Hello from Chicago
Posted on Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Greetings from Chicago. I have been here for the past few days doing some research and meeting with some old friends. Cindy and I arrived on Friday, picked up the rental car (bright red P.T. Cruiser) and we have been visiting bookstores and libraries in style. I am engaged in three writing projects right now, two for Logos and one for a paper to be read at the meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in San Francisco this year. The book from Logos will be called something like “Difficult Texts of the Bible Explained.” I will be writing the articles on “the witch of Endor” as well as “the unforgivable sin.” The ETS paper will be about Zacchaeus and the nature of Physiogomy in the gospel of Luke.
On Saturday I spent some time at the Trinity library and then Cindy and I took a trip downtown. I was very disappointed when I found that “Ex-Libris” a used book store specializing in theological books was no longer in its place. I had spent many an hour looking over the stock in that store and had seen the owner come close to putting a few people out of the store for pushing too hard to get him to drop the price. Alas it seems that brick and mortar used bookstores are being pushed out of the world by the internet. The net is a great thing for finding just what you want, but sometimes in a used bookstore you find something that you say “I should have wanted this and I didn’t even know about it.”
On our way home we stopped and got out to go to Navy Pier. That lasted for about a five minute walk. I found out that a sweater is not enough for 35 degrees with a below zero wind chill off the lake.
Saturday night I spent some time doing computer research through ERIC and was able to get many of the article’s full text. I guess the net is worth having after all. Searching, finding, and getting the full text of obscure articles on the Witch of Endor in your hotel room is about as convenient as it gets.
Sunday we went to see an old friend whom I have known since Trinity days. Fred and Patti are the same great folks they always were and even have a new dog. What a beautiful house they had, I should have taken some pictures, but I am still getting used to having a phone that can take photographs.
Monday it was back to the library and a special lunch with my dissertation mentor Scot McKnight (http://www.Jesuscreed.org). It was great seeing Scot again, talking about NT matters, graduate school matters, and just friendly matters. He is a great writer, a great teacher, and a great friend. Would that all teachers were like that.
I will be back into sunny S. Florida tomorrow, and back to school on Wednesday. I’ll have lots of new articles to put into my database and a few new books to put in as well. While I’ve had a great time here, my heart is at Knox and CRPC and I will be glad to be back.
Blessings to all of you who have been praying for Dr. Gage and me. Your prayers have meant more than you can possibly know. We have had our trials, but the Lord has been faithful and we are thankful to be able to be a very small part of this ministry.
Go forth to battle singing, for the Lord holds the weapons,
SamLam
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