Summer Vacation

Lamar and I took our summer staff on a three day “vacation” to the PCCCI camp in the Santa Barbara area earlier this week. We hung out on the beach, ate some great BBQ, and shot each other with paintballs. The more time I spent with these guys the more I love them and dread the coming days when they’ll start to head back to their homes and schools.

Brothers and buddies.

Josh plays in the sand.

Nosy Pelican that chased Josh around.

Our Team: Jonah Trevino, Michelle Trevino, Dave Davis, Joy Kerr-Owens, Breeann Wright, Ryan Owens, Lamar Kerr-Owens, Josh Harrison, Mikey Chambers.

love thy neighbor

All those years we spent as prissy sheltered children, smugly trying to “save” our neighbors from their profanity and imagined spiritual poverty, we really had no idea that, with the patience of true saints, they were really saving us.

Ducks don’t get wet.

These little guys are significantly smaller than the rest of the ducks on the lake. Most of the spring babies are fiesty “teenager duckies” right now, but these guys are brand new. Incidentally, they prefer leftover plain bagels to soggy sourdough.

Preparing for Very Studious Bible Studies…

Well, I’ve been trying to read a “Christian book” for a long time now. I’ve got a few of them, you know, the sort that are supposed to appeal to people like me who ask a lot of questions and experience bouts of skepticism about mainline Christianity, et al. But you know, I haven’t made it through a single one in the last few years, regardless of my resolve to keep turning the pages. I think there is some sort of wall inside me, some bad muscle memory that just turns me off the second I see the words Zondervan or Youth Specialties on the spine. I know I’ll get over it eventually.

It may be possible, however, that I’ve finally met my match. Our summer staff will be reading Donald Miller’s Searching for God Knows What, a book we picked for discussion after a hearty recommendation by Pastor Craig (VERY IMPORTANT EDIT: Pastor Craig could never have made this hearty recommendation without the robust advocation of Pastor Cory, our favourite father-to-be). This afternoon I snagged it from one of the guys and took a quick jaunt through the first chapter. It seems like a pretty cool book so far (which is good, since I’ve ordered eight copies). I’m looking forward to reading this, and more importantly, I’m looking forward to the discussion during our Very Studious Bible Studies. With discussion questions like: “Is Miller demeaning the role of traditions, rituals, and disciplines in his critique of faith formulas? What do you think about these practices?”, how can we go wrong?! Just kidding, guys… but seriously.

brown hair