Watching and waiting....praying

Sweet friends in California. My prayers and thoughts are with you.

And I will continue to maintain that nothing can destroy what is good and true. It will re-emerge in a brighter, fresher form. The all-encompassing, ever-present Life force that is the essence of creation may change the way it appears, but it never diminishes or disappears.

It was October 2003, that Larry and I were in the south of Portugal -- a countryside that had been devastated by rampant fires all through the previous summer. Every night on CNN, we watched similar fires raging through San Diego County. But all around us there in Portugal, the evidence of life asserting itself, people rebuilding, repainting, renewing and reconnecting in the middle of blackened landscape was like a preview of the benediction that waited to bless our friends back home.

That benediction is present NOW, right in the middle of this firestorm. I will claim it every moment for you and yours -- for OURS -- with a fierce and fervent affection. We are lighting "backfires of Love" down here.