Well, my little retreat at the end of last week turned out pretty well. This is the first time I've done one, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect or how to go about it. Maybe next time I should go to an abbey and get some help from a spiritual director or something, but I was pretty pleased with how my time went. My main plan was to give myself to God and do a lot of listening. I did that and wrote some notes on what I sensed God saying to me. Some of it was pretty standard, but some of it was unexpected in a refreshing sort of way. One of the things I got some clarity on was the ongoing question of where we're supposed to focus the church planting efforts. This has been an area of stress, and it's good to be seeing things a bit better.

One thing that sort of surprised me about the retreat was the amount of reading I was led to do. I took about ten books with me - I thought I was doing this in order to have some reference material within reach as I was processing certain issues. As it turned out, I would be praying and asking God for guidance, and I'd get a sense that I should go read chapter such-and-such from one of the books I brought. Each time it was helpful and set my heart in a good direction. So, while I may have been alone, I had the company of NT Wright, Dallas Willard, Darrell Guder, Eugene Peterson, and a couple of other folks you may be familiar with - St. John, the apostle and King David.

Michelle and I talked quite a bit this weekend, and made some of the very first baby steps toward something that has seemed inevitable over the past few months - relocating. It's been a tough topic for us to come to grips with, because we really love our house - it's new, well-designed and built, has amazing views (snow on the mountains in winter - which, granted, only lasts about three weeks around here, but still!), and we have one and a half acres. But we know we're not supposed to plant a church here, and we need to be closer to the action. Plus, the hour long commute (each way) for Michelle to get to work is getting old. So we drove around some neighborhoods to look at what it'll cost us to get into a house.

This week I'll begin looking for work to supplement the household income. We're trying to balance the thoughts of working efficiently (getting maximum pay for minimum work) with having a job that puts me into the community where I can meet people and develop relationships (but where the tip jar and free pound of coffee per week are the primary perks of employment).