The Adventures of Fric and Frac: Adventure 183: Morro Bay State Park/Post G

Sunset selfie on our last day in Morro Bay.

We attended mass this morning at St. Timothy's with the Rev. Edward J. Holterhoff presiding. It was the best church service we've been to in recent memory. I attribute it to the man. Father Holterhoff, a man in his late sixties, is clearly a man of God, a man of service, a man of compassion, and a man of reason. As he said when explaining how to behave after receiving communion, "I like reasons." During the service, he took time to say an uplifting word to the man who brought the offering basket to the altar. The man, who limped slightly toward the altar, returned with a smile and a bounce in his step after Father lay a hand on his shoulder and whispered a private word. He took pains to recognize the altar boys and girls, even going so far as to tease them with a quick game of keep away as they handed him the sacraments during the consecration. He also took time at the end of Mass to ask the very proud older brother (Who was about six) to show the congregation a picture of his newborn brother. But it was the homily that inspired me. He came down from the altar, placed his bible on the ledge of the first pew and interacted with the congregation as he preached on the word repent, which in this case wasn't a warning to improve, but instead an admonition to create in ourselves a change of heart. It was based on the passage of "fishers of men." He pointed out that the Apostles immediately made a life change. they dropped everything they knew and were comfortable with to follow Jesus. At one point, he said he couldn't understand why (Given our social problems) people wanted to stay in the status quo. He said, "Life requires constant effort." And among others, he used the example of someone trying to lose weight. He said diets don't work because they operate from a base of giving things up. Instead, he said the true idea of repentance is to make a change for the better. He asserted that the church is not about guilt and blame; rather, in its best form it's about inspiration and aspiration. I left Mass feeling both. After church, I cooked our normal Sunday breakfast of fried potatoes with onions and peppers. Today's egg delicacy was a scramble with feta, green onions, and fresh tomato. We also polished off the last two slices of the Little Red Hen's bread. Then I watched Coach K get his one thousandth win. Even Duke haters have to like Coach K. For our last day here, we drove out to Montana de Oro State Park, which is about fifteen miles down the coast. It's not suitable for RV camping nor is the beach really suitable for water sports, but it's another lovely section of the coast nonetheless. For a final treat, we caught the last sunset of our time in Morro Bay (Our fifth in a row). God can really paint! As an aside, Stumpy would have to skunk me just to tie, so I think it's safe to safe to say that I have won the Morro Bay State Park Open. Tomorrow, we're off to Santa Barbara. We'll pray for traveling mercies. Without reservation, we can say that life is good, especially today.