My little CA adventure is coming to a close. I sit here in Em and Jake’s apartment near San Diego, fighting a blog post that is swirling around in my head–one that just might have to wait til I muster up the emotional energy.

Until then, know that I did come out of our excursion mostly unscathed. God is always in the business of messing things up in my life, though, to get me a few inches closer of somewhat resembling His Son. This trip was no exception. My thoughts and feelings on that ran the gamut of love and thankfulness and hate and frustration and back again. But maybe I will talk about that later.

A few brief thoughts on things that stood out to me most over the past week:

I have a renewed appreciation and awareness of God’s majesty in the things He has made . Imposing mountains, the cold, roaring Pacific, lovely vineyards, fun sunsets. Creation was crying out everywhere, and I felt privileged to join them in their song.

In Redding, the prayer room at Bethel is this circular structure with large windows covering the walls. You can’t help but praise God for His creation with a view like this:

The hospitality and graciousness of the body of Christ was a beautiful thing to witness and be blessed by. I have never slept on so many random people’s couches and floors in a such a short time frame. Each city we came into, we were welcomed into a new home with open arms. When we arrived in the Hollywood area Thurs. night, we did not even know where we would be sleeping. The four of us split off in pairs to do different things. At 9:30 that night we got a text from HC saying we had housing-a girl named Karen she met at the prayer service she and Shawna were attending offered her living room floor to us. We spent the night at her place, she cooked us a fabulous breakfast the next morning, and we ended up having a powerful time of prayer with her and her friend. It was an important lesson to me. Because of her hospitality and generous heart, time and space was created for an encounter with the Spirit. God loves that. Hospitality is a gift I want to be able to walk in more.

I also want to thank my traveling partners for the laughs, support, patience and grace. Since being back in GA, I have kinda been hanging out on this island by myself.  True community sharpens each member and it took me a bit to adjust back to the poking and annoyance that ensues as we rub up against one another. But, it also made me realize that I don’t want to live without that challenge and accountability. Thanks, guys,  for the reminder.

I jet off for the Twin Cities this Friday. We shall see what the next leg of my little “sabbatical” holds.