I'm so glad I'm here at the ISI colloquium. All we had so far was dinner (excellent filet mignon), but discussions sparked off in all directions. Catholic vs. Protestant, scientific naturalism vs. intelligent design vs. uncertainty over origins... I can tell I am going to come out from this weekend with much new material to mull over. My head is still fuzzy, but my headache is gone. The actual sessions start tomorrow, however, I am not fully prepared. I feel like such a deadbeat. I will read some more before I go to sleep tonight.

When I checked my email, I found the message from the wing chapel I missed earlier today, explaining all the things for which my wingmates need prayer. It made me a bit homesick for PHC, and it also made me feel odd. Here I am, in a very different part of the country, and all I did is drive for a few hours. It doesn't seem as though it should be this way, that all places should be connected and therefore somehow organically merged. I am a child of the late 20th century, more used to getting to places by plane than by car. When traveling by plane, you sit in a metal tube for an hour or two and then get out of it in a new place. You don't see all the gradations between as scenery changes. It's easy to compartmentalize areas in your mind. But really, people painstakingly crawled across the surface of the globe for millennia before airplanes. It is amazing to think about.  ¶ 6:43 PM