No Scheme of Man

Hiiiiiiii

So I know I just updated last night/this morning but I figured I would give you as many updates as I could while I could, meaning before working what will be 60 hour work weeks (between Disney and project activities). Also, I want to stay up till midnight so I can go pounce on my roommate Katie, who turns 20 today ;-)

This morning we went to church, and I realized just how much I missed worship. It has literally been almost a month since I sang worship songs with a group of people; I went to church the first week I was home then just tuned into Northpoint Live every other Sunday, which has the worship, but lets be real. My parents already think I am strange as it is, I don't know what would happen if I started randomly singing worship sets in my bedroom.

I went to Celebration Community church this morning. Celebration is this little Stepford-esque town that a lot of Disney employees live in. The service was really good, the pastor preached on Deuteronomy 8 and how we should always acknowledge God. We sang the song "In Christ Alone My Hope is Found," which is one of my favorite songs. There is one stanza in particular that always gets me, and this morning was no different-

"No power of hell,
no scheme of man,
could ever pluck me
from His hand."

It is just such a good reminder to me that people will always try and prevent you from where you need to go, no matter what kind of faith you have. Our greatest obstacle is rarely a lack of money or ability, it is a lack of faith in ourselves due to others lack of faith in us.

time out, its midnight. Time to go wish Katie a happy birthday.


Okay, I'm back.

But yeah, there were a lot of obstacles that tried to keep me from getting here, but the most difficult ones to overcome were ones that others put in the way. But it is becoming so clear to me that I am supposed to be here. It is wonderful.

After the church service ended, one of the Celebration Community bible study groups put on this HUGE free lunch for us and a big group from Campus Outreach (they are doing the same thing at SeaWorld and Universal) and talked to us about how grateful they are for us and how we bring life into their town every summer and how much they loved when we came. The one older woman Edie gave us her phone number and told us to come over anytime we were homesick and she would bake for us and help us with laundry. I love church ladies. I sat at a table with four girls from Campus Outreach, one of whom went to UNF. It was nice to talk to another Floridian.

When we got back from that we played sand volleyball for like an hour and then spent three more hours in the pool playing insane games. I am so exhausted, and I even took an hour long nap. Tonight we had Womens time, and we talked about modesty and how its rarely practiced anymore and how we can honor God with the way we dress, but that doesn't mean we need to wear turtlenecks and floor length skirts either. One of our staff guys, Jonathan, came and talked to us about how guys perceive things and what modesty means to them. It was so awesome to hear it from a guy who is only a few years older than us. I haven't put too much thought into the guy's perspective, so it was really cool to hear that.

Okay, its bedtime. I am getting up early with a few girls to make birthday pancakes for Katie lol.

I will close with the main verses we talked about tonight (one of my favorites- I memorized it in discipleship this past year, but I never thought about it in the sense of modesty)

Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to the Lord- this is your spiritual act of worship. Conform no longer to the patterns of this world but instead be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what Gods will is- His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Romans 12: 1-2