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I think that I have gone the longest without blogging since I began years ago. I don't like this fact. Blogging has helped me process life as well as given me many friends that I haven't had before. It surprisingly does take some energy; that seems to have been lacking some as I have progressed through the fall.

It's not that this fall has been calm. Coming back from England, we needed some time to regroup here. Carl left to go to Brazil. Then school began with the various intensities that come with syllabi, new student rosters, etc. I redid my "Narrative and Law" class; we have spent more time on reading the Torah, the history of modern scholarship and the shifts in the background of reading the text, and have moved into "Law" in the Gospels and in Paul. We are finishing up with Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on the Law from the Summa.

The biggest event, however, has been the death of my father. I loved my dad and came to respect him deeply as time went on. Perhaps I will time to share some of the particularities of his final weeks, how his life passed into the hands of stranger's that had never met him; my thankfulness to Tasha from caring for him for 4 days in his mortal weakness; for Kathy and all my adult children for their presence with me through the time; for my brother and his wife, Debbie, as much of the front line presence fell to them.

Nonetheless once I fell behind with the death, it has been a struggle to get caught up. My Bib101 final grades took longer than ever before to get graded. I have needed the last several days to try to get caught up with rest -- three naps yesterday.

At any rate I have missed blogging. It did get my manuscript on "Vatican II and the Renewal of the Church Catholic" off to Rodney Clapp and Brazos Press. I'm awaiting his editorial response. I will have to learn the mechanics of moving it into book form. I have two papers to write for the Spring, as well as several to revise and prepare for publication -- not to mention that I'm not giving up on my commentary on Chronicles for Berit Olam.

It is good being back in to the cyber-world. Rock on.

Posted by johnwright at 7:40 PM