Summer is almost over

I love living in the Southwest. Having grown up in California and now living in Arizona, I have never had to deal with humidity or shoveling snow. (I enjoy the snow, but only as a visitor. I never enjoy humidity, however.) However, I have discovered that by the time Halloween gets here, the temperatures should be dropping. Well, they are not. Driving around town this weekend required using my A/C. It's October 29! Enough already! I'm ready for a high temperature of 80 (or less), not 90!

But...on one of my walks around the neighborhood this weekend, I saw a sign of hope. Early one morning, as the moon was setting in the west, I noticed this:

This is an ocotillo plant, and like most desert plants, ocotillos bloom in the spring and summer. Bright red clusters appear at the end of each prickly stalk. If you look very closely at the top of the plant, just to the right of the moon, you will see one of these clusters. The key word here is "one." In other words, all of the other blooms are gone. Only one is left. What does this mean? Summer is almost over... (yay!)

Hugs Make a Difference

I came across this story from San Diego on cnn.com this morning:

From Mike M. Ahlers, CNN

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- Dust off every disaster plan from Washington to San Diego, scrutinize them to your heart's content, and it's still unlikely you'll find mention of the emergency services provided by Shary Shores.

Shores, a volunteer registrar at San Diego's evacuee shelter, has appointed herself the shelter's "hugger." Every person she signs in gets a warm, heartfelt hug.

Having lost her own home to foreclosure in March, Shores says she has empathy for the suddenly homeless. Her embraces may not be government-sanctioned, but they are appreciated. more...

Watching in disbelief

Like so many people across the nation today, I continue to watch the unbelievable devastation caused by the fires in Southern California. My wife and I both grew up in central California and have lived in Los Angeles and San Jose, and we are familiar with a lot of these areas. It's hard to imagine almost a million people evacuated and Interstate 5 being closed near Camp Pendleton. That just doesn't happen. And, as quickly as the fires are moving, I fear that we will not know the full impact for several more days.

Please take a few moments during the coming days to pray for those in the middle of this nightmare: firefighters, police officers, doctors, nurses, paramedics, EMTs, displaced families, families who have lost their homes, families whose homes were saved, Red Cross workers, Salvation Army workers, service volunteers, national guard troops, utility workers, tanker pilots, those providing shelter at Qualcomm Stadium, universities, schools, and churches, and everyone else helping or hurting through this disaster. May they find peace and hope in the midst of their pain, because God is in the midst of their pain.

A Day on Mt. Lemmon

Since the kids were out of school this week for fall break, we made the short trek up to Mt. Lemmon for a picnic and hike on Tuesday. We had not been up there since the Aspen fire of 2003. The town of Summerhaven continues to rebuild and looks completely different - everything is brand new! We hiked up Marshall Gulch and back down on the Aspen trail which took us directly through some of the burned out areas. It's still pretty desolate, but we had a nice day just the same. I forget how close this is to home...I need to get up there more frequently.

Our picnic table at Inspiration Rock

Just up from the Marshall Gulch trailhead we saw some fall colors

My current life prayer (from Merton, of course)

As I read this prayer from Thomas Merton, it's as though he wrote it just for me during this season of my life:

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore, I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

A Beautiful Rest

Ahhh...we had a very restful and relaxing time in the mountains this past weekend. We slept in, had breakfast together on the deck watching the pines sway in the breeze, we walked, we each got some homework finished, watched a couple of movies, slept some more, and ate a little more. I even got my Sunday morning Chai from Starbucks. Not much fall color (yet), but we did snap a few pictures:

On the trail...

A little color right outside our unit...