trees and water . . . . what more could you ask for?!

 if i can say this and not be bragging, i will!  i have been appointed to a community that literally is the 'best of both worlds' for me; trees and water . . . . what more could you ask for?!

the picture to your right comes a week after the picture of the church from last week's blog . . . the parking lot has been completed and the outside of the church building is basically completed, save for signage and a gate being placed in the backside for reasons you can only imagine!

and to go along with our emerging re-incarnated building, i've chosen to preach on the 'church focus' this month: offering community, deepening spiritually, and (helping to create) a more compassionate and just world; we do indeed have open hearts, open minds, and open doors!

ironically, i was in my office one afternoon, when i accidentally picked up the phone (i'm still getting use to just letting the phone ring rather than picking it up immediately, allowing the caller to make a choice with whom to speak).

on the other end of the phone was a couple from out-of-state seeking to get married in the big basin redwoods state park.  round trip, is was only 55 miles, but with curving mountain roads, it takes about an hour to drive each way; but you don't have to drive nearly that far to feel as if you are in the redwoods!  within my neighborhood, i can walk through redwoods to the harbor and have to pinch myself to realize i haven't traveled very far!

the wedding was romantically wonderful; we even had a catered white linen reception sitting among the redwoods; i didn't know a soul, and only met the wedding couple that day, but, it was one of the nicest weddings; hardly any stress!

 from the redwoods of big basin, to the sea-shore (no doubt where sally selects sea-shells!) to the neary lagoon.

literally, in the backyard of the church, down a wooded slope, is this 44 acre park/wildlife refuge, which functions as a wetland ecosystem.  and now i know how jesus walked on water ... someone built a floating dock system (ok, ok, that really does take the mystery out of jesus' miracles!)

but from those floating docks, you can see the cross of the church; pretty neat, hu?!  this lagoon was thought to have been an oxbow bend of the san lorenzo river that became disassociated from the main stream.  once 75 acres, it now is a 14 acre freshwater marsh enclosed within a 44 acre park/wildlife refuge.  i've taken my lunch and a book and enjoyed an hour away from the office ... and never did open my book!  but please, do not feed the ducks.

and at the end of an exhilarating music rehearsal, all i have to do is go out into a very crowded parking lot filled with cars attending a school board meeting and an aa support group and realize what a gift i have been given; an opportunity to be among the beauty of god; people in the struggle of life, the birds of the air, the trees with a longer history than any human creature, and a water system that reminds me that i, too, am water washed and spirit born.  what more could anyone ask for?!