Post Retreat Home Stretch

Okay, starting off... one night at the beach is not enough. I could use some more chillax time.

Our team retreat at the "Redneck Rivera" was good. Five of us (Clete, Melissa, Jennifer, Terry, and myself) road tripped down to Panama City for Saturday night of the July 4th weekend to retreat, bond, dream about the opportunities that God is going to give us when we are on the ground, and tour multiple restaurants in the greater Panama City Beach, Seaside, Grayton Beach area. More on that soon... As far as the road trip was concerned, we relied on our rented (on points, thanks Terry!) seven-seat Ford Explorer cleverly disguised as a five seat Chevy Trailblazer and the navigation of an Australian voiced "Ken" (Melissa's Tomtom GPS system), who was quite the demanding type (especially on the trip back as we decided to detour to avoid the LONG line in Euphala, AL with Ken screaming at us every 500 yards to turn around and get back into line in Euphala ;).

What was especially interesting as we worked through our trip preparation and bonded as a team was the theme of our prayer requests... a lot of busyness and a lot of job stresses and prayers for direction. That included not only the team at Panama City but also those that were unable to make it to the beach. So if you could pray for anything, it is that confidence that God is in control and is taking care of those situations as we are on the ground. As a note, I AM going on the trip and am trusting God for his provision as I set out to serve. This is something that He has been gently nudging me toward this weekend.

Speaking of nudging... I needed to mention the "PCB Restaurant Tour" - which started with our road trip to Grayton Beach on Saturday to go to The Red Bar (which I have heard SO much about but haven't been), which had no parking and an hour and a half wait... so the tour began with us landing at another place in Grayton after Clete checked out an Italian spot which only would allow seating for two. The tour continued for breakfast in the "Redneck Riviera" as we explored our breakfast options. First was a place that Clete recommended but unfortunately it was closed on Sunday... followed by our two options: 1.) The Waffle House, which had too long of a wait time, and 2.) the breakfast buffet that we eventually landed at. Good times to be had by all.

Well, one more team meeting to go... and we leave a week from Friday. Crazy!

chris <><