I had the opportunity to see one of my (and Krista’s) favorite authors two nights ago. Sarah Vowell is a frequent contributor to This American Life and has authored several books and various articles in periodicals and newspapers all over the world. I enjoy her powers of observation, wit, and delivery.

Pete and Janet, our self-described public radio friends, joined us for an evening of readings and high stakes bootlegging (if you’d like a copy, let me know).

Today I’ll be working on a paper for my doctoral class this semester.

My “mobile office” will be parked at the Illinois Wesleyan University Ames Library today. It’s the statue library, you’ll see 2 of them below. I enjoy working on the fourth floor, it provides the best view (not that I get to enjoy it much).

The mobile office.

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The statue that’s sometimes dressed with interesting pieces of clothing.

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The main rotunda with yet another statue.

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Up to the fourth floor.

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The view from the study room.

I got a new phone (long story) and now I have one of those obnoxious cameras. Here’s what happened today:

Erin shows up for early morning chapel rehearsal @ 6:45 AM. She’s still sleeping.

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Kenyon is sleeping with his eyes open at the same rehearsal.

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Tom and Adam are wide awake at the rehearsal (after much coffee, I suspect).

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Jeff is not amused by the new phone.

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The Webhound investigates said phone.

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Jacob stops by for a Senseo.

A hymn to Christ,
All Hope come true,
Who paid with love
His brother’s due.
And last of all,
Who’ll rout the foe,
And best of all,
Whose God we know.

A hymn to God,
Whose breath we’ve breathed,
Whose voice we’ve heard
And ways perceived;
Who asks our best,
But loved us first
And loves us still,
Despite our worst.

A hymn to love,
A hymn to life:
The love of child,
The love of wife.
No higher gift,
Save God alone,
Than these whom life
Has named our own.

A hymn to friends,
Life’s long surprise
Of opened doors
And widened eyes.
‘Round laughing fires
Of wit and art,
We dance a while,
Then weep to part.

A hymn to church,
Our waking place
To early calls
And gifts of grace,
Where simple hearts
Learn thoughtful ways,
And searching minds
Are led to praise.

A hymn to earth,
The bountiful,
In wonder still
More beautiful.
Our priestly part
Of this great whole:
To sound its praise,
To shape its soul.

Depart my soul;
Depart in peace.
Run swiftly to
A Higher Feast:
God’s Joy, for wine,
God’s Light, for bread.
Feast long my heart;
His table’s spread!

- by Robert Stamps

I’m in a great coffee house in Omaha, NE called Caffeine Dreams. I’ve avoided (for the day) most of the in-laws. Actually, Krista’s mom and Grandma are sick, so the usual flurry of activity is not as heavy as usual.

My sister-in-law is graduating with her Doctorate in Occupational Therapy from Creighton University this weekend; we are all jammed into her small, upstairs 1 bedroom apartment and various hotel rooms.

In other news: The truck is officially totaled. Christmas is still canceled in some places.

We leave for Nebraska today. We will stop in Kewanee tonight to drop off the dog and shave a bit off the travel time. I’m still a little skittish when I drive; the accident (black ice on an interstate overpass, 50-55 mph head on crash with a concrete guard rail) has made me more timid than I thought it would. When the truck was spinning out of control on the bridge, all I could think was “I do NOT want to die like this.” I heard a lecture by Stanley Hauerwas about a year ago and he was talking about how people today want quick and painless deaths as opposed to people who lived during the Middle Ages and the Reformation. Those people wanted to have long deaths, so they could get their lives “in order,” so to speak. I think I would rather endure a long and painful illness than to be pulled from my family and friends so quickly. [Interjection: I'm at Starbucks and I hear two soccer moms using the Bible to justify why they should be distant to some relatives they don't like, because "the Bible says: a friend is closer than a brother." Yes, it's right next to the part about "the consumer inheriting the earth." End Interjection.] I really did think it was all over; icy bridge, 55 mph, heading for the rail. But somehow I am still here. When I get a free mental moment, I still get absorbed in my own mortality and the mortality of those around me and the idea that this is not the way it was in the beginning (or will be in the end, for that matter). And again I am stuck in the present-ness of our fallen reality rubbing up against the restored reality that God will completely usher in someday.

In other news: I begin my Doctorate in Worship Studies at Robert Weber’s Institute for Worship Studies in a few weeks. This is the best I’ve felt about starting any kind of educational endeavor; it just seems like a good fit.

I’ve gone through 3 ½ bags of Senseo coffee over the last 2 weeks. I love the machine. It probably rates about a 7 out of 10 for coffee taste, but it makes up for its small deficiencies by brewing my cup in 19.5 seconds, super fresh every time. Is it as good as a properly pulled shot of espresso? No, but it handles the middle ground well (pun intended and apologized for).

All the talk this week in private and public conversations has been about whether or not to have worship services on Christmas Day. Maybe I wasn’t listening close enough, but I don’t remember having this kind of conversation in the past, although I can’t remember the last time Christmas was on a Sunday. More later.

I just got word that the Senseo arrived in the mail. Getting ready to start a show, more later.

Update:It’s red and it’s tastey.

The Night of Film begins at 7 this evening. First, Krista and I will travel to the historic Castle Theater for a fund raiser showing of Millions, then we head to the Palace for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

We’ll be documenting the whole evening via video and audio, so stay tuned for high society and Potter geeks, back to back.