What a blessed time. I got into DC last night at about 9pm and, since we had similar flight schedules, traveled with Chris Spinks to our hotel. My first steps out into the brisk, cold air were a beautiful welcome back to the East Coast, which feels so much more like home. After checking in, Chris and I went out to a place called “Dakota Cowgirl,” which apparently is a place where same-sex male couples go for food and drinks before or after hitting the gay club upstairs. So I guess Chris and I could have seemed like a gay couple, while our waitress called us each “baby” a few dozen too many times, but I had a good cup of chili.

This morning I went with Rob Muthiah over to the session for Mennonite Scholars and Friends, with a presentation from Daniel Boyarin responding to J. H. Yoder’s ideas of the Jewish-Christian schism. It was a great presentation with excellent responses. Afterwards, I greeted my former pastor (and now Goshen College president) Jim Brenneman and several other fellow Anabaptists from Pasadena Mennonite Church.

We walked over to the Convention Center and I picked up my tote bag and name tag holder and took awhile to try to find a place to eat in the Convention Center. We ended up eating at the “Café” behind the publisher exhibit, where I paid $10 for a salad, an orange, 10 oz. of OJ, and a sugar cookie. I’m going to stay away from the Café in the future. In the meantime, though, I ran into several Messiah profs (John Yeatts, Reta Finger, Susie Stanley, the Jacobsens, and Brian Smith [though, that was intentional]). It makes me wonder if I’ll run into any fellow Messiah alums. I surveyed the vast offerings of books and made a couple bargain purchases and generally had a grand old time.