More about the retreat...

...which Linda and I attended this past weekend. Besides the wonderful presentations and the hymn singing, and some song singing, we enjoyed wonderful meals. Not all of them sumptuous feasts, but good nonetheless. So good, in fact, that I asked Linda to refresh my memory on how much we paid to attend this event, since it didn't seem like enough money to cover the quality of the food and service we were experiencing. We were greatly impressed! 

On Saturday I was standing in line for lunch, facing down a table of salad greens. As I worked my way through the line, I said to the ladies around me, "I bet you can tell that I am not a salad eater...". I had only a tiny mound of greens on the plate and added some shredded cheese and croutons to it. The ladies chuckled and some said they simply loved salad. As I got about halfway down the table, I came upon a bowl of pasta salad. Yay! Just then the waitress came through carrying a tray of desserts, on which I spotted a rice krispie treat with chocolate on top. She let me take one before she got to the dessert table, because "you are the smiliest person I've ever seen! Even in the morning you are smiling!" A nice bowl of soup accompanied my little salad and my rice krispie treat.

Our day on Saturday was taken up with sessions by Prof. Deutschlander which kept us captivated. Hazel, the older lady at our table, reported that she missed both her morning and afternoon nap, blaming it on the Professor being so very interesting. No naps had by us that day. I cannot wait for the recording of the event to be released because I know I need to see/hear it all again, to soak up anything I missed. 

The professor was given a gift by one of the ladies, a framed piece of art featuring a pathway through the woods (our retreat is called "Pathways to Christ"). We were all encouraged to sign the back of the picture for his remembrance. For a tough old German guy, now residing in "the home", as he called it, he got a bit misty eyed at this lovely gift.

Linda and I had about an hour and a half of free time Saturday afternoon which was just enough time for my sister, Kerry, to stop over. She lives in Oshkosh and knew right where to come, arriving at the end of our hymn singing session. As she searched the room, it was surprising to her how many people looked like Linda's head, from the back of the room. She picked me out right away!  I was wearing my blaze orange cotton jacket so you could not miss me, that's for sure.

For dinner, we were served a banquet meal, and then had entertainment provided by a Christian rock singer, Michael Schroeder. Not my cup of tea, but he had a great speaking voice and told the story of Jesus and His passion. Linda wasn't blown away either, though she does enjoy this type of music otherwise. As we talked about it later on, I guess there really is no other choice for entertainment than something like this so it's fine. Again, included in our fee for the event---amazing!

Sunday began with breakfast, a nice continental-styled one plus egg casseroles. Then we had a prayer session where a woman had compiled prayer requests submitted by attendees over the past couple of days. As I said to Linda, even though I put none in the basket, many of the prayers could have been for me or for mine. She felt the very same way. 

A retreat pastor, Leon Ehlert, presented a very interesting Bible study based in Corinthians. We got only about a page and a half through before our time was up, so we have two more pages of homework to do! He said it happens every year this way but he fears it won't be enough. It was. His sermon during the worship portion of the day was about Jesus walking on the water. My take away from the weekend was his advice to not get focused on the waves in this life, but keep our eyes on Christ. We certainly did get our money's worth!