My SMP Posse

Pictured from left to right...Back Row...David (Mississippi), Mark (Missoula), Bill (Indiana), The Big Galoot! Aaron (Georgia), Montel (Chicago area)...Front Row...Brian (Chicago area), Joshua (Wisconsin), Terry (Arkansas), Erik (Indiana), Rich (Sacramento area), Frank (Illinois)

Midweek Blues

A sunny day has afforded me the opportunity to post pictures of this beautiful spot. There is an abundance of green space, and a general architectural theme that runs through the entire campus. Obviously, the chapel is the tallest building in these pictures, with the bell tower adjacent to it. I will try to get pictures of the interior later today.

A Few Of The Guys

I took my camera along to our afternoon class session today, and managed to get a few shots of some of the guys in my "Cohort" here at the seminary in Fort Wayne. A Cohort is a more stodgy way of saying "posse". Allow me to introduce them. First off is Aaron up at the top...in the gray sweater (you'll notice sweaters and jackets as it was cold today until mid afternoon) He's from north Georgia. Then there is Eric with the beard and the coffee cup. He's from near Chicago and never goes anywhere without that coffee cup. David is in the striped shirt, he's originally from Wisconsin but has been living in Mississippi for a lonnnnnnnng time. Finally, the Three Amigos are (from left to right) Frank from Rockford, IL, Rich from near Sacramento, CA and Terry from northern Arkansas. That makes up half of our group...the rest had already evacuated by the time I got the camera out. I am not sure how much we are learning but we are certainly having a lot of fun with good natured humor being fired about at each other's expense. Tomorrow I will have the camera in hand for a group shot of the 12 somewhat ragged disciples, and some shots of the campus as the sun should be out.

Spiritual Food?

I have now been here at Concordia Theological Seminary for a little over one full day. We have started our course work in "Heaven on Earth" which deals with the history and liturgy of our worship. It is hard to tell just how much I have learned so far, but I can tell you that I am once again eating well this year. The cafeteria food is quite good!

Yesterday afternoon the rains came to Fort Wayne, and it was pretty wet all through the evening. It now looks as if it is going to be staying pretty cool all week long. There will be a lot of clouds and a bit of rain at times as a large area of low pressure sits over this part of the country. Meanwhile, for all of you in Spokane the weather will continue to be nice and warm all week long. I imagine that when I get home the weather will once again going right back in the dumper.

Well, I Made It!

As I write I am seated at a rather "spartan" desk in a very "spartan" dorm room on the campus of the Concordia Theological Seminary in beautiful Fort Wayne, IN. I am not complaining mind you...I am very happy to be here. You might even say that I am happier than I even thought I would be to be here. I just got a call from my bride Kay, who remained in Chicago with her sister Ann. Just after I hit the road for Indiana this afternoon, and when Kay and Ann returned from walking Ann's dog, her kitchen sink had backed up with all sorts of unknown sewage, and for the past 6 hours the stench has been prevalent in the air. The plumber has been there for the past 4 hours, and the dilemma seems to be far from over. My last 6 hours have been far less eventful. Traffic coming out of Chicago wasn't too bad, but things did come to an all out stop in northwest Indiana as what was reported to be a grinding wreck on the Indiana Tollway put a halt to all eastbound momentum, and so there I sat for quite some time. I ended up turning around and heading back in the opposite direction to take advantage of the last exit that I had passed in order to take an alternate route. After that things went smoothly, arriving here just after dark, which for those of you out there in the Pacific Time Zone was sometime last Saturday afternoon.

As I had anticipated, the weather here is a whole lot chillier than in Spokane. Saturday's official high in the Lilac City was 79 degrees, and today it was a little cooler at 74. In Chicago over the weekend it was windy (maybe that's why its called the Windy City...ya think???) and temperatures barely reached 60. All week long the weather back home is looking warm and sunny, highs will be near 80, while here it is going to be chilly for another day, and then start to warm up.

Tomorrow morning I am going to miss the opportunity to teach my tennis posse another lesson. On Friday they were sceptical of my research methodology that determined that black Nike ankle socks are detrimental to one performance on the tennis court. To show there unbelief the posse decided to show up adorned in black footwear...at least in the form of socks. What resulted was predictable, as I rose to the occasion, clad in my white Adidas stockings, and administered a thorough drubbing. There was another valuable lesson learned though, in that John didn't actually wear black socks, but rather navy blue. It turns out that navy blue socks are even more detrimental to one's tennis prowess than black!

We're On Our Way!

We are about to leave the house, headed for the airport, to wing our way to Chicago. Tomorrow afternoon I will be driving to Fort Wayne, IN for a week at the Concordia Theological Seminary at that location. Kay will be staying in Chicago with her sister all week, so please pray for the both of them.

The weather here in Spokane is looking up! Maybe now that its fall we will finally have a summer. Temperatures will be rising into the 70s starting today through what looks like at least the middle of next week to go along with dry sunny days. What is good news to us is that this looks also to be the case for Chicago and Fort Wayne...WHOOPEE!

I will keep you updated with reports from the road, and...oh...by the way, I must tell you about my posse's tennis exploits from Friday morning.

NBC ya later!

Am I Shirking My Duties?

You may have noticed that I have had very little to say about the weather in the past week or so. Perhaps I am mourning the end of summer, which occurred today, or maybe it is just that the weather has been so lousy this past week that I have chosen to ignore it. I think that the latter is probably the case. We have had chilly cloudy and rainy weather for pretty much the past 14 years...or more realistically the past 6 months...so most of us here in the Spokane area are feeling that we got cheated out of summer. The good news is, now that fall is upon us, that the weather is about to improve. Tomorrow should be a generally sunny day, with temperatures approaching 70 degrees. By the weekend we should be back up into the middle...and maybe even...the upper 70s. On the way there we may see a few showers again on Thursday, but otherwise things should be drier. The warmer weather on the weekend goes to figure, as Kay and I are flying out to Chicago on Saturday, and will be away from the "Great Northwest" for a week. That just means that the last few days of September, and the first few of October will be beautiful out here, while snow will probably fall over the Chicago area and nothern Indiana, as that is where we are going to be...more on that soon.