Coming Home to Oregon

Ahhhh! Real weather. It snowed on me and my little Honda going over the pass at Mt Shasta on Friday night, making me a little nervous, but adding a some excitement to a very ordinary drive. I left Santa Barbara at 10:00 am, headed for Oregon and prepared for rain throughout the day, and snow complications after dark. The sky was certainly dark and stormy, but offered no rain until I left Redding after dinner at 8:00 pm. As we gained elevation, the rain turned sleety and snowy, coating the verges of the highway with white. I had purchased chains, which resided in my trunk, and the highway conditions on the radio kept repeating all the places where chains were imperative. I even saw 18-wheelers stopped on the roadside to put on chains, but the highway was clear and I didn't hesitate to continue on to Mt Shasta City.

The roads off the highway were covered with packed snow, but driving through town to a motel with vacancy was not a problem. The only difficulty was getting up the steep drive in to the parking lot -- a bit slippery, but my Honda was up to it. Although I customarily drive straight through to friends in Roseburg, this time I decided to allow for the possibility of snow in the passes of the Siskiyou Mountains and not to drive through them in the dark. The view out my motel window was of fresh snow covering an old-fashioned neighborhood, no streets plowed or walks dug out. It looked like a Christmas card. My heart rose with delight. The morning drive through the mountains was beautiful. Snow dusted fields and farms which are otherwise grey and brown this time of year, and still the highway was clear and driving was uncomplicated. Gloomy skies and drizzly rain down into the Willamette Valley pleased me -- not in California anymore! And here I am in Salem, tucked into brother and sister-in-law's cozy home, watching the rain out the window and feeling welcomed back in their love.

Wednesday, brother John and I will attend the Bishop's Convocation at the coast and I will have a chance to meet the new Bishop and his assistant - the people who facilitate placing pastors in congregations. I have been looking forward to renewing old friendships from my internship days, to studying and relaxing together with other pastors, to networking a place to live and work in Oregon. The Bishop's Convocation is a lovely tradition, an opportunity for the Bishop to fulfill his role of being the pastor's pastor, so pastors come to be served by their pastor and renew their depletely energies.

There's still a part of me that lives in Oregon, even though I have been gone for two years. It is always so lovely to return to the weather, the friendships and the landscape that is so different from my native territory. The part of me that lives here takes a deep breath and says WELCOME HOME.