A few minutes past nine on Monday morning I heard a polite knock on my door.

"Come on in."

Miss Dawn Fischer peeked in and asked if she and her young charges from the midweek Welldiggers class of pre-schoolers could come in and pray for me. Anytime Miss Dawn offers to have the children pray for me I am sitting on ready.

Those of you who don't know about Miss Dawn probably don't have young children. She has a passion for children and for the Kingdom of God. She has a unique and effective way of teaching pre-schoolers the ways of the Spirit. They learn how to worship God freely and simply, how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and how to pray in faith in Jesus' name. They also learn many other things from the Bible that will help form their spirits as followers of the Lord. We are so fortunate to have Miss Dawn as part of our fellowship! The world will be different because of her ministry to these children.

So Miss Dawn and the children drew around me. She explained that they were doing a prayer walk through the church on the way to their classroom. "How could they pray for me? What were my main duties as pastor?" I told them my main job was to study God's Word and listen to Him so that I could teach and lead the people.

Then they began to pray for me. Miss Dawn asked them to listen in their hearts to the Holy Spirit. One had a picture of a key (biblically a symbol of authority), and another had a picture of a walking stick, a big blue one (biblically the staff speaks of leadership). The children then began to pray for the Lord to release the things they had seen and for the requests I had made.

"In Jesus' name, Amen!" With that, Miss Dawn led the children out with a song. They left me with a smile in my heart; more importantly those simple prayers left their impression in heaven.

Thank you children and thank you Miss Dawn for your surprise visit!

So I have been interested in politics my entire life.

How many second graders do you know who requested and then received in the mail a signed family photo from a presidential candidate? Or middle schoolers who put up campaign bumper stickers in their rooms? Or high school juniors who campaign for a congressional candidate?

Yep--I did all those things.

I follow campaigns in states where I have never lived; know the governors of states where I hope never to live; know who are up-and-comers in both parties. I even follow politics in the United Kingdom. What else am I going to read about in the newspapers when I go to England a couple times a year . . . cricket?

But I have done one thing this campaign season I have never done before in my entire existence as a political junkie--I have put up a lawn sign in my front yard for a candidate. For the first time in my 24 years as a resident of Connecticut there is a candidate for statewide office I am excited about. The name of this candidate?

Martha Dean. She is running for Attorney General here in the land of steady habits.

I'm not going to try and convince you to vote for Ms. Dean. I'm not even going to tell you why I am so excited about her. But you can check Martha Dean's website for yourself. You can go to www.deanag2010.com Its up to you. And don't forget to vote Tuesday, November 2.

RM

'This one belongs to the Reds!' That is announcer Marty Brennaman's signature call after every winning effort by my hometown team, the Cincinnati Reds. Having grown up passionate about baseball and the local club, those words are music to my ears. Mind you, they have not been heard all that often in recent memory--it has been ten years since the last winning season for the Reds and fifteen years since they won their division to go to the post-season playoffs.

So last night when Jay Bruce homered in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win to clinch the National League Central Division, the joy from the ballpark along the Ohio river extended all the way to Mooreland Road in Kensington, CT!

It's an amazing thing about a baseball team and a sports fan. So much of my childhood memories are associated with the Reds and baseball--so much of my relationship with my father was built around baseball. So much identity is shaped by these memories. Then there is something about the annual six-month saga of a major league baseball season. The players become like people you know (though, of course, you don't). The sound of the broadcast over the radio becomes a companion for half the year. The daily box scores and stories in the sports section of the paper are soap operas for grown men.

So when Jay Bruce hit that home run last night, I celebrated with my son Mike--who came across the room to high-five me. Then I called Mark, who answered the phone, 'Jay Bruce!' Even Debbie recognized it as a special moment, though she is not the biggest fan of the hometown team. I'm looking forward to calling my mom and dad and celebrating with them--baseball is one of the few topics these days that my dad can stay engaged with in a conversation--dementia is taking its toll.

So--this day, this one belongs to Reds' fans everywhere!

So I just read a report that U-2 lead singer Bono's anti-poverty foundation ONE has made the news. This time the pub is not so good.

The New York Post is reporting that just a little over 1% of ONE's budget has actually gone to actual need. In 2008 ONE received 9.6 million British pounds in donations and dispersed 118,000 pounds to good causes. Salaries for the foundation were 5.1 million pounds.

ONE responded to the reports that they are not chartered to actually meet needs, but to raise awareness and to promote advocacy for the world's poor.

High profile, high-style, high-toned rhetoric about injustice among the worlds' haves toward the have-nots has been the way Bono rolls.

The staff of his foundation seems to be doing well with that.

I have stopped apologizing for my sketicism when the entertainers and pop-culture elites of the world take up 'noble causes' and heap guilt and disdain upon 'rich westerners.' It requires no courage for a Hollywood headliner or a rock star to champion a 'progressive cause.'

But week in and week out I live and serve with real people who regularly sacrifice real time and real dollars to make a difference in other people's lives. It may be in a housing project in New Britain or among orphaned children in Wakiso, Uganda. It may be in a grass-roots effort to fight an indifferent town council in Southington to root out a glitzy porn shop from their town. It may just be one single woman helping an older woman to navigate life and stay in her own home following a major injury.

These are my heroes.

Bono has his millions of fans. For his music--they are well deserved. But the ONE foundation is about 98.8% short of genuine.

That's all I'm gonna say about that.