I found this short video interesting. It’s Newt Gingrich talking about forgiveness for his past infidelities, which is certainly a fine topic for discussion. However, at the very end, he makes the claim that his public failings actually make him “more normal” than some unnamed person who “wanders around, seeming perfect.” I’m sure he’s referring to Mitt Romney, of course. But the first thought that jumped out at me when I heard this was “did he just compare himself to Jesus???”

oh, and I also liked the “been there/done that” comment from evangelicals on the infidelity thing. I know he meant forgiveness, but that’s not what it sounded like.

One of my favorite authors, Anne McCaffrey,died today. I’ve been a fan ever since high school, when the girl who sat behind me in study hall, Amy Gheres, introduced me to her “Dragonrider” series. (Thanks, Amy!) There were only two book in the series then, and I remember waiting with anticipation as new books came out. (there are 14 in the series now). I also greatly enjoyed the “Crystal Singer” trilogy.

McCaffrey’s books tend to feature strong female characters, which was quite a break from the rest of the authors of the genre at the time. While there are certainly strong male characters, in general, it’s the women who are the primary focus of many of the books.

I may have to go back an re-read some of those books now. Anne McCaffrey, along with Frank Herbert and J.R.R. Tolkien, were the primary staples of my library as a young adult.

Tony Jones posted an article on his blog this morning entitled There Are Two Marriages. This is something that Wendy has been espousing for years, and I’m glad to see somebody else bring this up.

The key point that’s being made, as I see it, is that the concepts of marriage and civil union, long considered synonymous, should be broken apart into their component elements. The state has an interest in civil union, for purposes of tax law, inheritance, etc. The church hasn’t (or, rather shouldn’t have) any interest in those matters. Marriage, on the other hand, is a sacred union, binding the couple in the eyes of the church, God, and each other. The state has no interest in that aspect of the relationship.

Looked at from that perspective, I can’t see why the state would have any concern about the gender of the parties involved. If the church feels that a given union is not right in the eyes of God, then by all means they should not sanctify it with marriage. I disagree with that stance, but I respect that their views are held with honest conviction.

Be that as it may, that’s completely separate from the interest of the state, at least in this country.

I know it’s been a long time since I updated this thing. Maybe I need to try to make this a discipline to update more regularly.

Anyway, the reason for this post …

We’re moving to New Jersey!

Wendy has accepted a call to be the new Regional Presbyter for the Presbyteries of Monmouth and New Brunswick, in central New Jersey. The formal vote making it all “final and official” will be July 20th. We plan on moving out some time around Labor Day weekend.

This will be very exciting. We’re going to be sad to leave all of our Texas friends, but it will be nice to be back in the north east again, which is, after all, “home” for both of us.

Now we just need to sell our house. Anyone interested?

This is just a test post, trying out the WordPress app for my iPad. Seems to work pretty well.

This is just a test post from my new Google Nexus One phone.

I can’t resist:

This isn’t the Droid you’re looking for.