Thought-fragments during a very busy day

1. I spilled a full cup of coffee (with cream, no sugar) directly into my keyboard this morning. Quick thinking seems to have saved my lap top. I instantly turned it off, flipped it upside down, and used a towel to dry off everything I could reach. Then I used Q-Tips to soak up as much from under and between the keys as possible. It's not the kind of keyboard where the key caps pop off easily. (Last time I tried popping keys off, I had to have my whole keyboard replaced.) So I just let it dry naturally for two hours. Since the coffee got all over my gym shorts, too, I waited till they were fully dry before turning the lap top back on. It seems to be working flawlessly so far. It's a Dell, BTW. It's been an amazingly sturdy machine. I've had it more than 2 years and dragged it all around the world with me. I can't tell you how many times it has been dropped and spilled on. Darlene saw how much coffee I spilt, and she was genuinely amazed when the computer started up perfectly two hours later. As it heats up, it's giving off a nice aroma of coffee & cream. But I think it's about time for me to start shopping for a new lap top.
   
2. Here's a book you're not likely to encounter in most Christian bookshops, but it's well worth a careful read. Contending for the Faith is a biography of E. J. Poole-Connor, by David G. Fountain, originally published in 1966 with a foreword by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Poole-Connor was an important figure in British Evangelicalism whose ministry spanned the first half of the twentieth century. He was arguably the most important evangelical separatist in the UK between the time of Spurgeon (who influenced him greatly) and Lloyd-Jones (whom he in turn influenced). This revised edition includes an appendix about Lloyd-Jones's separatism and a postscript by Dr. Peter Masters, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. Unfortunately, biblical separatism is not a particularly popular idea these days among evangelicals anywhere—but especially in the UK. So I'm grateful to see this book in back in print in a new edition. It's an insightful perspective on the history of the early twentieth-century evangelical movement in the UK. If you're a subscriber to The Sword & Trowel, you should have received a copy by mail already. If not, you can purchase a copy at the Tabernacle Bookshop—and be sure to subscribe to S&T; you can do it on line.
   
3. Speaking of the Met Tab, I'll be there next Sunday (a week from tomorrow), and for most of the following week. That week is the annual School of Theology, one of my two favorite annual conferences in the whole world. (The other is the Shepherds' Conference at my own home church.) You might think "School of Theology" sounds like a forum for dry, technical academic lectures. Not so. The conference is attended by hundreds of lay people and students, and although the biblical and theological issues that are usually addressed are not the kinds of things you would naturally think of as "user-friendly," I've never heard anyone complain that either the speakers or the issues were over anyone's head. I've always found it richly edifying, and the fellowship with likeminded people there is likewise manna for my soul.
   
4. Another of those infamous BlogSpotting posts is on its way tomorrow. Could be the last one ever. Watch for details to come.
   
5. The rest of this coming week promises to be a hard one for me. I have two memorial services to attend—one Monday, another Tuesday. They are for two different Christian leaders who were each used by God in profound ways to further the work of the gospel—and whose impact you have most likely felt in one way or another, whether you knew these men or not. They each went to heaven last week within days of each other. Their services are in separate states, so I'll definitely be on the road more than usual this week. I'm planning a couple of special blogposts to honor each of these two dear brethren. Watch this space.

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