Retreat

I’m spending two days in Annapolis on a spiritual retreat. One of my best friends and I get together 2 or 3 times a year just to hang out. His name is John Rhein and he lives in Sacramento, CA. John and I go back to my Jacksonville, Florida days where we went to church together. John is a great guy and a great giver. That is one of his spiritual gifts. He also has tons of savvy in the business world and always sharpens my skills in that arena. I am extremely wealthy in the area of friendships …John is also on my “personal board of life directors”. Over the last three years we have done some cool stuff. We went on a road trip through San Francisco and then through the Napa Valley. He introduced me to NASCAR in person at Dover. We have been to Russia multiple times and earlier this year, we went to Moldova to visit a future feeding center and spent a few days in Germany on the way back.

It’s a cool thing having someone outside your everyday world that you can hang with and get honest about your hopes and dreams. We will spend some time sharing about our spiritual walks…what God is doing in our lives…what we are confused about or struggling with…where we hope God takes us…stuff like that. There is no doubt in my mind that I am a better man because of John.

We also will try to go have some serious fun around here. We hit some good seafood last night and today we want to go check out the Naval Academy. Both of us have Army backgrounds but being around any of the military academies is somewhat intoxicating for me. I love the whole military/leadership thing. Their values of honor, brotherhood, and love of country still put a lump in my throat.

Pray for John and I that God will use these next two days to challenge us and reinvigorate us to the lives he has called us to.