God through all three of you that morning and I can't say thank you enough.
(And yes, that's the short version lol. Just imagine what story time is like with Explaining Erin and Jabbering Justin...)
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