In the meantime

A new member of the Supremes

It had to happen sooner or later.  President Bush finally gets to nominate a Supreme Court Justice. Good grief, most of the sitting justices remember when Strom Thurmond was a toddler.  Two of them (Stevens and Rehnquist) were born in the 1920s, and all the rest were born in the 1930s, except for the youngster Clarence Thomas, who was born in 1948.

Most of us assumed Bush would be nominating a replacement for the ailing Chief Justice Rehnquist, who is battling cancer and is obviously in failing health.  But, suprisingly, the resignation came from Sandra Day O'Conner, A Reagan nominee (1981) who has the distinction of being the first woman to serve on the High Court.

Bush's nominee, John Roberts is a good, if safe choice.  Most feel that he will be confirmed, not because the left will show class and dignity, but because the Republicans have the nuclear option still in their back pocket, and the dems don't want to be seen as opposing a highly qualified and squeaky clean nominee.  Their track record is not so good in that regard; Trashing a nominee because of his or her views regardless of their qualifications worked in 1987 against Judge Bork, but backfired on them in '91 with the attempted "high tech lynching" of Clarence Thomas. (Click Here to view a video recap of the Clarence Thomas confirmation process)

So, the left will likely put up a token resistance with Ted Kennedy leading the way to energize the moveon.org crowd, but in the end elevate Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court.  But, hey, that may be their best strategy anyway.  Not because they should follow the time-honored tradition of "to the victor goes the spoils" (which they should as the right did in giving Bill Clinton his nominee in Ruth Bader Ginsburg) but because of the Republican tradition of getting fooled by their SCOTUS nominees.  History is replete with instances of Republican presidents since Eisenhower nominating an alleged conservative to the court, only to have them take a sharp left turn once joining "The Brethren."

Only time will tell what kind of Justice John Roberts will be.  We only know that with him being elevated to the High Court at age 50, there will be lots of time to tell.

Follow up and retraction... sort of

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Jennifer Wilbanks, the Duluth, Georgia "Runaway Bride" (see "Grace and Mercy for Jennifer," Wednesday, May 4).  During the five weeks that I was on a self-imposed blogging hiatus, this story continued to get, in the words of Lewis Carroll, "curiouser and curiouser."

Everytime Jennifer opens her mouth, we all realize just how full of issues she is.  Let's face it, the girl is just plain strange.

Yet in every interview, I continue to be impressed with the kind, gentle, forgiving spirit of her long-suffering fiancee, John.  Now comes word that, as predicted, they have signed a big book deal to tell their story to the world.

Puh-lease.

The bottom line is that if I knew on May 4 what I know today, I would not have written that post.  In light of seeing her and hearing from her, I don't think she just snapped, or that the pressures of the impended wedding got to be too much for her.  She's just strange.  Unbelievably strange.

At the risk of yet again commenting on a story that is something of a pundit tar baby, I do have some advice for John Mason that I urge him to follow before the day of his wedding to Jennifer arrives:

Run away!  Run away!

Extreme Lifestyle Change Comes to Alleged Blogger

It's been well over a month since I posted to this weblog.  And what a month it has been.

In the last month I changed careers (see the "About Alan" link to the left for more info), left a church, and stepped onto a conveyor belt that was traveling 100 mph.  Well, not literally, but it sure felt that way.  On Monday, June 13, I joined the team at 316 Networks.  On Thursday night the site went live for the first time.  On Saturday morning we left for Nashville for a major convention and our first big live streaming event. Things got even more hectic when we returned home as we are working to add content to the site. It's been a madhouse.  And I'm loving every minute of it.

I have refrained from posting anything until I had some sense of perspective on the events.  Nothing provides perspective like time and space between you and persons, situations and events.

As readers of this blog could surmise, for some time now I have been feeling less than satisfied with the state of the church in general, and a large part of that was the state of a church in particular (if you catch my drift).  Over the years I have found that dissatisfaction is not always a bad thing.  Frequently God uses that dissatisfaction to move us from point A to point B, with point B being where He wants us to be.  I've been at point B now for a little over a month and find I have a different perspective on events leading up to my arrival here than I did before I got here.  It's sort of like climbing a steep incline, whining all the way about how hard the journey is. When you arrive at the summit, the breathtaking beauty of the view from there makes you forget all about the aches and pains of the climb.  Or at the very least it helps you put those aches and pains in proper perspective.

Those of you who have ever served in vocational ministry know the awkward feeling that comes when conscience and integrity dictate you should depart, but the realities of providing for your family seem to dictate you must stay.  Sometimes that awkward feeling keeps you from doing something stupid, like telling people to take a hike and walking out when the problem is as much you as them.  Then other times that tension serves to hold you in place just long enough for God to work out all the details of your next move.  That was the case with me.

I love what I am doing now.  It is exciting and challenging, and I feel like I am in a place where I can really make a difference.  I'm working longer hours and I have to travel more than I like (which would be none in my perfect world) but I no longer have that feeling of beating my head against the wall.  I no longer am in an environment where we claim to be stewards of eternal truth but spend most of our time avoiding the truth at all costs.

A church staff friend of mine had a stock response when someone commented on his experience by saying, "So you have 20 years experience in the ministry?"  His reply: "No, I have one year's experience 20 times."  The first time I heard that I thought it was funny.  Then there was a time in the last couple of years that it hit way too close to home to be funny. 

Hey, I just realized something... it's funny again.