It is now 8pm in Birmingham, England. I've been up for 33 hours and won't be able to get to bed for another two hours. I traveled from Dayton to Chicago to Brussels and on to Birmingham. I had very little trouble along the way. I even ended up with an empty seat next to me on the transatlantic flight. What a godsend. I happened to meet up with a couple on their way to Woodbrooke and we shared a taxi. The taxi was too tiny for me to be able to sit back on the seat. I sort of hung on the edge of the seat. My leg feel asleep by the end of the trip. It was hugely expensive; we're told it was probably twice what it should have cost us.

There are many colleagues here at Woodbrooke for FAHE representing Earlham College and Earlham School of Religion. Then there's a handfull of Earlham alums. We've had a good beginning. Now if I can just get some sleep. Even my laptop batteries are about dead.

Today is my last day at work before beginning a six-month sabbatical. Tomorrow I'll be flying to Birmingham, England for the annual Friends Association for Higher Education (FAHE) conference at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre . The theme this year is "Where Faith and Practice Meet." I'm not presenting a paper but going primarily to be in discussion with Friends who are beginning to offer non-credit online courses.

The most interesting aspect for me is that by going to England first on my sabbatical, I am beginning to trace backward my religious heritage, England, Rome, Bethlehem. England represents my current spiritual home among Quakers. For me, Rome represents the Greco-Roman cultural influences that helped shape early Christianity. I've written about the five weeks I'll spend at the American Academy in Rome in an earlier blog. My Fall semester visit to Israel-Palestine will take me to the birthplace of my religious heritage as I live in Bethlehem (I've described this is earlier blogs as well.). There are people who would see this as an opportunity just to visit the biblical sites of the Holy Land. I expect to be doing that, but my main goal is to explore the spiritual roots of my faith. I suspect I will find that currently among Palestinian Christians and Muslims. I am being cautious about not being anti-Jewish in my dislike for the Zionist program of modern-day Israel. My main interest during this phase of my sabbatical will be on life in the occupied territories and how learning about that can inform my research and ministry among Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

I've just returned (11/21/06) from attending the 2006 Society of Biblical Literature conference held this year in Washington, DC. My description of the conference will be both personal and professional. My second to the oldest daughter lives in Reston, VA, so we drove there and stayed with her over the weekend.

We got a chance to see her in action teaching first grade at the Lorien Wood School .She does very well and we are extremely proud of what she has accomplished. She recently applied for a position as a part-time tutor and out of the hundreds of applicants she was chosen. It doesn't surprise me in the least -- Heidi has the intelligence, skills, and personal qualities that a teacher needs to be effective. It's obvious that the children love and respect her.

In July, 2006 I traveled to St. Andrews, Scotland to attend the St. Andrews Conference on Hebrews & Theology . I was fortunate to be able to have my wife, Suann, accompany me.

It was quite a trip getting there, though I think everything went pretty well -- considering. We left the Dayton airport in the late afternoon and arrived at the Newark, NJ airport. I was a little worried when we got on the plane and I discovered that my aisle seat armrest was fixed. Being a big guy, I count on having an aisle seat where I can lift the outside armrest and sort of spill over into the aisle. I was going to be crammed in between two armrests for the 6 - 7 hour flight to Glasgow. Everyone around us was eyeing an empty row of seats nearby. Suann kept nudging me, wanting me to say something to the flight attendant. I kept quiet and remained patient. Finally they seemed like they were getting ready to get going. The flight attendants were standing near us and were obviously getting ready to make some seat changes. I kept waiting. The flight attendant then looked straight at me and asked me if I would like to move and then had Suann and I move to the empty row. What a relief!