Some places and experiences call to us, and we look for ways to follow those deep urgings and walk into a richer life. For more than eighteen years I worked in the Frio River Canyon at a place where God beckoned people to transform their lives. That place is Laity Lodge. Like the Frio River, a strong current of speakers, musicians, and artists flowed through this canyon in the Texas Hill Country. These men and women shared both the gentle light and poignant darkness of their lives. They provided spiritual rejuvenation to other guests who sought a closer relationship to God.

The Spirit draws pilgrims there. Holy unrest prompts many to go on a retreat. Laity Lodge, then, provides space and time to be open to God. It helps people rediscover a passion for our loving, present Savior. James Stewart, a Scottish cleric, described life with Christ as the happiest, hardest, holiest, and most hopeful life of all. At Laity Lodge, many people make decisions to begin the journey toward this kind of life. Many choose to deepen their lives through study of the Bible, through a more focused life of prayer, through more intentional work, or through intensified family and community life. Many people learn about Christ’s transforming power and servant leadership. Nearly all who come to Laity Lodge discover a safe place to seek deeper relationships with God, their families, and their work.

What makes Laity Lodge such a safe yet challenging place? In the pages that follow, we will go on a grand adventure to answer that question. We will hear the stories of the H. E. Butt family and many others, through whom God provided the vision, passion, and faith that brought Laity Lodge into being.

Wilford Peterson writes, “A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints.” As we read about the hosts of Laity Lodge and the guests who met with God there, we will practice the art of adventure. May we, too, “hear deep calling unto deep” (Ps 42:7). May all his waves and breakers sweep over us.