I'm reading "Democracy in America". It's hard... even though it's abridged. I mean, I know all the words, but the sentences are somewhat complex so I have to read them over to fully grasp what he's saying. It's very, very good though. I got a letter from the Mayor of Chicago yesterday. Can you guess why? Oh all right I'll tell you... since you're just dying to know. :-P Apparently he promotes St. Xavier University officially. 'Tis a Catholic college out in Chicago, and my dad says the mayor's Catholic, so it makes sense I guess. I got another college letter today. This must be the... fifth? fourth? something like that, different college that I've never heard of, but happens to be a rather well-known selective college. Anyhow, this one was from Smith College. Never heard of it, but it's a "women's liberal arts college." I wonder how much emphasis is on "liberal"? And what is the idea behind trying to subver

Some other interesting quotes, which I ran out of time for on Thursday: "The heart of man is like a musical instrument and may be played upon by the Holy Spirit, by an evil spirit or by the spirit of man himself. Religious emotions are very much the same, no matter who the player may be.... The nun who kneels 'breathless with adoration' before an image of the Virgin is having a genuine religious experience. She feels love, awe and reverence, all enjoyable emotions, as certainly as if she were adoring God. The mystical experiences of Hindus and Sufis cannot be brushed aside as mere pretense. Niether dare we dismiss the high religious flights of spiritists and other occultists as imagination. These may have and sometimes do have genuine encounters with something or someone beyond themselves. In the same manner Christians are sometimes led into emotional experiences that are beyond their power to comprehend.... The big test is, what has this done to my relationship

I recently finished a book-compilation of A.W. Tozer's 52 best chapters.... and, really, Tozer is the best author I've read in awhile. He just opens my eyes to what God's saying in His Word, and he's brilliant besides, although by this time, he's somewhat dated (but sometimes prophetic). A few interesting quotes: "No one with a due regard for the wisdom of God would argue that there is anything wrong with laughter, since humor is a legitimate component of our complex nature. Lacking a sense of humor we fall that much short of healthy humanity. But.... some things lie outside the field of pure humor. No reverent Christian, for instance, finds death funny, nor birth nor love. No Spirit-filled man can bring himself to laugh at the Holy Scriptures, or the Church which Christ purchased with His own blood, or prayer or righteousness or human grief or pain. And surely no one who has been in the presence of God could ever laugh at a story involving the Deity.

Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly..... Or not. This doesn't look like a parlor, you don't seem to buzz like a fly, and I certainly don't have eight legs. But welcome anyway. Pull up that chair! How do you like my new house? Have a cup o' tea. Why don't you help me build a sugar cube hut, while you're at it?

I don't know. I really like this layout, but... I've had a blog for a year and a half already, and I'd just leave that one, with all its archives etc, and start a whole new one. I'd have to re-learn blogging, almost. And I'd probably lose a good many readers....