Wednesday, November 05, 2008

My Thoughts

Undoubtedly, half of the country is waking up this Wednesday feeling let down, while the other half is jumping with joy with what an Obama presidency could mean to our country. As I watched the returns come in last night and I began to realize that there was no way that McCain could catch up to Obama's impressive road to victory, I found myself strangely calm in the midst of all that was happening.

Deep down, I am sure that most McCain supporters realized some time ago that it was a long shot at best that our guy would ultimately win the prize. And so we began the internal process of dealing with it and accepting it and wondering what it would be like in this new era of American history that began last night. It was a process that I think helped me deal with accepting the reality of what I believe is a less than ideal situation for our nation.

Like many of you, I watched McCain's concession speech. Full of class and integrity, my heart overflowed with gratitude for his service to our country and the campaign he ran. Let's face it: for all he had going against him over the last few months, he sure ran a close race right down to the finish line. Several minutes later, when Obama and his family walked on the stage, a whole new set of emotions set in.

I realized at that moment, that this truly was a defining moment in our history. We witnessed a moment that our grandchildren and our grandchildrens' children will learn about in school many years from now. We witnessed the American dream in it's most beautiful form: that, in the United States of America, anybody really could be anything they wanted to be.

I thought about what this election will teach our children and what it will show the world. I thought about how incredible this country is that something like this can happen. I felt overwhelming sadness for those living under regimes that will never allow them to know what it is like to participate in a free and democratic election. I felt so incredibly blessed to be an American.

All this to say that I believe this man has done a great job at brainwashing all of his supporters into believing he is some sort of messianic figure that will usher in peace, prosperity, and unity beyond our wildest dreams.

Although I may not have voted for Barack Obama, and I certainly disagree with him on just about every issue there is, he is going to be my President and I will pray for him. I will pray that his heart will be softened towards issues that I care so deeply about -- and ones that I believe God does as well. There's no escaping the fact that Obama will be the most pro-abortion president in history and I don't hesitate for one moment before I say that I believe he is leading us down the road to socialism. I maintain my belief that he is a dangerous man of whom we know frighteningly little about. No moment, no matter how historic, can trump the genuine concerns that so many of us have about this undeniably mysterious man that will -- in 11 short weeks -- be the most powerful man in the world. But he is who we have chosen and it is something we are going to have to accept. We exercised the greatest gift of democracy yesterday...and the beautiful thing about democracy is that we get to do it again in four years.

Four years may be a long time to wait. Much damage may be done by then. But for the sake of this great country, I hope and pray that he proves me wrong.

In the end, Jesus is still King and every person is personally accountable to a holy and righteous God. God's will WILL prevail. He is all we need.

We're gonna be okay. I promise.