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Saturday night, at the Cru Fall Getaway, I went with a group of several gentlemen (after all the cleaning up was done) down to the dock at Lake Lure.* Along the way, we were verbally assaulted from the pitch-black darkness no less than twice by groups of guys and girls trying to scare us, and when we finally got down there to the dock we sat with a group of said assailants and talked. I wish I’d had my camera, but somehow the fellowship was better without it.

We sat there smoking cheap cigars (no, really, not cheap like some A. Fuente 2-for-1 specials, I mean cheap like LOL cheap) and enjoying each others’ company for a long time. Eventually a few people went back up to the camp, leaving the core of six guys to talk about what guys talk about. You know, girls, girl problems, horror stories (involving girls and emotions), success stories (involving problems resolved) and our spiritual struggles each. It was a wonderful exchange, and most enjoyable. When everyone was done talking, we prayed and went back up to the camp proper.

Except for a couple of the guys, we all were bunking in the same place, so as they bedded down for the night (it was now 02:00 or so), they asked me to read something to them. I grabbed my Bible and began, in my best James-Earl-Jones-reads-the-Bible narrator’s voice, reading Psalms 23 and 19, Isaiah 40, and Genesis 1. It was a riot, and it gave me joy to know that I would some day do this—every night—as my children fell to sleep.

It was a wonderful weekend of bonding and connection, of laughter and sharing. I’m looking forward to the Christmas retreat!

* Lake Lure, NC, and specifically Camp Lurecrest, is where the Fall Getaway was and has been held.

Saturday night, at the Cru Fall Getaway, I went with a group of several gentlemen (after all the cleaning up was done) down to the dock at Lake Lure.* Along the way, we were verbally assaulted from the pitch-black darkness no less than twice by groups of guys and girls trying to scare us, and when we finally got down there to the dock we sat with a group of said assailants and talked. I wish I’d had my camera, but somehow the fellowship was better without it.

We sat there smoking cheap cigars (no, really, not cheap like some A. Fuente 2-for-1 specials, I mean cheap like LOL cheap) and enjoying each others’ company for a long time. Eventually a few people went back up to the camp, leaving the core of six guys to talk about what guys talk about. You know, girls, girl problems, horror stories (involving girls and emotions), success stories (involving problems resolved) and our spiritual struggles each. It was a wonderful exchange, and most enjoyable. When everyone was done talking, we prayed and went back up to the camp proper.

Except for a couple of the guys, we all were bunking in the same place, so as they bedded down for the night (it was now 02:00 or so), they asked me to read something to them. I grabbed my Bible and began, in my best James-Earl-Jones-reads-the-Bible narrator’s voice, reading Psalms 23 and 19, Isaiah 40, and Genesis 1. It was a riot, and it gave me joy to know that I would some day do this—every night—as my children fell to sleep.

It was a wonderful weekend of bonding and connection, of laughter and sharing. I’m looking forward to the Christmas retreat!

* Lake Lure, NC, and specifically Camp Lurecrest, is where the Fall Getaway was and has been held.