Today I did ministry for the first time since surgery as I preached Max Shumaker’s funeral. It was good to see some of Max’s friends that don’t attend church here anymore. And I’m glad I was able to share words of comfort with the family.

Tomorrow Anita and I leave for Nashville, Tennessee. We put this off to the very end of my medical leave to make sure I was up to it, and I think I am now.

I’ve finished reading David Barton’s book The Bullet-Proof George Washington. David Barton is a Christian historian who writes books on early American history with an emphasis upon the Christian roots of the founding fathers. The problem is, he sometimes tries to rewrite the story by leaving out or adding to the story a bit. For example, in this book he tells the story of how, early in the French and Indian War, George Washington led a group of colonists to try to take prisoner some French diplomats, but it turned sour and some Fenchmen were killed. In reality, George and the colonists thought they spotted a French raiding party, but ambushed a French peacemaking force, and killed the diplomat carrying peace papers. It was an international scandal and George Washington was blamed for it.

Some people think that we have to make heroes perfect people. George Washington was a genuine hero, but he made a major blunder early on that taught him a life-long lesson. I don’t think there are great heroes that haven’t failed along the way. What do you think?

Tags: blunder, hero, perfect