Question the First: If you know of a church website that does its thing really well, please let me know, either in comments or via e-mail. I am looking for sites that are attractive, with a simplicity of design, are welcoming to visitors, and also useful to long-time members.

Question the Second: C has heard us discussing the election a good bit. We have been talking to her about the various candidates, and she knows that Hillary Clinton is running against Barack Obama for the chance to compete against John McCain to be President.

Got me thinking: Do you think it is better (whatever “better” means) to tell a young child about the historic nature of Clinton’s and Obama’s candidacies? Or is it better to treat them as no big deal? On the one hand, it’s important to know where we’ve been and how far we’ve come; on the other hand, there’s something powerful about the idea of women presidential candidates and black presidential candidates just being the normal part of things.

Discuss.

The first was an actual earthquake here in Suburban Sheol. I was at the church and heard this big rumble, as if a construction crane had dropped a bunch of really heavy stuff.

Turns out it was an earthquake, about a 1.5 on the Richter scale.

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The other day I was driving home from church with both girls in the backseat. We had the windows open and the girls each had baby dolls they were playing with. Suddenly M said, “My Ellie!”

I turned around and her arms were empty. I said, “Where is Ellie?!”

M cried, “She went up into the sky!”

I made a U-turn and called R, who was a couple of stoplights behind us. I told him to be on the lookout. I drove by as R was leaning out of the car to pick up the doll, who was in the middle of Big County Parkway.

She is fine, but M’s exclamation still cracks me up. Do you suppose Jesus tried to rapture up the doll and then went, “Nah…”