Snow in July

Grace and greetings.

After the forecasters kept promising rain and snow for the last several weeks, it finally happened. Yesterday was a rainy day, but up in the low 60's. Got to play some softball last night, misty at first, but stayed dry until the game was over. (We got our first win after 4 losses of the 4 week season. I will miss the last couple of games as we leave Barrow for a couple of weeks for vacation.) The snow this morning started out very fine, then grew into large flakes being driven by a fairly strong wind. My wife and I took a drive around after dinner, through the driving snow, into the tundra. The snow was not sticking very much in town, nor on the few miles of dirt roads that we have, but by the evening, it was starting to stick to the grasses in the tundra. In town was just a muddy mess, but such is life in Barrow.

Of course the big news here in Barrow, as well as Alaska, is the indictment of Senator Ted Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the US Senate. Of course he has been under investigation for several years now, as has been his son, Ben Stevens, one of the leaders in the Alaska State Senate. Of course this is a re-election year for Ted Stevens, and he is, and has been stating his innocence ever since the investigations started. But one of the things that gives the indictments more weight, is that they were filed in Washington D.C. and not here in Alaska. I think that it is just another blow to the Republican Party here in Alaska as they have been indictments, convictions and jail time for Republican State Senators and Representatives. The past Governor, Frank Murkowski, has been tied to many insinuations of wrong doing, but has not been officially indicted or charged. So we will see how this plays out.

In other news, there is the shooting of Church members in Tennessee, because of their social activities on behalf of women and gay/lesbian rights. As of tonight, it sounds like the shooter is being charged with murder in a hate crime. As a pastor of a church, I must admit that there has always a thought in the back of my mind that some radical will take exception to what I have to say, or what the Presbyterian Church (USA) may have to say on any particular social subject. Though the denomination is not as progressive as the Unitarians/Universalist, I too speak out for the rights of women, gays/lesbians and others that the Religious Right as declared deviants; granted, I try not to force my beliefs upon the congregations I serve or upon anybody else for that matter. Yet, as I have said to others in the past concerning the persecution within judging other's worship beliefs: Since the time of Cain and Able we have been killing each other over worship.

In lighter news, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, obtained first baseman Mark Teixeira from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Casey Kotchman, who has been the MVP of the Angels this season. We will see where that takes the Angels. Of course, I am always pulling for the Angels.

I will check in and let you know how my vacation is going. Right now, besides all the above, it has been nice and quiet. Well the sun is trying to come out through the clouds as I come to this end.

Peace and blessings.