Hope from Va. Tech; and a NY Times Review

Here is one vignette, a Christian testimony, from a listing of several from the Horror on Monday at Va. Tech.

Twenty-five-year-old Brian Bluhm was active in Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Virginia Tech as an undergrad, but wasn't around as much after entering graduate school. He attended Northstar Church, a tight-knit congregation with several members from the university community.

"Brian was a Christian, and first and foremost that's what he would want to be remembered as," a friend and former roommate told the Associated Press.

Nansemond River, Restoration Church and Grove Avenue are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. First Baptist Church in Narrows and Northstar Church belong to the Baptist General Association of Virginia.

Bluhm grew up in Iowa and in a suburb of Detroit. He moved away from Michigan when he was 7 and went to high school in Louisville, Ky., but was hooked for life as a Detroit Tigers fan. He contributed regularly to on-line message boards discussing the Tigers. He reportedly posted to one site in particular, Motownsports.com, nearly 35,000 times over the past five years.

His favorite Tiger, center fielder Curtis Granderson, made Bluhm No. 1 friend on his blog.

"I never met Brian in person, but he was an important part of my life over the past several years," wrote a Tiger fan from Massachusetts. "The same sentiment is being expressed by hundreds of friends on the blogs and message boards which make up our community. Our thoughts are with his family today."

Bluhm considered Blacksburg his home, and he was an avid fan of Hokies sports. He had finished writing his thesis and had a job lined up in Baltimore.

Last week he found an apartment in Baltimore and got to see a game between the Orioles and his beloved Tigers at Camden Yards. That left Bluhm's chat-room friends with the happy thought that he was on hand for Craig Monroe's 12th-inning grand slam to give Detroit a 4-1 win.

Bob Allen is managing editor of EthicsDaily.com.
and here is a link to the rest

http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=8808

Fox: If my Dad were still alive, these testimonies would be the crux of his sermon this coming Sunday I have to believe, as they will be in several churches this Sunday.

And from last Sunday's NY Times this review by the brilliant James Wood. If the Lord tarries and life is tolerable, I may attempt to sit it on one of Wood's lectures when he visits Sewanee this summer, about 95 minutes north, toward Nashville.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/books/review/Wood.t.html

I confess I am struggling to digest some of Wood's effects here, but I think I got the pigeon thing.