Trekked almost five hundred miles on Tuesday, from the Albany, NY area to my friend Miller's abode north of Pittsburgh. Passed by sections of the Erie Canal, a Beechnut factory, and lots of cornfields, and other agricultural products that I, an ignorant city type, could not identify. Miller has a home in a village that contains a number of old order Amish, complete with brimmed hats and beards for the men, bonnets and long dresses for the women, and horses and buggies for all. It also has a college that he taught at for forty years. We wandered around the college today, I did my constitutional on the track, and we went to a prayer meeting with mostly elderly saints in the evening. I did my best to honor them as people who have proven faithful over many decades. May the Lord bring them safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory for ever and ever. (2 Tim 4:18)

Had my own private concert this morning, courtesy of my friend Miller and our friend Mary. They played piano solos and duos in a variety of styles- ragtime, Christian, classical, including a fascinating variation on the Happy Birthday theme featuring about ten different composer's motifs. An enlightening discussion ensued in which Miller drew a parallel between God's sovereignty and our freedom, and a pianist playing two melodies (counterpoint?) at the same time, which Mary illustrated with a Bach piece.