This Pilgrim's Progress, Or Resume Redux

In New Haven, I learned it is not what you know, but what you let on.

In Pittsburgh, I learned the expression 'there are better people than you in Hell.'

In Jeannette, I learned that not all reputations are warranted.

In Coshocton, I learned all life can be divided into three categories: those effecting salvation, the adiaphora, and those that are evil.

In Jerusalem, I left a large piece of my heart at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in order always to know where it is.

In Durham, I learned that Newton was right that bodies in motion stay in motion and bodies at rest stay at rest.

In Ulster and the Republic, I learned that sometimes the best response to ambiguity is the two finger wave and a good,loud melody.

In Smithfield, I learned where there is life there is hope.

In Zimbabwe and Zambia, I learned that God's created order is at all times more wonderful, vast, sorrowful, and joyful than we can imagine. In Botswana, I saw the empyrean and took it inside.

As I go forward, I remember Talleyrand's admonition that in order to thrive one must discern the inevitable and hasten its arrival.