Well, I don't usually share a lot of personal stuff here in the community, but you may be wondering what's going on with me, so I thought I would give a couple of updates.
The insurance adjusters are going to be taking stock of the damage in our home, which will eventually lead to a ballpark estimate on when it will be habitable again. The good news is all my books survived, and all of our irreplaceable personal or sentimental items also survived. No losses that a check from the insurance company can't fix. Once there's nothing else I can do but wait, I will make the trip over to the Philippines to join my family.
In the meantime, it looks good for our grandson to be getting his visa to come to the US this month, and while there are a few hoops to jump through still, in God's timing, this might all come together at about the same time, and then we will all come back to a newly renovated home, whenever it's ready. Hopefully that will be by the end of this month, but it very well might not be. (And as if that wasn't enough travel, I'm supposed to go to a conference in Oxford in August).
Thankfully, I worked ahead and recorded the podcasts for July, so those are "in the can" as they say. (That means finished and ready to go, not that I recorded them in the bathroom, though the acoustics might be good there). On that note, the podcast series on The Heresies has a new episode coming out on Wednesday, then three more episodes, I think, and then a wrap-up/conclusion episode. From there I'm going to back to the lesser-known (but still important) Church fathers - the ones Mike didn't do in his seasons - and after that we will begin a longer series on the Doctors of the Church.
As far as the community here, and The Journey (Saturday Bible Study), it looks like the return date for that will depend on when we get back into our home (and when I have access to my books). So your prayers are appreciated for all the travel and logistics, and I can say I'm really longing for the day when my family is together under one roof again.
In the meantime, feel free to post here - talk amongst yourselves - and I will chime in as I get the opportunity to check the feed. I hope you're having a great summer (I hope it's more relaxing than mine!). Ciao!
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
This is Michael Knowles' commentary on the murder of Charlie Kirk, and directly on the press conference about the arrest - In the middle is a great speech by the governor of Utah - overall excellent stuff if you have 1.5 hr to spend on it
with some Florida colleagues - all of them Protestant, but with varying traditions on the Eucharist - it was encouraging to hear how there are some Protestant denominations that have a real respect for the Sacrament (and I'm not talking about Anglicans or even Lutherans):
