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'm back, up and running, and ready to go - I should have a new JOURNEY episode within the next week or so - and because you are my loyal peeps, here is an exclusive, just-for-you, behind the scenes SNEAK PEEK into my new office:
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!
St. Albert the Great - teacher and mentor of St. Thomas Aquinas
The Original Church
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The problem with us men is that often we don't have the wisdom to be a father until we're a grandfather.
This may sounds like some ironic statement that makes you nod your head in agreement but shrug your shoulders in resignation, thinking, well there's nothing we can do about that. But the practical application of that is that it demonstrates how important it is for kids to grow up around their grandparents. But as in our culture the family becomes ever more fractured and spread out, that is harder and harder to do.
Lately I've been thinking that part of the problem is the whole concept of college. It used to be that everyone thought a person had to go to college to make a good living. Not only is that not the case (truck drivers make more money than I do) but now college has gone from useless to actually ruining our kids. But when I went to college, what you were supposed to do is figure out what career you wanted (as if anyone knows that at age 18) and then go away to the college ...
