Recently we were on our way to Mendocino, along the northern California coast, to a vacation rental that we share with friends about twice a year. The house is large, with five bedrooms, large enough that we and our friends (who many of you know as Decibells) have enough room for privacy and enough room to share meals at one table. Most our time is spent in the common room where we share meals, look out at deer feeding on the ice plant, watch for whales going by, and just generally watch the waves crashing on the shore.

Our weekends can be a time of quiet reflection, reading favorite books, doing jigsaw puzzles, listening and playing music of differing styles, and sharing all those things about life that true friends share. At one point we may hear David practicing his classical guitar; and at another time here Jay practicing his bodhran (a Scottish drum pronounced bOran) while Celtic music plays in the background.

In sharing life?s joys and struggles, we have covered everything from our joys of retirement plans to the anguish of severe problems with grown children.

We are of different faith experiences and expressions, yet all of us will agree that God comes to us often in these times of sharing through our deep love of friends and through the gifts of one another and nature.

Even on our way to Mendocino, as we drove through the coastal redwoods, we felt God moments as the sunshine slashed through the tall trees.

We are thankful for friends, inside and outside of CVPC, who help us experience God moments in so many ways and places.