I'm writing on this chilly November evening with a seventy-five-year-old hard rubber Waterman #7 fountain pen, sitting with my feet toward the woodstove. In the dark of this windy night, the mercury in the Kansas City northland should fall into the teens for the first time this season. I hope there are many such nights to come so I can stretch out in front of the fire and enjoy the warmth it gives to body and soul. After turning the heater on in the van a few days ago, I concluded that I find more pleasure in feeling warmth when I am cold than I do feeling cool air when I am hot. As you can tell, I think deeply when I am driving.

Thanks to those who responded to my special request for prayer in the last newsletter. I did sense the Lord's help in the message delivered at the conference in Minneapolis commemorating the three-hundredth anniversary of Jonathan Edwards' birth. Now I'd request your prayers for the Lord's blessing on my work turning the notes of that message into a chapter for a book. John Piper is collecting the messages from the conference and publishing them sometime in 2004. My work for this project must be completed by December 31.

Another highlight since the last newsletter was an opportunity to deliver the annual Institute for Christian Worship lectures at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. My host, professor Carl Stam, gathered several other SBTS professors and students in his home for a meal and koinonia-saturated conversation. We spoke for at least an hour about the importance of reading the Scriptures in public well, of how to better cultivate this in our classes and churches, and then heard and discussed a recorded reading of three chapters of the Bible by Max McLean. Baptist Press wrote two stories about the lectures and if you'll scroll down the "Articles" page of the website, you'll find a box in which the articles are linked.

For those of you interested in books on the subject of worship, P&R is scheduled to release Give Praise to God in December. Some twenty writers have contributed to this large (400+ page) volume edited by Philip Ryken and Ligon Duncan. While it deals mostly with public worship, the chapter I was asked to write is on "Private Worship."

In addition to prayer for the completion of the chapter on Edwards, my other major ministry-related prayer request this month is for perseverance in the completion of my seminary classes in mid-December. In particular, I'd be grateful for prayer regarding my Worship Leadership class. The seminary is video-recording the class for broadcast as an Internet course in the spring. Placing the class material on PowerPoint for this purpose has been incredibly time-intensive. I won't bore you with the wherefore and why, suffice it to say that the work involved has made for the most difficult and sleepless semester in eight-and-a-half years of teaching. The end result will, I believe, be useful. But I'd be grateful for any prayer regarding the great amount of work yet to be done. Incidentally, if you're interested in taking the video class online—for credit or as an auditor, contact Midwestern at www.mbts.edu or by phone at 800-944-6287. I teach much of the same material in the local church conference I present on worship. For more information on this, see the Conference Topics button on www.SpiritualDisciplines.org.

Caffy's has completed therapy for her broken leg. As you may recall, she broke it just above the ankle in July. Despite her protests to the contrary, she was told three times during the next six weeks that, based upon x-rays taken at each evaluation, the leg was not broken. A bone scan in September, however, revealed multiple fractures on both sides of the bone. So after hobbling on a broken leg for six weeks, she was placed in a cast for a fortnight, then began therapy. The therapist recently told her the leg would never completely return to normal and that she'd always endure some pain. Not the news she wanted after all she's been through. Please pray for her in this regard.

In addition to homeschooling Laurelen and teaching her art class, Caffy has completed a cover for a paperback reprint of a Victorian children's book by Grace & Truth Books, and started work on a portrait commissioned as a Christmas present. After Thanksgiving she'll start her inimitable transformation of our home for Christmas.

Laurelen loves sitting in front of the woodstove almost as much as dad. She had an assignment for Creative Writing to discover and pen a brief description of her favorite place to do schoolwork. She wrote, "I do my homework by our wood-burning stove in our family room. I sit in a forest green floor-chair with a lap top desk. It is warm, cozy, and relaxing." Christmas and the day after (her tenth birthday) are increasingly on her mind.