We arrived near the end of the Constitution Party National Committee meeting in Boise, Idaho, on 4-21-2007. We could tell that we were expected; inasmuch as the hosts, Paul and Sue Venable, had hired a security guard to watch the door for certain unnamed troublemakers that might try to disrupt the meeting. Upon seeing us standing at the door, Sue Venable gave immediate warning to her superiors. This is what she had been afraid of, and now it was coming to pass- just as she had foreseen...

Not quite as she had foreseen. Thom Holmes, who recognized us from previous National Committee Meetings, knew we would do nothing to disrupt the meeting, ignored her warnings, and graciously received us like a statesman. He escorted us in to take video of the final speech by Will Grigg. It was a fine speech, but his appeals to place principle above all, didn’t seem to find the mark. It was as if those in attendance felt that they had already done that, else they wouldn’t have made it this far, would they? We had hoped for more of a “blast the compromisers” speech, but perhaps it didn’t matter by now anyway.

Afterwards, Scott Watson confronted Mary Starrett in the lobby, and appealed to her to consider the evidence, and come back to the virtue of the one who called us to stand up for principle, Michael Peroutka. She said she didn’t know anything about these issues in the Constitution Party that transpired before she became involved. Surely, we thought, this could not have been unintentional. Perhaps she doesn’t want to know, lest she have to face the same crossroads that we all did, one year earlier in Tampa.

Afterwards, we went to a Christian Liberty Society meeting. Leaders we had invited from the Constitution Party of Oregon, and the Constitution Party of Montana, declined to attend due to time constraints, but they sent written statements. There were several former members of the Constitution Party of Idaho in attendance, as well as a few visitors from out of state. What really mattered most though, was that it seemed that Christ was present among us.

It seems God has a strange sense of humor. He brings together radically different people, and says, “Love one another.” We were completely open and honest about our differences, and how in other circumstances we might be inclined to strangle each other as heretics, yet here we were, against all odds, living in brotherly love. Could we really work together, and if so, how? The same character traits that inclined us to stand firm in resistance to wicked tyranny, also made us the kind of people not known for playing well with others. We had a long and interesting discussion about many great and wonderful things.

The atmosphere was so special, that even the lady waiting on our tables came out afterwards and was confessing her sins to us. She said she appreciated our passionate concern for the babies being led to the slaughter, and told how she had once put up her own unwanted child for adoption. Our hearts went out to her, and rejoiced in her recent conversion to Christ. Not the usual sort of thing that happens at a busy restaurant.

The next day, while attending church with Will Grigg and his family, the sermon spoke right to the issues that we were dealing with. It was all about receiving the brother weak in faith, and coming together out of love for Christ, putting aside non-essential differences. It was a fine lesson in life, and one that I hope to follow by God’s grace. There are many of us who have chosen to stand in faith, to fear God alone, and to oppose the command of Pharaoh to slaughter the little ones. We find ourselves as strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Shall we come together in our journey to the promised land?