Your Ideal Spiritual Retreat...

Looking at the picture of the tow path and Great Falls I remember walking the tow path after a flood and seeing how high stuff was in the trees....and remember Great Falls when you couldn't see the rocks shown in the distance in your picture, the water was rolling over the top and the river was wider than your frame...then I thought...has it been over your drive Q?

But also the memories down your way Dondi, Friday night concerts in the quad at St. Mary's or walking Calvert Cliffs. While I do prefer hiking in the Cascades or watching t-storms in the desert...MD does have its places....

And all of it makes me look forward to the next Capon Springs retreat!
 
wil said:
Looking at the picture of the tow path and Great Falls I remember walking the tow path after a flood and seeing how high stuff was in the trees....and remember Great Falls when you couldn't see the rocks shown in the distance in your picture, the water was rolling over the top and the river was wider than your frame...then I thought...has it been over your drive Q?

But also the memories down your way Dondi, Friday night concerts in the quad at St. Mary's or walking Calvert Cliffs. While I do prefer hiking in the Cascades or watching t-storms in the desert...MD does have its places....

And all of it makes me look forward to the next Capon Springs retreat!
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Five times in the past six years...but that is where my other vehicle comes into play (a John boat with an electric motor).

As far as I'm concerned it is all good.

v/r

Joshua

Oh, and come visit anytime you wish.
 
I like the oceanside. And the mountains--the green and mysterious Ozarks and the majestic Rockies-and there is a mountain-valley-almost-desert (really) along the border of New Mexico and Colorado that calls to and touches something deep and primitive inside me. I like my backyard where I can observe God's creation through the changing of the seasons and the interaction with visitors like the hummingbirds and the "babbits", all right there in the middle of the city! It amazes me.

And I know exactly what Faithfulservant is talking about. I love the thunderstorms in Texas. I always think of the hymn, "How Great Thou Art".

InPeace,
InLove
 
wil said:
Looking at the picture of the tow path and Great Falls I remember walking the tow path after a flood and seeing how high stuff was in the trees....and remember Great Falls when you couldn't see the rocks shown in the distance in your picture, the water was rolling over the top and the river was wider than your frame...then I thought...has it been over your drive Q?

But also the memories down your way Dondi, Friday night concerts in the quad at St. Mary's or walking Calvert Cliffs. While I do prefer hiking in the Cascades or watching t-storms in the desert...MD does have its places....

And all of it makes me look forward to the next Capon Springs retreat!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call this a spiritual retreat, but something happened that changed my perspective in regard to prayer.

I was about 16 and my friend and I went to Great Falls with my family just to spend the day there.

Now at that period of time, I wasn't particularly spiritual. In fact I rarely ever prayed. But for some reason, as we got out of the car and headed for the falls, I prayed for safety for all the family. I dunno why, maybe because at that time they were experiencing an average of 7 deaths a year by drowning there at Great Falls.

So anyway we were climbing on the rock face and started hiking on top and I had this walking stick in my hand. We approached an area where these two slabs of smooth rock converged in a sorta "V" slooping over a cliff and down about 15-20 ft to jagged rocks below. Well, I got too close and slipped and found myself sliding down between the two rocks. But just before I slid off, my free hand (the other hand still had the walking stick) caught a ridge in the rock and stopped me short of the edge. With the help of my friend and my brother, I managed to climb back up to safety. Had I had gone over, I would have been seriously injured or dead.

The kicker is looking back at the two rock slabs, there was only one place in the rocks where I could have grabbed hold of, and that was that single ridge in one of the slabs. Everything else was smooth. Had I not grabbed that ridge, I would have gone over for sure.

This has convinced me that prayer works, despite my wayward ways at the time. Thank God for His mercy!
 
wish I had pictures but the most beautiful place that comes to my mind is Lake Cushman in WA state up in the olympics.. theres a trail that they call Staircase...you are basically walking up the mountain following a river with staircase waterfalls.. its a rainforest so its really green.. Lake Cushman itself is so cold and its a vivid green color you can almost see clear to the bottom.
 
Dondi said:
I wouldn't call this a spiritual retreat....Now at that period of time, I wasn't particularly spiritual..... But for some reason...I prayed.... Had I not grabbed that ridge, I would have gone over for sure.....This has convinced me that prayer works, despite my wayward ways at the time. Thank God for His mercy!
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Love those moments...interesting our need to find the 'edge' or find the 'bottom' before we find we have something else to 'hold on to'.

You may not call it a spiritual retreat, but if half the people that went on retreats got the benefit that you did....
 
wil said:
Love those moments...interesting our need to find the 'edge' or find the 'bottom' before we find we have something else to 'hold on to'.

You may not call it a spiritual retreat, but if half the people that went on retreats got the benefit that you did....
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Well, thank you for those sentiments, will. Each time we encounter the sublime, it becomes another anchor to our soul.
 
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