This weekend we will be going to the Refuge Retreat.  I am grateful that we get this opportunity to get away from the world and take a few moments for our group to get to know each other.  There are so many new faces in our youth ministry and so many familiar faces who simply refuse to come.  My heart breaks to think that these students have forgotten us, but it also is joyful that there are so many that are willing to be a part whole heartedly.  It seems as though the Lord has provided students who need our love and compassion when others have refused these gifts.  My heart is glad to know that the Holy Spirit is preparing our way ahead of us and that when we enter into this weekend with prayer and thanksgiving for what he has done for us, we will be greatly blessed by his presence.

My prayer for this weekend is that we will grow an identity of compassionate love for one another and that this compassion will extend to the outer reaches of our circle of influence.  We must be a group who cares deeply for each other and refuses to be apathetic to the lost and broken world around us.  May the Lord impart His compassion on our hearts, and may we know the great gift that is to be had when we pour out His compassion on the least of these!