This past weekend was the Men's Retreat. There was fun, laughs, a very special sense of brotherhood, and some moments of deep sharing. We realized that some of us are facing some tough issues in our lives... financial, health, future, and more.

We found great support is sharing, playing and praying together. We all need each other, not just on retreats, but in life. Someone said, "when we share, anxiety decreases and love increases."

We need God who is experienced in the "when two or three are gathered together," or in the "be still and know," in repeating of the Lord's Prayer or the 23rd Psalm, or in gathering at the Lord's Table. We had communion on the retreat. For the wine, I used a very special silver chalice.

Judy and I were in Denmark several years ago and heard the story of how the Danish people put their lives at risk to help save the Jews, transporting them to neutral Sweden by night where they would be safe. When we came home, we told a Danish friend of ours this story. A couple weeks later she gave me a silver communion chalice. She shared that her father was a Lutheran minister in Copenhagen during the war. He participated in helping the Jews. Many nights members of his church drank from this chalice as they faced these tough moments of life.

We too drank from this chalice finding the strength and love to face these tough moments in our lives. At the Lord's Table we are not alone... "Lo I am with you always!"