Friends,

I'm home safely, and many, many thanks for the prayers for safety and effective professional work and ministry on my California trip.

I've decided there are three things I especially like about southern California, and three things I really don't like. Of the latter, one is not their fault, and another one doesn't affect me so long as I am a visitor or business traveler -- but would be a deal-breaker if our family sought to move there. That last item, of course, is the cost of living. My friend Jerad walked me through an attractive upper-middle class neighborhood near UCLA (homes about like some of the more modest ones in the Broadmoor neighborhood here in Colo Spgs, not the richest ones) ... and told me they started at one million dollars per house.

It's not their fault that I'm not multilingual. You just can't get along efficiently in southern California without being fluent in both English and Spanish, and it wouldn't hurt to know Mandarin Chinese as well. What they could do something about is the aggressive driving, especially on the freeways. I don't think they mean to be hostile, they just seem to have forgotten that some people are visitors and might not have every lane change memorized ahead of time. Somehow, folks in southern and central Florida, where I went last month, seem a lot more attuned to welcoming visitors. Maybe it's that the FL economy is more dependent on tourism (and snowbird-ism, which is actually a form of tourism ... that's not to be confused with snowboard-ism, which is prevalent in the Colorado mountains from what I hear).

I really like the sunshine, the palm trees, and the ocean. Those, of course, are things that southern California has in common with our 50th state, but soCal is not quite so expensive to reach as HI. The business engagements were in or near Los Angeles.

All four lectures (two by myself and two jointly with Megan Fabian) went very well, as judged by the responses we got and my sense of command of the material. Megan did a terrific job, and we enjoyed visiting on the way to and from the IVF clinic on Wednesday. For my part, I think I've found the balance in presenting essentially the same basic material each time, but putting a little something new in each talk. I've learned to "read" audiences a little better, and also not to panic internally (as happened in Johnson City, TN last fall) but just gently steer through the basics and keep on track when I get cues that audiences have turned me off.

I was reminded for the Nth time that Christian colleges and universities are my favorite places to be. The folks at Vanguard were wonderfully hospitable to me and to Megan. Some students gave me a tour after the talk and hosted me at lunch. I saw a few friends at Point Loma, had lunch there, and got some needed work done in their library, but they were on spring break so it wasn't a "real" campus visit.

Unfortunately, the Point Loma women's basketball team lost in the first round of their conference tournament, the night before I left home. Thus, for the two games in which I had hoped to see them, I wound up watching the Vanguard (x2), Westmont, and Biola ladies instead. I did get to see the Point Loma men's team play at Concordia-Irvine. They gave CUI a tougher challenge than most people expected, with the help of four of us loud fans. I think I followed the instructions of my daughter's athletic director and "cheered my heart out positively for my team", but the other three found fault with the refs.

Both worship services were enjoyable and inspirational.

A special surprise awaited me at Oxnard -- Debbie, a friend whom I had not seen for over 30 years, met me at Starbucks with her parents, Dave and Naomi from WA state. I had visited in their home during my college years. With today's electronics and Starbucks' free wi-fi, we shared a whole bunch of pictures of family and friends during the visit. At Escondido, Al and Kitty hosted me at supper and we found our mutual connections to be much more extensive than I supposed, even accounting for the way "our Nazarene family" works. Annette, Dawson, and I will see Al and Kitty again at NNU in May, when Dawson graduates and Al celebrates his year as a "Golden Grad". In keeping with tradition, the members of the class of 1960 will be robed up and precede this year's graduates down the aisle.

I finished the trip under budget, even accounting for the money Annette had to spend in overnighting my laptop charger to me. Arriving home, I thought I had left my phone charger (fortunately a much less expensive item than the laptop charger) in the motel, until I put my foot into my right dress shoe on Sunday morning and realized where I had put the phone charger so as not to lose it nor leave it behind. Oh well -- Reg vs. Dementia -- who will win??

It was easier this time to have conversations on the planes, and to bring up spiritual issues (success on three of four flights on the latter). Mostly these serve just to add some salt and light for Christ to the broader society for Christ. Occasionally I get a professional or personal connection that lasts. One of these days I might run into somebody who is actively seeking the Lord.

It wasn't a very easy time for Annette at home this time, nor for me in the sense of the "stuff" that kept happening over the emails and cell phone. There are two very serious items of health news in Annette's extended family that we will probably be at liberty to share within the week. A dear lady, recent widow, in our church in Colo Spgs was murdered last Monday in a car theft incident at her tailor-shop. Another dear friend had a brother murdered in Grand Junction because he tried to intervene in a domestic violence dispute. I got bad news on one of my research papers -- pages of revisions that are not feasible to make, I wish they had just sent me a two sentence rejection. My pastor-cousin Dan in San Diego was with me when the last one happened, and graciously prayed with me, giving needed personal and spiritual support.

As planned, our son Dawson is home for 4 days of his spring break. We're headed out to dinner to celebrate his birthday shortly. Next Thursday will find Dawson back at NNU, Monica on her way to New York for spring break with her boyfriend Jonathan, and Annette and me up the mountain for a night at a Bed and Breakfast.

Thanks again, and blessings in the name of the Lord to you all!

Reg