wow. what a week.

i was wrong – the cabin wasn’t at 2000 feet; it was at 4000 feet. the view was breathtaking. from the porch, we had a view of the pacific. a short walk up a private road, and across waimea canyon drive, and we could peer down into waimea canyon (“the grand canyon of hawaii”). it was such a cool place for a silent retreat — so quiet and still. so absent of distractions. jeannie and i did pretty good at keeping our silence through ’til dinner each day. then we enjoyed cooking together and having great conversations about our day, about our marriage, about our spiritual journeys, over dinner. then, after we’d cleaned up, we went back into silence.

it helped that jeannie really wanted to get out and hike and snorkle as part of her retreat. so she was gone for a good part of the day each day, which gave me a better swipe at really slowing down. with no cell phone signal up there, i wasn’t even tempted to turn on my phone and check email.

i finished two books i was already into, and read 5 more (7 books in all), and started an 8th today. i’ll post about all of these in the next week or so.

i flew to oahu last night and had dinner with a good youth ministry friend, sean palmer. today i present the CORE to a nice intimate group (about 50) at a church on the north shore. i wish i could get out and watch the surfers, since i’m right at the surfing capital of the world. jeannie flies in from kauai today (she drove me to the airport, but stayed at the cabin an additional night), and i have us booked into the spa at the hilton hawaiian village for a “couples massage”. should be fun! we’ll hang there for the afternoon, then catch a red-eye back to san diego, so we can be with our kids tomorrow for mothers day.

i’ll post a few pics in the next few days, when i get them from the camera in jeannie’s backpack.