A peek at the life, times and thoughts of John during his two-year stint in Knoxville.

As some of you might know, I'm in West Tennessee this week for the Freed-Hardeman University Lectureships. Henderson doesn't really bother to have hotels, so a lot of the attendees stay in hotels in Jackson.

Those of us who came from the school are in that category. So, last night's weather system blew through here. I got to hear tornado sirens for the first time in my life, and go through the experience. It was unique. When I was told that the worst weather always happens during lecture week I thought they were talking about cold and snow.

Long story short the tornado was on the other side of the Interstate. Eye-witness accounts (I was tucked away inside the hotel, but some people were actually out front watching when it blew passed) suggest the sky was "lime-green." As we waited it out in the lobby hallway (away from windows and all) we had no idea it had gone through until one of the outside folks came in and said "Yeah, it went by."

So, I have no exciting "this is what I saw" stories or "this is what the tornado sounded like" sound bites. Union University is a mile or two away from here. They of course sustained very heavy damage.

The Lectureships have been a good experience this week. It's been a busy week, but beneficial.