McHenry County Blog

It's what it reminded me of.

Jesus' walking on water.

The story is told in Matthew, Chapter 14, verses 22-33:

"Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while He sent the people home. Afterward He went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while He was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves.

"About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw Him, they screamed in terror, thinking He was a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once. 'It is all right,' He said, 'I am here. Do not be afraid.'"

'Then Peter called to him, 'Lord, if it is really You, tell me to come to you by walking on water.'

“'All right, come,' Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

"Instantly Jesus reached out His hand and grabbed him. 'You do not have much faith,' Jesus said. 'Why did you doubt me?' And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped...

"After they had crossed the lake, they landed.

Maybe if the Disciples had had a sign warning them that Jesus was about to walk on water they would not have been so startled.

I see two pretty simple messages here:

• Don't be afraid and


• Step out in faith. Sometimes you have to get out of the boat.

This photograph was shot by Diane Meyer in St. Louis near the Arch. She writes Respublica, a blog that has lots of photos.

Labels: Diane Meyer, Jesus, Message of the Day, Respublica, Walking on Water

It appears that McHenry County was not the only place where people depending on internet results after all the precincts were reported in where confusion occurred.

In St. Clair County, according to Respublica, the same thing happened with the Fairview Heights mayor’s race.

The confusion, Respublica writes,

stemmed from overlooking the new Illinois election law. This law, which went into effect in July, mandates that absentee and early voting ballots not be counted until after the polls closed.

The only results available on election night, at least early enough in the evening for newspaper/media deadlines, were those coming from voters who voted in person on Tuesday in their precincts.

St. Clair County chose to report the in person votes separate from the absentee and early voting which gave the impression that the election results were complete. This confused some when they read reports from the county which said, 29 of 29 precincts reporting, 100 percent. Give or take some precincts.

Madison County, on the other hand, did not report results until those ballots were included.

In McHenry County, results in the Huntley School Board race were posted. All precincts in.

Then, later in the night the numbers changed.

No explanation was posted on the web site, although the Clerk’s Office did explain to me what happened the next day when I figured out the people whom I thought had won probably did not.

Seems to me that the electronic posting should have columns listing how many votes in person, absentee and early and, then, the total so far.

Or follow Madison County’s example and wait until all the votes are counted.

Of course, that would still exclude the absentees that have not arrived by election day and are give 14 days to show up.

It’s really strange when the results change without an explanation.

Can you imagine the yo-yo of emotions when a candidate goes from victor to “also ran” in a matter of hours?

Labels: Madison County Clerk, McHenry County Clerk, Respublica, St. Clair County Clerk