Friends,

We hope that all of you are enjoying the last weeks of summer as much as we are here on the Central Coast.  It has been a beautiful summer.  A few weeks ago, we had an unusual experience for us.  We attended 2 memorial services on the same day, both for people who were younger than we are.  I guess you could say that it was a sobering experience.  A poignant reminder that life is short, and we have far more ‘sand’ at the bottom of our hourglass than at the top.  It felt like an invitation to sit with that reality and examen how we are spending these few precious years that we have left.

In Exodus 3, when Moses encountered the burning bush “he turned aside to look . . .”  and when the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him and invited him to remove his sandals and hear what God had for him.  Our day of memorials felt like a burning bush, something worth stopping for; an invitation to notice, to turn aside and pay attention to the Holy Ground of our remaining days.

Our immediate response was one of gratitude.  Gratitude for the amazing life that God has blessed us with, where we live, the work He has called us to and the generous community that have been with us for the 32 years of the Santa Cruz Fellowship.  There is nothing we would rather be doing.

After the gratitude, came the questions:

• Lord, what would you like to draw our attention towards, in our community, family and work?
• Are there ways we are spending our time and resources which we need to ‘turn aside’ from to more fully embrace this season of our lives?
• Is there a calling that feels too big, too risky, where we feel unequipped, ungifted?

We are committed to taking time, in these last days of summer, to bask in the gratitude and be challenged by the questions.  Join us?

Rich and Jayne