Sorry to skip the song of the week on Friday, readers, but I went on a retreat in the Santa Cruz mountains and had a wonderful and miraculous, transformative time.

This was my third time attending the Bay Area Men’s Retreat, and the event was formative.

I arrived and checked in, and met up with a friend from another church whom I’d invited to join me. Being in the Redwood forest with two hundred other men seeking to go deeper with Jesus Christ is invigorating, spiritually transformative and exciting.

We had several sessions of teaching, awesome times of worship, and got to attend the campfire pit, where we sung outdoors to the heavens in the moonlight, two hundred men singing God’s praises; it was amazing.

The meals were great, and very healthy. They were served buffet style, so I could control my portions for my CKD. There were always vegetarian and meat options, salads, and salad bars, drinks and desserts.

I was able to control my portions and also make selections like Vitamin Water for my drinks. That beverage has no sugar and is low in potassium and other CKD no-no’s.

With the vast snacks and drinks table that was open to us most of the day and night, I could select lower salt options, and the fruit snacks included small apples. Apples are better for CKD versus the oranges and bananas they also offered, and they apples were mercifully small, just the right portion!

My room was shared with my friend. Most of all accommodations at the retreat are shared, and I like it that way, but my roommate was quiet, and we got along well. Hopefully I did not talk to him too much.

The flora at Mount Hermon is beautiful, and the talks we brothers had with each other were deep and meaningful. I am so grateful to have been able to attend, and I hope to go back next year.

Finally, the teaching was outstanding, and our mutual hope at the retreat is that we meet as men more often, to ensure we don’t lose sight of the battle against Satan, so we don’t fall asleep on the battlefield.

Proverbs 27:17New International Version

¹⁷ As iron sharpens iron,
    so one person sharpens another.

I couldn’t get a video to load from our singing, so here is a video of one of the songs we sung.