Here's a short (about a minute) video I took going around the Holy Column in the church of Santa Prassede. This is the column that Jesus was tied to when he was scourged by Pontius Pilate. They don't always have the barrier down, so you usually don't get to see it from all the way around. I wanted to get video of the whole thing all the way around because I ran across a note in an ancient document that said that those who made a pilgrimage (at that time to the Holy Land, since it was still in Jerusalem) could visit the Holy Column, and could see marks left from the hands of Jesus where he gripped it as he was being whipped. I assume that this is pious legend, but I figured since the column has that dark & light marble, maybe there's a place where the dark parts look like hands. I did not see it, but if you do, let me know!

I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:

In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!

I hope you like the song!

First time to Houston - Tammy and I went for an ecumenical conference, where I was supposed to give a talk. But I got hit hard with a stomach flu, missed the second day of the conference, didn't get to give my talk, and didn't even get to meet the royalty that were there (a prince of Luxembourg, a prince of Liechtenstein, and a princess of the Habsburg line, of Hungary).

Funny thing is, I realized (after attending the first day of the conference) that my talk would have been out of place there. I would have given it anyway, but it would have been a bit of a challenge to the Protestants there, probably received as too apologetical for the mixed audience - something like a lecture, when the other talks were more like a testimony. While laying in bed sick, I got it in my head that God didn't want me to give that talk. I said to God, Did you have to give me this terrible stomach flu? And the answer came back immediately, "Anything less and you would have powered through and given that ...

Tammy and I will be in Houston for an ecumenical gathering, and I'll be giving a talk on the "essentials" - the so-called fundamentals that are our common ground as Christians of different communions. So we won't have a session of The Journey on the 9th.

The following week, on the 16th, I will be back at Garrett for the last of my three weekend meetings of my Church History intro course. At this point I'm not sure if I will be able to do The Journey live from Garrett, but I'll let you know...

Until then, I am praying for tomorrow's election - for God's intervention to warm the hearts of voters to the dignity of all human life, the protection of marriage and the family, and the liberation of religion and speech from the oppressive marginalization that will only get worse if we continue on the path we're on.

We are going to finish up this set of texts:

Mark 8:34-9:1, 41; Luke 9:23-27, 12:49-56, 14:25-33; Matthew 10:34-11:1, 16:24-28 (cf. also John 12:25, 13:20)