"J. I. Packer puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like you and me," part I

I've neglected posting for a week, and so here I am with a new post.

I went evangelizing last Friday. It was raining--pretty heavily at first, although it let up later on--and I stayed for about two hours. I handed out many tracts, but I had no really good conversations, as I had last week. I did, however, converse for about ten minutes with a man who, standing just outside a door to a restaurant, was leaning against the wall and smoking. In fact, he was the executive chef for the restaraunt, in charge of all the other chefs. Talking to him with a fellow evangelist (a professor from Midwest Baptist Theological Seminary), I challenged him to consider what the overall purpose of his life was. I asked him what he thought would happen were he to die. In responding, he merely shrugged off my questions. However, he took a tract and said he would show the tract to the other chefs.

Rev. Syms and I met last week and discussed his spiritual disciplines.

I haven't really done anything major this week but only miscellany:

• I have been continuing my (almost two-month) study of Romans. I have now reached Romans 9-11, which I am actually kind of studying as a whole. Most of my study has consisted in (besides reading, re-reading, and meditating on the Scripture text) listening to John Piper's sermons in his series on Romans. These are excellent, and I recommend that anyone who enjoys hearing the Word of God exposited faithfully, skillfully, and passionately should download some of them (see links under "Audio Resources").
• I've been continuing to memorize Scripture (though not everyday, as I should). My score on InVerse is now 69 (which means nothing to you unless you have the program--which you can download free at the InVerse website). Currently, I'm in the process of memorizing Acts 4:12, 27-28; Romans 8:28-30; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20; and Jeremiah 17:9-10.
• Wednesday, I attended a discussion panel/debate on capital punishment at William Jewell. The panel consisted of six people, of whom three represented each side of the issue. Within each of these two groups, each of the three people represented a different aspect of the debate: one the legal aspect, one the moral aspect, and one the "personal" aspect. Each of the panelists in turn made a c.20-minute presentation. Although the event as a whole was stimulating, four of the six panelists were at least mildly inept.

Having taken the Greek final exam, I have now completed my third semester of ancient Greek and my study of the fundamental elements of Greek grammar. I'm now eager to begin reading ancient Greek at Cambridge. But which author should I read? From what I've heard, Plato, Euripides, and Xenophon are among the friendliest authors to read in Greek.