stuff i think

even factoring in Burning Man....

Yesterday was likely the strangest day of my life. It started out innocuously enough. On Sunday, I had flown to Tampa to join Kelsey. Immediately upon landing, we loaded the vans and drove to Tallahassee to pray at the state capitol as legislators discussed a bill regarding the Schiavo case. Monday evening, we decided to head for home, so we drove to Macon and spent the night. We woke up to hear that the battle had been moved to the 11th District Court in Atlanta....which was just 70 miles down the road, in the direction we were heading.

We decided to stop and pray for an hour outside the courtroom. As we parked our cars and covered our mouths with the red LIFE tape, we were totally not expecting what would happen next. The media circus waiting for us was dizzying. Without any news coming out of the courthouse, they turned their cameras and microphones on our prayer meeting. At one point, in a bit of a panic in the face of all of the cameras, I discreetly (?) text messaged the rest of our group: "COME!".

Within the hour, our photos were everywhere. By 6 pm, Kelsey was on NPR. She must have made a lot more sense than anything I said because the few quotes I gave never saw the light of day (and for this I am grateful).

Lessons Learned:

In the public context, prayer is controversial and not remotely understood. Call it a prayer meeting and they'll still label you a protester.

When the cameras roll, deduct fiftee IQ points. At least from me.

Be ready to be misunderstood. A lot. Thanks for the supportive emails from folks. They counteracted the rest of them. :)

'night, gang