overdue

This post is much delayed. I had a computer crash almost two weeks ago and am only now getting back up to speed.

I must also admit that writing a blog no longer comes naturally to me. When I was on city council in NJ, I write a daily blog for over three years. I haven't counted the total pages but it is ridiculous. Perhaps my fingers are tired.

However, blogs are for commentary and there is much upon which to comment. Julie and I were not in NJ on September 11, 2001. We were celebrating my father's retirement, cruising through Alaska's inner passage with Mom, Dad, my sister and her husband. Needless to say, the cruise went from one of wonderment and merry to one of grave concern and anxiety. We actually were on one of the first flights within the US, and it got us to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

We did not have any church members who died on Sept 11. I did know a woman on flight 93. She was an advocate for the blind, on her way to attend a conference about same in Las Vegas. We had met a few times as our work with Habitat overlapped. Our county lost a lot of folks though.

So, I didn't shed a tear learning that Bin Laden had been killed. I also didn't take to the streets and begin celebrating.

Julie and I attended a denominational gathering not long after 9/11. I remember being shocked by a pastor from California who advocated bombing most of the Middle East, under the guise that he lived near Los Angeles thus putting his children in jeopardy from a terrorist attack. The vivid disconnect between real world events (and dangers) and his professed faith in Jesus Christ--who promises to provide all things in this world and the next--shocked me. It was also a primer for many other similar "confessions."

Realclearreligion had an article on Bin Laden in Hell--the title was catchy but it was more about Islamic political-theocracy than theology. I believe there is a Hell and I believe Bin Laden is there. But I still don't feel like celebrating.