Month: August 2007

I just got back from Texas where I preached a funeral and visited with my sister for a few days. My brother-in law, Joel Butts, died two weeks ago. They only recently discovered that he had heart problems. After surgery and horrible complications, he’d finally made a complete recovery and was feeling fine, going to his construction job every day. Then he woke up one night with chest pain, collapsed in the driveway, and died quickly at the hospital. We don’t know what went wrong.

As you can see from the recent picture, he was a big ol’ guy and only fifty five years old. He was good to me. He was good to everybody. It hurts to see him go. I wish I knew more people like him.

I heard a story once about a man who came into a country store and asked “Where’s Earl?” and the worker behind the counter answered “Earl don’t work here no more.” So the man then asked “Well, who’s filling his vacancy?” and the answer came back “Earl didn’t leave no vacancy.”

Joel left a big ol’ vacancy. He had no enemies and his friends loved him dearly — but none so much as my sister. She’ll recover one day, but for now she’s overwhelmed by grief.

Bloggers are currently covering the Internet with writings about Senator Larry Craig (R-ID). The charges against him and his denials are well known, so I’ll skip all that and just proceed.

Back when I was just a little right-wing extremist, Larry Craig was one of my heroes. We’re talking 1983-86 here. I knew nothing about him personally. I only knew that he voted the way I wished all legislators would vote. To my knowledge, he has continued to vote that way.

But a public servant has a position of leadership and responsibility that goes beyond the way he votes. As a representative, he stands in the place of his constituents. That’s why we have ethics committees in the House and Senate. Soliciting sex in a washroom is not consistent with public office.

I never knew Craig as a moral example, nor did I know him to go around telling others how immoral they are. He voted in ways that are good for America, even if he lived in a way that wasn’t. He is a liar (for denying it), but I don’t see him as a hypocrite. Still, he needs to be out of office, along with a slew of others who are just like him or worse.