-I woke up early on Tuesday morning and showered in KAW’s bathroom, fully decorated in Little Mermaid decor. When I opened the door I was startled to find KAW waiting at the door. The four-year old struck fear into my heart in that moment. KAW soon filled me in on the day’s itinerary: TV, hide and seek, Lucky Charms, duck duck goose (which proved difficult with only two people), “just talk”, “and then you can go home”.
-We were soon joined by BKW. KAW interrupted a conversation between her father and I by interjecting, “so what about two guys getting married?” Reminder: KAW is four years old.
-Over breakfast (the aforementioned Lucky Charms), KAW began meowing, emulating a cat. I asked her if her dog, Jack, liked her even when she was posing as a cat. This was a tactical error. She did not know but she tried to find out. She chased the dog around meowing at him with great vigor.-As I left, BKW asked if I would like to see Jack perform a trick. He asked me to open my car door. I did. Jack entered. Getting the dog out of my XTerra proved far more difficult than getting him in, especially as BKW laughed at my attempts for some time. After finally returning the dog to the house, I hit the road. I had planned on attending a class at the McAfee School of Theology later in the day but had some time to kill. Traveling into Atlanta in the morning is futile. So I decided to stop by Towne View Baptist Church where my old seminary pal JCL works. I had not seen him in some time. Amazingly, our SUVs pulled into the parking lot at the exact same time.
-JCL took care of some business at church and then we headed to Starbucks. We spent the next three hours there! I was thrilled to see him and our stories proved to be remarkably parallel. We have so much in common. We also talked of our old seminary days and it felt like two war veterans finally talking about their old battles long after the fact. I finally have perspective on my seminary experience.-JCL is well. His wife is planning to enroll in McAfee soon and the two will soon be adopting a child. JCL has gravitated towards the same social justice issues I have. (Note: The personalized Obama icon used as JCK’s Facebook profile picture can be made at Obamicon.Me.) We discussed Shane Claiborne (author of Jesus For President), Religion & Ethics, etc. He also put me onto Tony Campolo’s appearance on the Colbert Report. Campolo and Colbert are two personal favorites. The appearance was on February 27th, 2006, and can be accessed here.
-JCL also has developed a blog called Soul Ache. Check it out.
-After leaving JCL, I headed into Atlanta to attend a class on the Book of Acts (NTG 816.24) taught by one of my favorite professors TBS. (I just realized that those are his initials.) I had not been to the school in four years and was afraid they might have forgotten me. I was pleasantly surprised by the wonderful reception I received. TBS introduced me by acknowledging that I was the first student he had ever had to write a Greek exegesis paper in an English based class. He even remembered my parents.-The class was great. I sat by the wife of DWL, who husband is the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Knoxville. Daniel Marguerat’s The First Christian Historian: Writing the 'Acts of the Apostles' is the course's primary text. As always, I learned a lot from TBS. I stayed after class and we caught up for some time. I was sad to break the news of his colleague DLD’s death.
-For those who know him, TBS’s commentary on Ephesians from Smyth & Helwys is ready to be sent to the publisher.
- It was a great homecoming. On my way out, I bumped into DGG, another beloved professor. After a great day in Atlanta, I made the trip back to Knoxville.
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