Hello and Good-bye

I’m home from my bittersweet visit to southern California. The bitterness came in saying good-bye to Pastor Chuck, because selfishly, I don’t want him to be gone. I want him to be up on the wall again, being a watchman for the rest of us. But I can’t deny the sweet part, which is knowing that right this minute, Pastor Chuck is with Jesus. I long to be there myself, so I can’t deny him that.

There’s a bittersweet-ness to the rest of the trip, too, because it meant big, huggy hellos to friends I don’t see often enough, and then, too soon, the good-byes I dread. Today, I’m missing my friends.

I thought I’d share a few of the photos I brought back.

My lovely friend, Pat Apple. She and her husband, Stephen, minister to the poor in Tel Aviv, where Stephen is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Tel Aviv. I would like Pat just based on those things alone, but she is also the mother of another of my favorite people, Christy Duff. 🙂 We met Pat and Stephen in Oceanside for breakfast. Since I know you want to know, I ordered the Killer Burrito. Ate about 1/5 of it because it was ENORMOUS.

Love her 🙂

After breakfast, Stephen had to leave, but Pat took us down the pier and made us drink hot chocolate. That Pat.

Stephen made these very tiny DVDs. 🙂

Isn’t Oceanside beautiful?

After a rainstorm in Santa Ana:

We spent a day walking around Huntington Beach, another favorite spot. The day started out cloudy, but any day at the beach is a good day.

I was so sad I couldn’t be right there with everyone else on the previous Saturday when they had the Paddle Out for Pastor Chuck, but while we were walking around the beach, we saw another one in progress.

And here are a few scenes from Pastor Chuck’s Paddle Out on the 19th. The following three pictures are from this blog:

And this photo made the rounds of Facebook all last week. Isn’t it gorgeous? That’s the shadow of the helicopter on the water.

We went to church Sunday at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Evan and Sandy Wickham were there …

Scenes from the memorial, held in the Honda Center. Except for the seats behind the stage, the place was packed. I hear it holds 18,000. I believe it.

This line wound all the way around the arena.

Such a beautiful tribute! We heard from Brian and Cheryl, Consulate General of Israel, David Siegel (who thanked Pastor Chuck for his love of Israel), Navy Chaplain Dennis Weaver, all the first generation pastors, Love Song, Parable, Malcom and Allwyn, Dennis Agajanian, Evan Wickham, Phil Wickham, and others that I know I’m forgetting. Here’s Jeremy Camp:

One of my treasures. Pastor Chuck did not like to give autographs, but after I finished the edit on his “Wisdom For Today” devotional, my dear friend, Cathy Rich, pulled one out of the first shipment and asked him to autograph it for me. I’m so glad she did, and I am grateful for the privilege of writing and editing for him these past seven years.