Excerpt: The Pursuit of God, The Human Thirst for the Divine, A.W. Tozer

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, The Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that so I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up from this misty lowland where I have wondered so long. In Jesus' name. Amen
Excerpt: The Pursuit of God, The Human Thirst for the Divine, A.W. Tozer

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Pastors and Wives Retreat in Boone, NC

During the week of 8/5 - 8/9, we attended Tim and I attended a retreat in the mountains of Boone, NC.  However, with Tim's dad being in the hospital with pneumonia, dehydration and irregular heart beat, we missed all of Monday and most of Tuesday.  We arrived in time on Tuesday to get settled into our "cabin" and visit with some of the other pastors and their wives before dinner.

The Damascus Baptist Church hosts this retreat every year and it is for about 8 couples by invitation only.  The theme of the retreat was, "The Lord is my Shepherd."  In the Bible, pastors are referred to as shepherds and those members of his congregation are referred to as his sheep.  The Lord is the Great Shepherd and all Christians are His sheep.

We were given a notebook that contains sermons, songs and illustrations comparing Christians to sheep. (It is amazing to realize the similarities.)  We were also provided a folder containing the Itinerary and daily devotions on sheep.

It was a very relaxing time and we were soooooo ready for some down time!  Enjoy the pictures with further explanation along the way.

Our "Cabin" with a View











These buildings are used to house the girls and boys during summer camp.  The one on the right serves the girls and the bottom level is the kitchen/eating area.  The building on the left houses the boys.

Wednesday morning's breakfast menu.  Paula Dean would have been proud!  :D



These decorations were on the tables outside.  Very appropriate for the week's theme.


After breakfast each day, Bro. Wallace, pastor at Damascus Baptist read the devotion for the day.  Then the men went one way and the women went another way for fellowship, prayer and discussion and sharing.  By lunch time the moisture was hanging heavy in the air.

Looking up the hill from the dining area.


This is the bear cabin to the right and across the road from the dining area.

This is the ball field behind the dining area.

These are the flowers shown in the center of the picture above.


There was a lady, I guess one of the "neighbors" who jogged a couple of times up the hill and this dog had been with her.  It has one blue and one brown eye.  Very eerie looking!

Wednesday was picnic day.  We were to go on a picnic but by the time we got ready to leave, the rain began.

So, we unpacked the basket and ate in our cabin.  Then we drove to Blowing Rock to do some shopping, but it was so foggy and rainy that we did not shop very long.  We were supposed to dress up and go out to dinner but we decided to take some food home with us instead since the weather was miserable.

On the way back to the cabin, I had Tim stop at CVS so I could get a magazine to look at.  Ended up having to go to the Christian bookstore there in Boone and I found this book.  I had read the first book of the trilogy last year.  The individual books were $6.97 each, so even though I had already read the first book, I still saved money getting the trilogy over buying the 2nd and 3rd books individually!  (I finished reading the trilogy on Sunday and I highly recommend getting the trilogy!)

Thursday was picture day.  Everyone stood in front of this bush.  These pictures are closeups of the flowers shown earlier near the ball field.  It is unusual for me to be more dressed up than Tim!  Bro. Wallace warned Tim that if he wore a tie, it would be confiscated!  :D  So, Tim took it to heart and wore his blue jeans all week!








After the photos we had a live sheep demonstration.  Basically, the 2 girls just talked about raising sheep.

The building to the left is the chapel and the building to the right is the bear cabin.

The cabin where the "camp director," Bro. Wallace and his wife, Juanita stayed.

Too bad those wires are in the middle of the picture!

Set up for the farewell steak dinner!  Delicious meal!

These curtains had to be ungathered last year because it rained and the rain was blowing onto the diners really badly.  It sprinkled off and on, but no need to close the curtains!

The night sky after dinner.

The morning sky as we were getting packed up to leave on Friday.  It was a great week!







2 comments:

jeday0323 said...

Looks like a great week!
Is cabin in quotes because it's nicer than what I normally think of when I think of a cabin?
I'm glad you got some down time and I'm glad Tim's dad is better - I didn't know he was sick.

Betty Jo said...

What an incredibly gorgeous place. You deserved the down time, that's for sure. I adore all the photos, but if I had to pick a fave, it would be the one on the porch in the rockers. Glad you were able to attend and that enjoyed it.

Have you noticed our mornings have been a bit cooler this week? Come on Fall!!