By Scarlett Birge, student news writer, Office of University Communications

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - “One of the biggest things that we can be thankful for in this day and time is our relationship with God,” the Rev. Matthew Smyzer, a member of Campbellsville University's Board of Trustees, pastor of Beargrass Missionary Baptist Church in Louisville and a 2014 graduate of CU, said at the university's Nov. 18 Thanksgiving chapel service.

He spoke of staying on the course given by God as he read from Genesis 26:1-6. Staying the course in following God throughout all the hardships of life is what allows for us to appreciate and give thanks for the blessings of life he said.

“Stay the course means that we have a plan, and we have a purpose,” Smyzer said. “That would take us from where we are right now to the next step in our lives.”

Smyzer spoke of the distractions and setbacks which often occur in life and tend to make us alter our course. The uncertainty and lack of stability in the world today plays a large factor into each of our lives, but having faith in God is a constant we must cherish he said.

“What's going to happen tomorrow we don't know and we cannot predict, but we know that he knows and therefore we are going to trust in him,” Smyzer said.

“If we stay the course, if we trust in God, through it all everything is going to be alright,” he said.

He spoke of God's love and power in how he intervenes in our lives to set us back on the right track if we are willing to listen to him. He said our blessings are abundant when we are in the place God wants us to be in, and we need only do as God says to reach those blessings.

“The course as we see it doesn't look so good, but the course as God said is the best course for our lives,” he said about trusting God's plan. “Stay the course because God is going to get you where you need to go.”

“Your blessings will come when you stay the course,” Smyzer said.

All chapels are televised on WLCU (Comcast Cable channel 10 and digital channel 15), streamed on Campbellsville University's Facebook page and wlcutv.com and can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGOyyKyrGBpSx8-uXa4NRtw.

Campbellsville University is a widely acclaimed Kentucky-based Christian university with more than 13,500 students offering over 100 programs of study including Ph.D., master, baccalaureate, associate, pre-professional and certification programs. The website for complete information is www.campbellsville.edu.