It is time to mention John Owen in this blog. It sounds like his is the heaviest influence on the long reading list Rev. has been assigned for this course. Total pages he needs to read is 2000. How far he is right now -- around 1500. One more day of reading at home, and it looks like I will be doing a lot of the driving.

Near the beginning of the large reading task, I heard Rev. saying, "Ok, Johnny." No Dyke vehicles were on our yard, so I realized this was more of team huddle cheer -- ok, Johnny. Here we go, Johnny. This made me become aware of some of the finer details of his reading that developed over the weeks.

Favorite highlighter color: yellow. Although I have seen him using orange, and blue is being used right now to clip a group of pages together. Best time of day to read: mornings. Beverage to read with: coffee -- black and strong. Best place to read: as pictured on day one of this blog. Most unusual place to read so far: Parking lot of thrift store in Indy where I found some great items. Music or quiet? Mostly quiet, occasionally music, never talk radio or RefNet. 

I heard him reading out loud once, which I know is a good way to tackle difficult passages. I could hear him from where I was weeding just under the windows and at first thought he was talking to the dogs, then it dawned on me that their doggy vocabulary is no where near what I was hearing. Common phrases such as Go away, Stop licking that, Lay down somewhere else, were not being used. 

When the dogs know I am at home but cannot be near me, they make little woof noises. Especially if they can see me, say, sweeping the porch or watering the plants. Repeatedly. Woof...woof.... While I take this as one of the highest forms of praise, it has been pointed out to me that these sounds are not conducive to the reading of Puritan theology. I have to stay inside, go completely away, or refrain from outdoor tasks visible from the windows.

Now I will accommodate those of you hoping for a little more substance than highlighter colors and dog woofs. "What is the most interesting thing you have read so far," I asked him just a few days ago. This quote. This is what really says it:

John Owen (1616 – 1683) “The Forgiveness of Sins; a Practical Exposition of Psalm 130”(Page 394):

He that hath slight thoughts of sin had never great thoughts of God. Indeed, men’s undervaluing of sin ariseth merely from their contempt of God. All sin’s concernments flow from its relation unto God; and as men’s apprehensions are of God, so will they be of sin, which is an opposition to him. This is the frame of the most of men, they know little of God, and are little troubled about anything that relates unto him. God is not reverenced, sin is but a trifle, forgiveness a matter of nothing; whose will may have it for asking. . . . He who is not acquainted with God’s holiness and purity, who knows not sin’s desert and sinfulness, knows nothing of forgiveness.”

 

And from William Gurnall (1616 – 1679)  “The Christian in Complete Armor”

He that will be Christ’s soldier, must persevere to the end of his life in this war with Satan. Not he that takes the field, but he that keeps the field; not he that sets out, but he that holds out in this holy war, deserves the name of a saint.

In a few days we will be in Charlotte, North Carolina. Neither of us have been to this state before, and we both enjoy road trips that take us to new places. Tomorrow I will officially be in pre-travel stress, and am planning to skip a blog until we are one day on our way.