BENJAMIN

My boy started school today. Somewhere deep in the heart of Texas my youngest grandson, Benjamin James Blackmore started on the pathway of formal education that will last far longer than his young mind could ever fathom.

He called me Saturday to tell me he was "a bit scared" and then late this afternoon there came the follow-up call to reassure me that his first day had been "great".

He's an outstanding kid - rabid Mets fan of course - who seems to have grown very quickly from the tiny infant I used to feed early in the mornings for the first few months of his life, when his mother had to drop him off with us on her way to work.

Every day as I held him, I prayed for him - God let this boy be a preacher.

Politicians are important people, but of course they'd sell their own grandmother to get re-elected.

Lawyers are smart, but let's face it, beneath the mock sincerity they are living off their clients rather than looking out for them.

I could go on, but I'm tired.

Sufficient to say that I love my life as a pastor and could wish nothing better for my boy - plus of course I have this simplistic idea that as a pastor he could make a tiny bit of a difference in this sad world.