Now Playing: Bob Marley, "Confrontation," "I Can See Clearly Now."

At last it was sunny today after several days of clouds and rain and cold wind. Clear late autumn sky, pale, high, chilly. I went to the gym this morning and worked out, which was good. I've been listening to Pastor D's sermons on Nehemiah about rebuilding the church--challenging. As I listen, I wonder what good I as an individual can do in a church that is at times so hard to mobilize, especially considering my tendency either to be petrified with fear or to rush unwisely into situations. But I love the applications to personal life and, indeed, to the life of the church: the hope of revival, God's faithfulness to raise up leaders who love Him, His Spirit's power to stir up His people.

When I came home from the gym today, Annie was chasing something in a coil of hose on the back porch. The house was empty: my father at work; Stephen at a meeting with his academic advisor at OSU; my mother in cataract surgery at the surgery centre. I showered and then left immediately to pick her up, stopping at Wal-Mart on the way. Listened to Bebo Norman, who reminds me a lot of The Lighthouse Family. Cheerful Christian music, not particularly deep.

The waiting room at the surgery centre was packed with people. The TV was on, and everyone seemed to be talking at once. I sat near the door and read Master and Commander until suddenly, Mr. C appeared out of a side door and asked me if I wanted to go back and see my mother. He seemed to be quite at home there. He opened a door that had no handle and ushered me into what appeared to be post-surgery care, a series of cubicles and a nurse's station. My mother was in one of the cubicles, looking very pale.

I drove her home. At half eleven, I went over to OSU to help with the CRF book table. Lunchtime in the Student Union is busy, all sorts of people hurrying through the low-ceilinged corridors between bookshops, stylist's salons, the food court, and the post office. Pastor and Jon were sitting at a table in a corner, and I joined them until Pastor had to leave. Then Jon and I were stuck together for an hour, during which we attempted to come up with a more colorful logo for CRF. A couple of guys stopped by to look at the books.

At home, I found Mrs. S just arriving to pray with my mother. I put drops in my mother's eyes and ate a late lunch with the two of them while they talked about "heat hogs," dogs and cats who like to sit on top of heater vents. Then I worked on personal statements for graduate applications until I had to leave again at three o'clock.

I went to Crepe Myrtle for another training time. Laurel wanted to go over the waitstaff test I had taken yesterday. The restaurant was nearly empty, so we sat at a booth, and she went over all the minuscule details of writing orders. Particular layouts, pricings, exceptions. She tried to explain to me how busy the restaurant gets, how to handle several tables at once, and so forth, while I tried somewhat unsuccessfully to absorb it all.

Then I ran errands: to the church office to return the book table supplies; to the bank to cash a check. At home I had to start making tea. Chinese beef and noodles and stir fry tofu. I enjoy cooking, but there always seems to come a point when everything is sizzling or boiling or spitting oil (and flames!) at once, which is slightly terrifying. No sooner had I begun to put the tofu into the oil than the stove darted out a couple of flames, and no sooner had I boiled the water for the noodles than the beef and tofu both started to scald to the bottoms of their separate skillets.

So I had a lively hour-and-a-quarter of it. My father ended up setting the table, and my poor mother had to slice up vegetables to go with the tofu. But everything tasted alright when it finally arrived on the table.

At seven o'clock, Stephen and I drove over to OSU for CRF. I always try to leave early because it takes us awhile to walk to the Student Union from the car park, but tonight we didn't leave early enough: an OSU men's basketball game was creating a furor all around the stadium. Add to that a "Mr. and Ms. International" pageant happening in the Union, and all the parking spaces were full. We circled and circled for nearly twenty minutes before we finally squeezed in beside a sports car near Hideaway, and then we had to walk to the Union.

So of course we were late for the Psalm sing. Jonathan was away, so CRF tonight was just a Psalm sing, and a paltry one at that. Sarah and I were the only sopranos. We warbled valiantly, but we were usually either sharp or flat, while Logan manfully tried to pull the rest of the guys along on bass. It didn't help that we sang several tunes with which none of us are quite familiar, or that Sarah and I were both tired and kept singing words from the red Psalter instead of paying attention to the new wordings.

In the middle, we stopped so that Jon could present his "brilliant" idea for the new CRF logo. The sword dripping blood made all the guys laugh. J.D. redrew a passable revision, but I still think the sword is rather random. We bantered around, sang some more, ate cookies, and then people started to leave. Sarah and I sat and chatted quietly in a corner of the table. Stephen and I walked with her to her car, and she drove us to ours.

As we walked up the sidewalk to our house, our breath left plumes of mist on the still air.