You ask at one point, "Who would have thought?" -- well, actually every single author in the Bible thought this, let alone Jesus The Christ. Our entire religion, (which is really meant to be the religion of the Hebrews with "a twist") is based on "in the world but not of it", "give to Caesar what he wants but keep for God what is His", the Exodus, Nehemiah's story of leaving politics for God, the Babylonian exile, Paul imprisoned speaking with a degree of wiliness against the State of Rome, and of course the great Revelation, that reveals the three headed beast of politics, religion, and society = 666 the sign of man's power struggle with God. Well, you got me started again, Dan, and I thank you for that -- like you, I grew up in the churches of the Midwest and I do not remember them being anything like what they are today in terms of a desire to have political power -- quite the opposite, in fact. It is sad for me to see the demise of the organized religion I once loved and that first taught me The Way, but it is also freeing to realize that God and Christ are much, much more -- much bigger and more eternal and more unknowable and yet as close as a loving Father and brother -- much more even than a religion called Christianity-- shocking though that may be. As the old hymn says, "you ask me how I know he lives?" Well, he has to live "within my heart." Shalom to you today, and joy in your journey, Jane