This weekend I was planning on going to a monastery in Santa Barbara for a retreat with several people from our church. The retreat is focused on getting away from the noise of life to listen to God and reflect His work in our life. I attended the retreat last year as a participant and this year would have been one of the leaders. The beauty and peace of God rests in that place. It was also there that God began to heal some deep wounds in my life. Needless to say, the monastery is special to me and many others. Well, we did not go because there were some serious fires close to the area and the roads were closed. Soon after we realized that the monastery had burned down along with hundreds of homes and a portion of Westmont College, a nearby Christian University. Not only has Santa Barbara had severe fires but also many places in Orange County, about 15 miles East of where my brother Tyson lives, and Sylmar which is north of us by about 25 miles. Many of us are mourning the loss of homes, keepsakes, and even lives. Please pray for those who have lost so much. Please pray for a friend of ours who is a pastor with a young family in Sylmar who lost their home and everything in it while they were helping others.
I have attached some pictures of the Monastery including the courtyard, a reading room and a place where I sat and took pictures of the sunset until it finally was dark one evening.
2 comments:
That looks beautiful there! Wow! AWesome pictures!
and how awful about the fires...God is in control...we will continue to pray for restoration and for the people to be comforted who lost so much!
Hope you guys are doing well!
Wow Trish. I had no idea. That is so sad!
Post a Comment