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Silence is one of the most underrated things in the world. I already knew that in my head, but I experienced it in my heart Thursday. Silence can be powerful.

Theere’s a Catholic monastery not far from where I live, and I used to stop by to visit the chapel there. I’m not Catholic and I’m not one who believes you need to be in a church to pray, but I like the stillness and silence of that chapel. I’d forgotten just how much I like it until I stopped there Thursday afternoon.

Many of us who’ve experienced God in some way spend a good portion of our lives eager to capture — again and again — the essence of an experience with God that’s been meaningful to us. At different points in our lives, we’ve felt the presence of God in a way that is completely unbelievable to someone who hasn’t felt it. But we don’t feel that every day. At least I don’t — and other Christians I talk to don’t feel that “high” feeling all the time, either.

The odd thing is that God is always there. We’re just too busy drowning Him out with everything around us — and especially everything inside us. For me, the biggest distraction I have in experiencing God is shutting up my own incessant inner voice — so that I can hear God in the silence.

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Now that Michele Bachmann’s campaign has died a merciful death, I need to mention this before she becomes even more of a footnote to the campaign than she already is. Bachmann has ridiculed Barack Obama for his use of a TelePrompTer, but I’ve noticed that she reads many of her statements from her iPad. Is this any different?

I love my iPad, so I’m not critical of her using it for this purpose. I can see how the device would be a great tool for staying on message while you’re on a campaign and need to quickly get a scripted message to reporters or an audience.

The problem is that she’s a hypocrite — and hardly anybody seems to notice. I don’t have any problem with Bachmann using the iPad as a mini-teleprompter, but I also don’t have any problem with Obama using one. I know that attacking Obama — even for something as mundane as using a TelePrompTer — gets cheers from the kind of people who supported her, but you’d think her own head would explode from the obvious hypocrisy of what she was doing.

But maybe there was no brain inside the head, so there was nothing to explode. It’s hard to say. Either way, she’s history, so we shouldn’t have to deal with her anymore this year.

Now that the first votes have been cast in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, let’s take a quick look at where the seven candidates stand. We’ll go in order of finish on Tuesday.

Mitt Romney was the official winner on Tuesday, but he was more like a co-winner. He didn’t originally intend to make Iowa important to his campaign this year, but he did end up putting effort into the state when it became obvious that he could win with a last-minute push. The investment paid off and he’s now off to New Hampshire, where he should be a big winner. Grade: A

Rick Santorum has now become the latest conservative flavor of the month. He gained the most from Iowa, because he came within a few votes of winning the state, which brought him (at least for now) out of the pack and made him into a major contender. The question now is whether conservatives are going to line up behind this strong social conservative as the “anti-Romney.” I don’t think he’s a serious threat to Romney yet, although he has a chance to do well among religious conservatives in southern states. Grade: A+

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