Facing Grace

Facing Grace is a short book (110 pgs) written by a man who is a newspaper sports editor by profession and a minister by calling. It is the story of a reporter's struggles in faith leading up to the execution of a man convicted of murdering an elderly lady in her home.

The story is a fictionalized account of real-life events in a small town in North Carolina. The victim was real, the murderer was real and the execution was real. Although I don't know for sure, I can see the writer and his conflicts being real also.

The writer is a man of great faith. His review of the case and thoughts about the upcoming execution tear him from his deep seated support for the death penalty. The Bible is the rock upon which he bases his life, and therein he finds guidance for both sides of the question. "Thou shalt not kill" appears in the same book as "the wages of sin is death".

After much spiritual groping, the writer finds a path that clears his mind and reinforces his faith. A spiritual mentor shares with him that men and God have different views of sin. Men tend to see sin in degrees, moving on a vertical scale of increasing seriousness from "little white lies" to murder. God views sin as a binary value - either you have sinned or you haven't. The little white lie condems you as quickly as murder.

The book uses the example of a cop who dies saving a young child, but without a relationship with God and Christ. He would be bound for hell, whereas the murderer who asks for forgiveness is allowed into heaven.

I guess I look for justice in this world, but according to the author I should instead be seeking salvation. To me, it doesn't seem right that the cop in the example would suffer a worse fate than the murderer.

The book dwells on the reporter's struggles with the execution. I know it works for the story, but those struggles somehow ring hollow when I think of other professions where death is an all-to-frequent part of the job. Police officers, paramedics, emergency room personnel, soldiers - they all have the occasion to be touched by death with an unpleasant regularity. For me, the greatest reason for pause is that an execution is carried out by the State, rather than being a random act of accident or malice.

The book is thoughtfull and thought provoking. I recommend it to anyone who is prepared to think about, rather than simply react to, discussions regarding the death penalty.

Dreaming in Code

Anyone involved in the development of software should read Scott Rosenberg's "Dreaming in Code". It follows a team of programmers as they develop a new personal information manager (PIM) in an open source environment. The team is led by Mitch Kapor, the guy who founded Lotus Development. He used his Lotus money to start the Open Source Applications Foundation (OSAF) and Chandler, the new PIM, was the first project.

I have been around software development for 30 years. Most of that time has been in a small business with an IT staff of fewer than ten programmers. Prior to that, I worked as a program manager for a defense contractor with more than 100 programmers. This book can be depressing. If this team of talented developers - with experience at Apple, Microsoft, Next and Lotus - that are well-funded and without the pressures of a commercial schedule, can't succeed in creating a new application, what hope do us normal folks have?

The book is well written and provides a good history lesson as it reviews the background of the various players. The author has researched the literature on software development and refers repeatedly to "The Mythical Man-Month" by Frederick Brooks. This book should be on every software manager's shelf right beside of Brooks' book.

Like Donald Knuth said, "Software is hard". This book doesn't offer any silver bullets that will make it easier, but it provides insight into the challenges that every programming team faces. Before you take a job as a software development manager read "Dreaming in Code", at least you'll know what you're getting into.

Beginning to let go

We took our son to Western Carolina University for freshman orientation this week. The orientation team was great and everyone bent over backwards to show us how he would fit in and be successful.

There were about 150 parents in our group with about half of us going through this for the first time. It has been 35 years since I went off to college and things have really changed since then. My orientation consisted of showing up one day early and being told to "fit in, have fun and study hard." I guess I was too self-centered then to realize what my parents were going through. That thoughtlessness is coming back to haunt me now.

If he is to continue growing, he must go and find his own way. That is the nature of life. And, we, my wife and I, must move on to a new phase without him being with us all the time. It's going to be tough. Just thinking about leaving him at school in six weeks brings a flood of emotions. I am immensely proud of him - Eagle Scout, Honor Graduate, part-time job. But, I will miss him terribly.

He has a great journey ahead of him and we have prepared him as best we can, so he should be fine. The greater challenge will be ours.