In 2003, Brianna and Chad Hosch attended their first Marriage Getaway. Chad did not want to go.

Chad had been reared in a Christian home and had always attended church. He believed... but he also liked to "hang out with the guys." A little drinking, a little partying. After all, he was a former U.S. Army soldier who now serves in the reserves as a paratrooper, with a career as a lifeguard and an emergency medical technician with the San Diego Fire Rescue. A guy's guy, right?

He dreaded being among a bunch of men who cry or raise their hands in worship, or even cry in public. Stuff like that.

"I'm one of those guys now," Chad said, chuckling.

The Hosches have attended every annual Rock Church Marriage Getaway since that first one. In fact, Chad and Brianna made a pact to attend the getaway every year "as long as we live here" in San Diego, he said. Some years it has been hard to do financially, but worth it, he said.

"If we had continued down the path we were on, we would likely have had to split up by now. The retreat gave us the tools we needed to deal with things." -- Brianna Hosch

Brianna is blunt about why.

"The marriage retreat saved our marriage," she said. "If we had continued down the path we were on, we would likely have had to split up by now. The retreat gave us the tools we needed to deal with things."

A Marriage Worth Saving

Chad and Brianna met when he was a 20-year-old army vet home from the service, and she was a "boy crazy" 14-year-old.

"I knew the first day that I was going to marry her," Chad said. But he had to deal with the age difference. He moved to Hawaii to get away, and waited until she was 17 to start corresponding.

They were married as soon as Brianna turned 18. Son Kaipo, now 12, was born that year, followed by his brother Brody, nine, and sister Kalia, 6.

When the Hosches moved from the rainy Seattle area to San Diego in 2002, their neighbors were three college co-eds who invited them to an unique church called the Rock which met at San Diego State University. They've attended ever since, and have served in ministry too -- Chad with Rock Security for five years and Brianna in a prayer ministry called Proverbs 31.

"Helps Us Reconnect"

While Brianna calls Chad her "knight in shining armor," things were a little tarnished for a while.

"I wasn't being the leader in the home I should have been," said Chad.

But being surrounded by men who were actively seeking God and working on their marriage was a powerful thing, he said. He learned to put God first, even ahead of his wife.

Brianna said attending the annual Marriage Getaway gives them an opportunity "to put everything on the table. We can naturally bring God into it. It creates some space for us, and helps us reconnect."

The Marriage Getaway is their chance to relax and "get back on the same page," said Brianna. "We fall in love again."

The Marriage Getaway is the Hosches' only weekend during the entire year in which they are alone without their children. It's their chance to relax and "get back on the same page," said Brianna.

"We fall in love again."

Pretty good reason for attending.

Postscript: The Hosches are especially looking forward to this year's getaway June 25-27, 2010. Chad is scheduled to deploy for a year to Afghanistan in January 2011.

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For more info on the 9th Annual Rock Church Marriage Getaway, visit www.sdrock.com/eventcalendar/6743/.