I had a humbling moment yesterday. I received in the mail an unexpected gift of a new book written by one of my very favorite authors. I opened the cover and saw that he had taken the time to sign it to me. I was quite thrilled. My wife was napping at the time (she’s pregnant, you remember, and seems to need an hour-long nap in the afternoon) so I couldn’t show it to her right away, but as soon as she woke up I took it in to her. She opened the cover, read the inscription and said, “Who’s Tom?” Yup, sure enough the book had been signed to Tom. Shortly after I received an email from this person’s assisstant saying something to the effect of, “We realized the day after we dropped it in the mail that he had signed the wrong name and another copy, signed properly, is on the way. We’re hoping the first copy will get lost in the mail.” Ah well. Let this be a lesson in humility!
Tonight my in-laws are coming over to keep an eye on the kids while Aileen and I head off to the Petra concert. As I reported last week, it seems that she is the only person in the world who loves me enough to attend this concert with me. I am anticipating, of course, that we’ll have a great time listening to all those Petra classics and watching Bob and John jam for the very last time (oh, and those other guys who are in the band). I have been to many Petra concerts over the years but I know this one will be special because it will be the last. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about the concert in the days to come. The band did, after all, play a rather significant role in my life.
Three guesses as to whom I am having lunch with today. Nope. Nope. And nope. Good guesses though. I’m having lunch with Richard Abanes. He is in town on what I suppose is a publicity tour and I guess he thought it would be interesting for the two of us to continue our ongoing discussion face-to-face rather than through emails and book reviews. I hear from Nathan Busenitz that he had lunch with Abanes not too long ago as well, so I guess Richard must be trying to meet many of Warren’s detractors. It should be interesting at any rate. So if there has ever been a question you’ve been dying to ask Abanes but have been too scared, let me know and I’ll ask him on your behalf.
Here is a story everyone should read. The Biggest E-mail Peeves at Work. It’s no great surprise, I’m sure, that Reply to All and large attachments top the list.
And now, for this Friday’s most frivolous moment, I thought I’d try something a little different. Last weekend, as I sat at the Desiring God Conference, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people worshipping God with hands in the air and so on. My experience in Reformed churches is that hands do not often leave the sides during times of worship. And so I propose that today we complete the following sentence:
“I have not seen so many Reformed hands in the air since…”
Please be nice and Christian and gentle and loving and respectful in your responses. Oh, and humorous, because humor is what Friday Frivolity is all about.
