Well…that was fun…

…and exhausting! The 2022 Making the Case Conference is over…and its schedule was smashed to smithereens (without even seeming to bother my boss…even when I helpfully pointed it out to him…again and again and again). Personal highlights this year were hearing my friends, Chris Rosebrough and Bryan Wolfmueller. They’re both so very good as teachers of God’s precious Word. But of course, my absolute favorite is the hymn sing. The conference was in exceptionally fine voice this year as we sang our way through various hymns of cross and comfort, with Professor Jonathan Kohrs on the organ and Pr. Leonard Payton on the piano. To quote one of my favorite Christmas hymns “tiding of comfort and joy” indeed. This year my pastor (Pr. Benjamin Ball) served as the celebrant at the closing Divine Service, at which Pr. Wilken preached a wonderful sermon on the Gospel reading from Matthew 10 (we were celebrating the Anniversary of the Augsburg Confession on Saturday). When the Divine Service was all over, I was shocked that Pr. Ball was planning to go out with friends! Then I remembered something Pr. Bill Cwirla taught me years ago: Extraverts energize through socializing. I knew he was getting up early to get back to St. Paul’s for late service! Yikes!!!! Trust me, by the end of the conference, this introvert was DONE with people. Cindi and I decided to try to find a Brazilian Steakhouse (that was a mistake; memo to self: don’t try to find anything around Chicago at night!!!) so nearly an hour later, we made our way back to our hotel where we finally got to order dinner and a glass of wine sometime after 9:30 p.m. Whew. We were both starved and so we each ate two one-half pound burgers topped with cheese and bacon. We woofed it down (I know, Thomas Aquinas says that’s gluttony). Cindi quipped we were “channeling our inner Krauser” since my friend Jim Krauser (New York!) often eats so very late. When we finished dinner, we headed straight to bed and next thing we knew it was morning. We had a rather uneventful trip home (with some slight backups on 55, but nothing like Friday’s trip TO Chicago). So at long last this hobbit is back home and in bliss again. It was wonderful to meet folks up there and to hear some stories, particularly of those new to our Lutheran Confession (one of whom gave me a chaplet that I’m eager to learn how to pray). Glory be to God!!!