cheese flavored paint

This past weekend i had the pleasure of attending the 2nd annual Grove Men's Retreat at New Life Ranch which is just five miles past "God's Country" (also known as Siloam Springs where Jesus is Lord). side note: I wonder if there are any cities that on their welcome sign it says Welcome to Springfield: We're all Atheists!.

Anyways, The men's retreat was a freaking blast. I had to miss it last year because i was in Little Rock for training for my job, so I was especially excited to be going this year. The theme of the weekend was: The Man's Survival Guide. We learned about God's calling for our vocation, marriage, intimacy with him, and purity as well as how to build a fire (key ingredients Frito's and a blow torch), how to defend yourself in a street fight (actual quote... "at this point you either have the option of breaking their neck and killing them, or dropping them to the ground") and how to handle an attacking wolf-dog (it's basically impossible.)

The main night time agenda was the poker tournament. I got 5th place out of 31 which ain't too bad. Congrats to Dasun for his total domination and to Rockstar Jones and Stu (all fellow Hot Pockets) who took the 1,2, and 3 spot respectively and to brett who won the pickup game the second night.

It rained pretty much the whole time we were there which was actually very nice after the drought we've been having lately. Saturday morning after Matt's talk (which always leave me inspired)we had a time of prayer and journaling. I just sat on the front porch of our cabin and watched the rain and journaled. It was so amazing to just sit there and meditate on God. I don't do that like I used to.

My favorite thing about the whole weekend was my time with the guys from my community group. They have been such an encouragement to me over the past few years. It's weird how playing poker with these guys over a year and a half has built such a bond, but it has. I strongly believe in the bonds of brotherhood in Christ, and these guys are my brothers. We can all be total idiots together, but when it comes time to be real we are real. We do our best to look out for each other and encourage each other to make our wives priority. We also can make each other laugh like it's nobody's business. So to Brett, Dasun, Justin, and Stu..."What does taut mean?" Love you guys.