Report from Mundelein Seminary

So, I'm currently at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, IL (a northern suburb of Chicago near Libertyville) taking a class this weekend and the next on worship in music with students from different Chicagoland seminaries. So far, I have a few reflections:

This place is beautiful. Here's a picture if you don't believe me.

It's so beautiful that I'm going to wake up early tomorrow morning so I can go for a run around the lake. It takes a lot to get me to out of bed and running in quick succession.

North Park really knows how to have snacks/refreshments. On Tuesday, this class was held at North Park and Christine Dekker put out a spread of crackers and four different kinds of cheeses, spinach dip, salami, fruits of all kinds, strawberry shortcake, and I'm sure I'm missing something...oh yeah, pita and hummus. It was enough food to feed a small army or very large extended family. Tonight's refreshments were small bags of chips, pretzels, pop, and mass-produced cookies. It made me appreciate the little things that makes North Park a bit more homey (in a good way).

The room I'm staying in is exactly what I would have pictured: simple desk and dresser, off-white bedding, out-of-style curtains, bare radiator, and crucifix. It's perfect...so perfect, that I keep expecting her to come barging in complaining about Maggie Smith:

We can only dream! The only thing I didn't expect was the stale scent of cigarette smoke that is imbedded in this room. MJ, you would not like it at all; it would definitely lead you to take some hits of the ole' nebulizer.

So that's all from my report up here in Mundelein. 10:48 on a Friday night living the dream.

Twins...poor opening day form. Hopefully this is not an omen for the rest of the season. Get it together tomorrow so I can keep hope alive that you will make it to the playoffs to lose in the first round to the Yankees. You shouldn't mess with a time-honored ritual.