I've been thinking about...

...Hamsters.

Yep. You read that right. Hamsters. As in those fuzzy little balls of fluff that some folks like to call pets.

You’ll remember that in November we raised funds for the 2009 Community Turkey Drive. To promote our fundraising efforts I offered to raffle off a sermon. For every $5 Turkey Ticket you bought your name went into the hat (well, actually offering plate, that’s what I collected ‘em in!). If your name was drawn, then you got to tell me exactly what I was preaching on at a future date.

You might also remember, that we raised $455 for the Community Drive and since we know that $5 buys a turkey for an individual or family in need, that means that we provided part of a Thanksgiving Dinner for 91 folks or families who would otherwise have gone without.

You might also also remember, that when it came time to drawn our winner out of the hat (okay, fine, out of the offering plate!) that Ted Shepherd was the big winner. And true to his word, Ted requested a sermon about hamsters. His exact words were, “Hamsters. Absolutely. Hamsters.”

Which is why I am proud to announce that Sunday January 24, 2010 at the Encanto Community Church is hereby officially re-christened Hamster Sunday! I hope you can join us for what will prove to be a lively, fun, and different kind of worship service. What will it include? Well, I don’t know yet. But I can promise you this: lots of hamster stories. (By the way, I’m still collecting hamster stories. Feel free to help me out here!)

Yours in the journey, Rev. Brian