Friday, July 9, 2010

First Day

Well, technically, the first day of the convention is tomorrow, but I arrived in Houston today. Attended the open session of Floor Committee 8, had dinner with my DP, the official photographer for the convention (DP's son), and SP/VP nominee Herb Mueller, and went to the Cardinals/Astros game. (I finally snapped my losing streak with the Redbirds - before tonight, they were 0-6 for games I had attended this year.)

The thing that has struck me today is the collegiality I have experienced in this first day. I saw my vicarage supervisor and several of my former profs from the sem. (No matter how old you get, "I'm proud of you," is a sentence that, when spoken by those who have trained you or raised you, warms your heart and inspires you to do even more.) I have seen many seminary classmates that I haven't seen for over a decade. As we talked, we realized that we didn't always agree, but we could be civil to one another even in our disagreements. This is what the real "politics" of conventions are about.

It has been a long day, so I'm not going to post a lot tonight. After being up for nineteen hours straight, I'm ready to try out the bed here at the Hilton.