In, Not Of

That is the working sermon title for my message this Sunday, May 15th at Cypress Creek Christian Church & Community Center. The reference is to John 17:14-18, where Jesus describes the disciples as "not of the world" but sent out "into the world". The message will discuss various ways Christians have understood the relationship between their faith and their culture, as described in the wonderful book "Christ and Culture" by H. Richard Niebuhr. We read it at PU, and it was a classic even then (20 years ago!). Any and all who read these words are welcome to come. I will be posting an outline on Good and Faithful Servant, and the church will have the audio version available within a couple of weeks.

Austin is well. He is running for VP of Student Council next year, and gives a speech next week. His campaign poster is shaped like 4 very large playing cards (aces, naturally) with the slogan "Vote for Austin, Your 'Ace' for VP". His baseball team starts post-season play this Saturday, and we hope to make a respectable showing. By wins and losses this team has not done too well, but they have improved all year long and had fun, to boot.

Tuesday was our last scout den meeting of the school year, and we held it at a local fun park called "Mountasia". It was $10 Tuesday, so miniature golf and all arcade games were $10 for unlimited access the whole night. Steve will be happy to know we purchased the $7.50 upgrade for unlimited go-karting, as well. When we got there, there was nobody in line for the go-karts, so the attendant told Austin and me to "go as long as you want - I'm not going to wave you in". So Austin and I had a 20-minute, uninterrupted race, which was totally unfair due to the 175 pound payload difference between his car and mine. Clearly I was the superior driver, (clearly!) but Austin was wildly aggressive, not only cutting me off but the few teen-aged boys who happened to be on the track, also. I fear for the day the State of Texas issues that boy a driver's license!

Braden is already as brown as a coffee bean and loving the unusually mild Spring we have been having. Though we had tons of rain on Mother's Day (moving our picnic into the living from the park near our church), nearly every other day the last few weeks has been cool in the mornings & evenings. Braden (or just "B" as Shelley has started calling him) has his first official chore - filling the two birdfeeders we have, 1 in the front and 1 in the back. He will even notice when the feeders are low, and tell me or Shelley "dub duh dub Bray-un dub duh quidda kwunch", which (of course) means "it looks like Braden needs to put out some more Critter Crunch", which is the name of the feed Shelley got. It has all sorts of stuff in it, including feed for small (non-rodent) animals as well as birds. In the mornings, one of the first things B likes to do is go check out the front window to see if anything is eating the "quidda kwunch". On those glorious mornings when he sees "our" squirrel at the feeder, he comes squealing into the kitchen jabbering about "squirrs" and "quidda kwunch" and who knows what else.

Shelley has developed a strong attachment to a pair of doves who have built a nest in the gutter above our porch, but my favorites are still all the cardinals we have visiting in front and back.

But all God's quiddas, great or small, are welcome.