we ruin things. we trample, break, destroy, pollute, uproot, take-over, neglect, disregard. us humans tend to do this all too often to the things that we should rather care for, nurture, water, protect, and restore. i am primarily talking about the earth but i think we tend to do the same to each other, our own peoples. we destroy dreams with cutting words. we disregard insecurities with insults. we pollute our minds with worthless and often lethal images and information. we neglect the widows and orphans in distress and fail to care for and nurture our children in ways that empower them. we allow the things of this world to take over the pure perfection of who God is and taint our image of Him with our own ideas and notions.

this is all very problematic for the life of our people and our planet. we can so clearly see the effects of this careless-ness, this disregard, this pollution. we all need to be made aware of the problems in our midst and actively choose to do something about it, to change our ways and seek to protect and nourish, and till the soil for future generation. we need to be good stewards of what God has given us. and i believe that applies to our environment and communities. it is important. and relevant to all of us.

i was reminded of this issue when i visited my cousin’s nursery down in newport beach, ca. orange coast river park is a small facility that my cousin Emily Beck was hired to start from scratch. it is purposed to re-grow native plants and then re-plant, restore and revitalize the southern california coast. at the time of my last visit, all the plants were just seedlings, and as you can see, there has been quite a bit of growth since. wow. she and her team completed their first planting in the marshlands adjacent to the nursery a few months back and as a result after nearly a century, the area will be soon be re-opened to tidal waters. how cool is that? i am impressed. for more info, visit their facebook page here.

on a similar note, this week, i got the chance to hang out with a group of people who are also committed to restoration.

three incredibly talented singer/songwriters, brendan james, jason reeves & amber rubarth are on tour together traveling up the california coast on vespas. they are calling it Vespa Experiment and are actively seeking a lifestyle that promotes green-living. my friend josh newton is the official photographer for the tour, so amy, emily and i got the chance to hang out with the crew as they passed through santa barbara and hear more about their stories as artists. and of course, hear tales from the “experiment”. we all even headed up to san luis obisbo last night to attend their show. ah. it was a pleasure to hear their music and get out of fire-y santa barbara. plus the company was quite fun (amy, emily & summer). we laughed. a lot.