saturday

Our two daughters are off at college, the older daughter a senior at UNC Chapel Hill, the younger at UNC Wilmington. I decided to travel to Raleigh this morning (a three hour journey) to see our younger daughter play volleyball at NC State. She is on the traveling club team, which is a mid-point between intramurals and varsity. There were eight or nine teams there, and I was immediately transported back into time to the days when she played on teams in middle and high school, and we traveled and spent Saturdays at volleyball tournaments. There was tension, at times, in those gatherings: college scouts were present, some of the participants were pursuing college scholarships, and there was some measure of the usual teenage angst. This seemed much more relaxed, the young women playing just for the fun of it. While there I ran into a friend from a former church and her daughter, who is about to complete an undergraduate degree in middle eastern studies and speaks both french and arabic. College students these days are amazing.

In the afternoon we drove over with my younger daughter and one of her UNCW friends to see our older daughter, who lives in a bohemian and slightly run down part of Carrboro---a place, I should quickly add, that she really loves. We watched the end of the UNC-NC State foodball game (two mediocre teams slugging it out), then an episode of The Office that I had missed (this one seemed to have been influenced by the recent movie Into The Wild), and then we took off for Ming Garden, the Chinese restaurant where our older daughter works; it is the best Chinese restaurant in Chapel Hill. They seemed glad to see Liz on her "off day", and both food and service were exceptional.

Jack, from Haiti, is with my wife visiting a potential college. More about that later.

And finally, Ruth, a beloved member of our church, died today. I had a long conversation with her on Thursday, during which she was fully engaged in the activities of her family, and thinking about the upcoming holidays. We will all miss her.

I am preaching tomorrow about sacrifice (Philippians 3). Our next two Sundays have as their central focus our financial stewardship---these are critical services in our year. The following Sunday (November 18) I will preach about gratitude (Philippians 4). And then we are into Thanksgiving, and then, almost immediately into Advent.