(I assured my golden retriever, Maggie, that I've only had eyes for her, but in the words of that famous sage, "if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with"--but only if we're talking about a dog...er...dogs. This is a fireside shot of Patrick in Peru with Timber and....I can't remember the one on the right's name; they're the dogs of the Powlisons, the missionary family to the Quechuan people--see a shot of him, Keith, below)

Here begins what I pray will be a forum that brings us closer together, as skeptical as you might be since most other technolgical advances claiming to bridge the gaps only make them wider. That we are trained to consider one another only once a week--maybe not trained, so much as it becomes habitual--makes the kind of community that genuinely fosters concern for one another's holiness all the more problematic. May this little tool whittle away at what keeps us apart.

Preparing to teach on the church: harder than I expected. The topic is so vast, and its so easy to go down a tributary that, while interesting to the average scholar, would be seemingly of little use to the man or woman on the street. I welcome your prayers.