Weekend update

I joined 20+ other men from our church at a Men's Retreat at Glen Rose Camp, in Glen Rose, TX. It was a refreshing getaway in many ways. We gathered to worship, share things in a small group setting, hiked up a hill to have a worship service outdoors (under a majestic stone cross), listened to uplifting messages, and fellowshiped together (sports, stories, eating, etc). I was exhausted when I got back.

My wife commented to me that night as we were getting ready for bed that that none of the men looked spiritually refreshed. "Men never seem to look that way when they get back from a retreat", she said. I think there is a good reason for this. It comes down to a fundamental difference between men and women.

First, most of the men work 45+ hours a week. Many of them work in blue collar jobs, so the work is very physical. When we are given some time off, we normally: sleep, watch TV, or do "guy things" (hunt, fish, camp, play cards, sports, etc). When we have a retreat set up for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we have to work our week, pack, and then drive 2+ hours to get there. So Friday night, we are pretty tired, but still wound up. So we stay up until about midnight, then settle in. We get up anywhere from 6-8 AM, shower, eat, and begin small group time and worship. We get some free time, so we find something to do (for me it was basketball and some walking. I did manage to get a nap later that day). After our noon meal, we had some more free time and then some small group activities. By the time we have our evening meal, we are rather spent. Then we start our hike up into the hills for our evening service / fireside share time. Since the hike up the hill was a bit of a workout for some, we opted to drive down (the long way) to avoid injury. We get back at 10 PM, fellowship some and then hit the bunks. Sunday we got up, showered, ate our morning meal and had service. Since there was an activity at church in the early afternoon, we hurried and packed after the service to begin our drive back.

So, we did not look refreshed? I am sure we did not. My wife on her retreat was not as physical as I was, although she works just as hard (if not harder). Her retreat, because it was a women's retreat, did not encourage its attendees to play sports. Guys share differently than women do. Neither is wrong, just different.

I can assure you this retreat was very beneficial to me. It allowed me to make better friendships, I opened up to some people regarding personal struggles I have, and I realized that I really do need the company of others if I want to grow as a Christian. All we need to do now is to show the other men in the congregation they need this as well.