January 24, 2009 Romans 11:33-36

Praise to God
"Yes, God's riches are very great, and his wisdom and knowledge have no end! No one can explain the things God decides or understand his ways. As the Scripture says, 'Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been able to give him advice?' 'No one has ever given God anything that he must pay back.' Yes, God made all things, and everything continues through him and for him. To him be the glory forever! Amen. ~Romans 11:33-36~

This is a short and sweet passage that really says it all!!! "To Him be the glory forever!" Everything we have...we own...is not really ours. It's all God's, and He is just lending it to us for the moment, so that we can be occupied before we enter His Kingdom.

So...we've been struggling with a place for the retreat recently...but luckily, we are having it at church. Although we might see it as negative, because we're not retreating to another place, we should use this opportunity to better our situation. We should be thankful that we have a place to hold the retreat...scripture says, "No one can explain the things God decides or understand his ways," just like that, we don't know why we ended up having to hold the retreat at church, but God may have a plan. We just need to make the best of it! I was thinking about it today...although we're pretty close to campus, so it's easier for people to leave and come back and stuff, because we're all sleeping in the same place, in one big room (guys at church, and girls at Joe's) we are able to have more fellowship and really experience the family environment. I believe this will be a great experience...especially for the guys cuz they need to be real troopers, sleeping in the freezing church building. ^^

Anyways, we really do need to praise God and acknowledge Him for who He is, most worthy of all our praise! He has given us everything we have, even our lives, and on top of that, He has given us salvation through His one and only son, Jesus Christ. No matter how much we give back to God, we can never thank Him enough and we can never take credit for what we do, because He deserves so much more. So, 'Praise to God!' "To Him be the glory forever, amen!"