Men's Newsletter - Spring 2024

Reflections on the Men’s Retreat
Bob DiGiorgio

Smoke can look solid, but if you grab at it and try to hold onto it, it will slip right through your fingers. In Ecclesiastes, we find the repeated refrain, … “vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” In Hebrew, the word “vanity” means something like vapor, or smoke. The point of the book is not that life is meaningless, but that it is like smoke -- teaching us that things in this life are fleeting.

On our third annual Men’s Retreat, our speaker, John Alexander, not only delivered excellent Biblical teaching from Ecclesiastes, Psalm 90, and John 15, but also the Spirit probed our hearts when John asked us to think about the many ways that we habitually try to “grab onto smoke” instead of building our lives on things that will last. We considered the consequences that this might have had on us, our families, and those around us.

For the older men among us, those who have more years behind them than ahead of them, the questions caused us to look back and reflect on our lives. How have we invested our time, talents, and treasure? What priorities have we built our lives upon? What will we be remembered for? Is having a successful career, a nice house, and a perfectly-kept lawn what really matters in the end?

We were all challenged to continue to look forward, not backward, and not coast to the finish line. Our expressed common desire was to “finish well,” and at the end of our days hear the Lord say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)

For the younger men who were among us, those who are in the earlier stages of raising their families and building their careers, the challenges were different, but the message was still the same. Don’t build your life on things that won’t last. Don’t chase after things that might be good, but not the best. Stop trying to “grab and hold onto smoke.”

The retreat ended with a beautiful teaching from John 15 about the vine and the branches. If we are to follow Christ, and grow in Him, we must abide in Him -- just as no branch can bear fruit apart from the vine. If we remain in Him, and are nourished by the life in the Spirit that flows from Him, then we will bear fruit, fruit that will last!