Retreat or Advance?

Photo - General Custer Portrait

Heading out for a staff retreat this weekend...

Remember when everyone started calling them advances? I remember one minister saying, "we are not retreating". Hmm... I think that minister is no longer in ministry. In fact, I remember him burning out publicly.

I worry about people who don't want to retreat. What's the old saying, sometimes "discretion is the better part of valor." I think about Joshua who was losing the battle in Bible and realized that he needed to stop and seek God about the issue. God was able to reveal the problem, but it took a retreat, not an idiotic advance. "Fanatacism is redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim."

My friends and I went to a Men's retreat back in the Fall. We did some skeet shooting! Ok, they did skeet shooting. I only took two turns. But I remember watching them, especially the more experienced ones. The skeet would fly. They wouldn't just fire, hoping to hit it by multiple shots. They would aim and, if they missed, refocus and fire again. If they hit the first one, they would still need to continue focusing and aiming to hit the second one. It was not a given.

Staff retreat... we have had so many "hits" this year. But we know that there is still a need for refocusing, renewing, refreshing and reviewing. The best way to do that is to stop and take a look at where you've been, where you are and where you want to be. That's what I'm doing this weekend in many many areas.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. (Quoting the song, not the scripture). Surely if there is a time to advance, there must be a time to retreat.