Well this last week I had planned a men’s retreat with 5 guys to the alps.  As the week approaching the weekend progressed, one of the the guys, my roommate, found out that he would have a make up exam in school that Saturday, so he would not be able to come.  After a large effort to arrange a way for him and one other guy to come with us, we finally found out that it was not going to happen.  I decided to go anyways with the other two guys.  As we began our trip on Friday, we had traveled only 45 minutes when we had to swerve to the side of the road to avoid a truck coming in our lane.  Although we avoided the truck, we unfortunately did not avoid the sharp object on the ground. As you can guess we had a flat tire.  After finally changing it we drove to the nearest town to have it fixed.  It was going to take two hours.  As this was happening I was beginning to wonder if I had made the right decision to continue, it seemed that so far everything had been against us going.  I felt I needed some advice.  I called three men who I respect in my life and received three different thoughts.  No, don’t continue.  Maybe it could work out, knock on some more doors and see.  Yes, continue on, this usually happens in ministry.  I decided to talk and pray with the two guys, who I was taking.  We prayed and discussed it.  I shared my thoughts and told them, that I had no idea what to do.  I told them that I wanted to know their answer and would trust that the Spirit was leading them in the right direction.  They told me that they felt peace about going on.  The next hour in the car was maybe the best conversation I have ever had with these two young guys!  I think something broke between us when I put it on their shoulders and showed my vulnerability.  I was able to see them grow through my trusting them.

As we approached the Alps, it was raining and warm!  I was thinking, this is not good I will have to find something besides skiing to do.  That night we arrived late and after failing to find any place to have food, we went back to the place we were staying and met together and prayed and read God’s word.  After some time we went to bed and slept after a long day.  In the morning I woke them up at 6:00 so that we could have 1 1/2 hours in the morning of quiet time.  I think it was hard for them, because they have never done this before.  After our quiet time it was still raining but the weather man said it should turn to snow.  We decided to go to a cafe and have breakfast and wait till the rain stopped.  We spent two hours in the cafe having Ham & Eggs with Coffee.  Finally we were able to go Skiing, which was so fun!  In the evening we went out to a nice restaurant and then returned and prayed and read the Word together.  Sunday morning I woke at 6:00 am very sore and tried to wake them up without success.  So I let them sleep until 8:00 and then woke them.  One of the guys said, “oh no we will be late for skiing!”  I told them that we would have a quiet time first.  We then cleaned up and headed for the mountains, but decided maybe we were too sore, so instead we went to a town, which everyone should visit some time in their lives.  It is the most beautiful town I have ever been to.  We spent a couple hours in the town of Halstatt. While we were traveling we made this video that shares some of the stuff we learned.  My favorite part of this is when the guy Ben shares that the thing he learned is that he needs to spend time with God everyday!  Praise God for this growth in his life!  Continue to pray for these guys! Ben and Chris. Below is a video.

Men’s Retreat in the Alps from Joshua Howard on Vimeo.