The Men’s Retreat, ducks, rain

We left the church at about 8 am Thursday morning to make the seven-hour drive to Rose Bud, AR in our church bus. We refer to it as a “people mover” and it had a lot of extra room for the eight of us who rode in the bus, but it was a rough ride even though there have been improvements made to the suspension. So, we bounced and shook for the entire stretch of road we covered, but we had a great time just visiting – spending a relaxing time just anticipating the retreat. The wide-ranging conversation among the riders with me on the bus was amusing as the hours were filled with general conversation, outlandish and humorous stories and any jokes that could be remembered, but current events were the primary focus of our hours of sharing concerns, plans and faith in the Lord’s providence.

There were, of the thirteen total going to the retreat, only six of us that had been the Triple S Campground for the yearly event. We knew the other seven were in for a very pleasant surprise. It is an atmosphere of relaxed competition in various challenges and no-holds-barred preaching. Skeet shooting competition, .22 caliber shooting competition, a 3-D archery competition, ax throwing, a team golf challenge, a potato gun competition, and a corn hole tournament. All of those take place on Friday, which makes it a full day when breakfast, lunch, and dinner are part of the day as well as morning, afternoon and evening preaching services added into complete the schedule. The evening service featured two preachers.

The weather was perfect other than being a little cold Thursday night and most of us were thoroughly chilled by the time we headed to our cabins. The preaching was great. Our old pastor, Mike Norris was there as well as two other preachers who split up the preaching duties. The messages were aimed at us men – without any apology as to the content of those messages. It was what we often refer to as “hard” preaching. Something we do not get of often today and it was well received by all in attendance. It was not accusatory. It was honest, brutally honest. A reminder of what we have been missing in living out the convictions of our faith as boldly as is now necessary in our present world.

In those messages, I received the answer to a prayer Mama and I have been praying for several weeks now. We have been challenging ourselves to reflect on our time raising our children to see if God would reveal to us what we did wrong in guiding the spiritual lives of our children. Over those years, we were very careful to have our family is good churches, under good preachers, surrounded by good friends and yet several of our children are no longer interested in seeking to please God with their own lives nor in the raising of their children to be lovers of the Lord. It will take me a couple days to put the information into words, but I am confident that we have an answer. Now, it is my responsibility to act upon that insight.

Yesterday, in the evening service, many of the men gave a testimony of their experience. Two of those that got up in front of the church to give that testimony was, in itself, a proof of the impact the preaching had had on those men that attended. Those normally reserved men would never have stood in the pulpit in front of the congregation to speak even a few words, but there they were, and it was wonderful to hear how the Lord had touched their hearts during the past three days. All of us who spoke met on the same theme of leading our children and grandchildren by walking in and witnessing of our faith more boldly.

When I got back to the farm, somewhere around 5 pm Saturday evening, I immediately started feeding our animals. Mama had been all day at an event about an hour away, so Grandpa had made a circuit around the coops and paddocks to ensure waterers were refreshed – per Mama’s instructions – but feeding still needed to be done and I needed the activity, having sat for the past seven hours in transit home. That took about an hour but once accomplished, I reworked an outlet/switch I added in the coop to give light to the quail we have caged in that alcove.

Since we purchased the quail, they have not been laying. I believe it is too dark where we have them. Mama was concerned that they were too crowded in the single cage. So, for my part, I got the outlet working and plugged in a night light to give a bit of light for now. I will rework the switch to power the light fixture I placed in the alcove. Additionally, yesterday, Mama and I split the quail into two groups of five and four. We will know in a few days if those new arrangements have benefited the birds. We will know it worked if they begin laying again.

Tonight, I will take three Jumbo Pekin drakes to the restaurant to process them. Mama will be happy to see them gone and I will be happy to see them prepped to eat. I do not know if Alex will take two of the ducks or only the one, but we have three that need to go, so I am looking forward to getting them ready for the table. For Alex’s part, he is very excited to get the duck meat. He has told us repeatedly that his family really likes duck and fresh is best. Maybe, I can get some recipes for cooking the fowl.

It began raining this morning and has continued to do so off and on all day. We have needed this rail desperately. So, despite the inconvenience, we are elated.