Mín Englisc Blog

Well, I'm in the classroom for my first class of graduate school, waiting for the start time of 1 PM. I parked at least one mile away at Bloomington RPC, as I'm planning to do normally, walking up Grant Street for most of the way. It struck me as I walked north — how great the difference between Grant Street in downtown Bloomington and Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh! Here, it's lined by houses and small shops, while Pittsburgh's Grant Street lies at the heart of the commercial district and is the address for such significant buildings as major corporate headquarters and the National Historic Landmark-designated Allegheny County Courthouse.

I'm somewhat settled in at Bloomington, having been here for part or all of seven days now. My first few days were rather difficult, as I hadn't expected some rather difficult discoveries, such as the fact that many library jobs are only for undergraduates. By this point, I'm doing somewhat better; I understand that part of the problem is that I wasn't trusting God sufficiently well.
Throughout the week, I'd been looking forward to yesterday and being able to go to worship, and it greatly encouraged me. Dr. Holdeman, the pastor here, preached from Ruth 2 — if God took care of Ruth and Naomi in a situation far worse than mine, why should I doubt htat he will take care of me? We sang part of Psalm 77, which also was encouraging:

Then I replied, "Such questions show
That I my weakness need to know.
The Most High has a firm right hand
That through the years will changeless stand."

The psalmist is in great distress earlier in the psalm, asking whether God has entirely forgotten his grace and replaced his mercy with anger; I know that my case is much less distressing, and I've never been driven near to the point of wondering whether I have God's love.

About to leave for Bloomington. I'm moving in today, and my orientation begins on Thursday.

I'm in the middle of packing — tomorrow I leave for Bloomington, and I begin my Indiana University orientation on Thursday.

Most of yesterday was occupied with a trip to southwestern Ohio — Dad and I went to Oxford, where Miami University is located. I'd been there a few times before, but it had been several years, and I don't remember much from those trips. We made two historical stops along the way: one for an old Associate Reformed church a few miles north of Oxford, which was founded in the early nineteenth century and which possibly shared a graveyard with the nearby Beech Woods RP congregation, and one at Hueston Woods State Park. This bit was the only disappointing part of the trip; I wanted to photograph the Adena mound along a trail in the park, but although the trail was marked, it split, and I couldn't find the mound. Not likely that it's been destroyed; it's marked on the state park's current map, and nine-foot-tall mounds in state parks don't generally get removed without the park knowing about it.

Yesterday morning, I learned of the death of Dr. David Carson, who had been on session at Eastvale RP for sixty-five years. Before I began at Geneva, Dr. Carson wrote me a letter encouraging me to consider worshipping at Eastvale; although I was already strongly considering the congregation, this letter made me feel even more welcome. Throughout my time at Geneva, Dr. and Mrs. Carson were as grandparents to me, and as Dr. Carson's health declined during my last two years, it was very hard to see. I'm not entirely sure, but I hope to be able to attend his Monday morning funeral. He was a prominent Geneva professor for thirty years; accordingly, it's only appropriate that the funeral be held in the chapel at Old Main.