Osler's Razor

I've always wanted to hear Jimmy Carter speak, in person, because I have always admired the man. That desire came true yesterday, when he spoke at the opening of the Celebration of the New Baptist Covenant. Today, he came to hear me speak.

First, though, this morning, Tony Campolo spoke to the assembly as a whole, and made my Mom cry. In a good way. Later, it was my turn to take a crack at that.

The official report on my talk can be reviewed here (it gets most of the facts right but overstates my role in the crack/powder changes- probably my fault for not fully explaining the role of an amicus brief). There is another one (unofficial) here. I think it went pretty well, and I really enjoyed the give and take with my co-presenter, Hugh Kirkegaard. He's Canadian, so once he referred to the letter "Zed" (that's what Canadians call the last letter of the alphabet), but other than that he was wonderfully informative, passionate, and clear. Our moderator was Dr. Bill Shiell, a Baylor guy and author who even mentioned the Razor in his introduction.

Shortly after we began, President Carter came in and sat in front of my parents. Further down the same row was Baylor President John Lilly. It was the trifecta of pressure-- parents, boss, former US President/Nobel Prize winner. I did try a little banter with President Carter, though, relating to his appointment of a judge I told a story about. He seemed to enjoy that.

After the evening session, in which Julie Pennington-Russell preached (wonderfully), and both Grant Teaff and John Grisham spoke (another great performance), I visited with the Lillys and then hung around with Jim and Bill Underwood and the Georgia Underwoods. Old stories were told, we laughed ourselves hoarse, and the other people in the restaurant wondered what was going on. I love being at that table.

Tomorrow is a more relaxed day (for me, at least), but for now I just wanna haiku. Do you?

Pick any theme you want. Here's mine:

These are those days that
You hope someday to witness
Suddenly, it's there.

Now, it is your turn: