I wouldn't exactly say that I consider myself an Avalon fan, but when they come out with something good I tend to love it. "You Were There" from their latest album is one such song. I love it when art hits me this way: it's like the shock of a breaking wave, driving me inexorably to my knees. It reaches through me from my crawling skin to my trembling heart. It rips worship from my lips, but it's so gentle - softer than velvet, softer than a girl's touch. It's not a "worship song," but it's a worship song. And it's danceable (two-step). Goes on the list of Songs to Dance with True Love at Wedding Reception.

In other news, I understand it's all over by the time I write this, but God bless Iraq. For those of you who have been hiding from politics, the long-touted (and long-doubted) elections took place in Iraq today. The next step towards setting a nation back on its feet. Now the task of drafting a constitution.

I look forward with some trepidation to the next several days when we will find out what the Sunni turnout was, but for now I dwell on something else. It's hard for me to imagine the courage of a crippled old woman hobbling to vote under the threat of violent men who have promised to turn the polling places into slaughterhouses. I hope that we'd have the courage to do that in our own country. God bless the process of giving their nation back to the children of Iraq (I mean that literally - God help it, because it needs help and will need help) - and God bless the men and women under arms who are willing to die to give that process a fighting chance. To paraphrase the quote from Xenophon's profile, one day men will sleep peacefully in that country, because rough men stood ready to do violence on their behalf. May that day come soon.