Please Pray

Here is my obligatory political post - there will not be another one, regardless of the outcome of the November election.

Our nation is on a very, very slippery slope.  So slippery in fact that I think sliding headlong into disaster is probably more accurate.  I don't know how or if the slide will stop.  It is no secret who I am not in favor of politically, but the truth is that neither side has me all that excited.  Both sides are politicians, both sides have their own agendas, and both sides are willing to compromise to get votes.  I know that as I go into this election.  I do the research, I read the reports and the individual candidate's voting records on issues that are important to me.  I don't make my decisions based solely on the debates and I never listen to the media from either side.  Of course, they are biased.  I am only interested in the facts - the problem is that there seem to be two different sets of those floating around and the average person can't really make heads nor tails of any of them.

Here is what I have concluded - and this is my own personal opinion, so of course you can take it or leave it.  We are a nation divided.  We have on one side, a group of people whose desire is to see our country run according to the principles on which it was founded.  Original intent, if you will.  This group is in favor of a grassroots effort that takes us back to where we started.  With a group of people who want to work hard, play hard, and be left alone by the government.  They want to run their businesses, their families, and their lives free from ridiculous laws about what they eat, what they drink, and where they send their children to school.  They don't mind investing the blood, sweat, and tears that it takes to make an honest living - but, they want to keep the money they earned, donate and spend it how they see fit, and they expect others to do the same. They are generally honest men and women of high character and they would give you the shirt off their backs if you were in need, but they will fight to the death before allowing the government to rip the shirt from their bodies.

On the other side of the fence we have a group of people who have no idea what the original intent was, it is so far removed from their current way of thinking.  They have bought the lie that says that helping people means giving to them what they should be earning for themselves.  Many of them are honest, hard working citizens who do care about others, but have a truly misguided way of displaying that care.  They believe that if the government makes more laws then somehow that will translate into utopia.  They are the type of people who say, "I don't believe that is right, but I can't impose my moral beliefs on others."  They truly believe that the government's job is to take care of people and that translates into more taxes, more laws and regulations, and more people dependent on "Big Brother" for their basic needs.  A great way to generate votes, but not such a good way of retaining freedom.

Obviously, I fall into the former camp.  I want my children to grow up in a free country. I want them to know what it feels like to work hard and I want them to give generously to those in need - out of love and obedience to God.  Honestly, I don't know that either candidate will give back to us the freedoms that our founding fathers risked everything to ensure.  I don't know that it is not too late.

There is really only one thing I do know and that is that God is the one who sets the rulers in place.  He alone will decide who our next president will be.  We can see throughout Scripture that nations rise and nations fall and those that humble themselves before God are the ones he has mercy on.  As a nation we have turned away from Him.  We have no regard for human life, no regard for the sanctity of marriage, and no regard for how our children are raised.  We are selfish, arrogant, and proud.  There is no hope for us outside of God's mercy and undeserved grace.

May we, as a people - as the people of God, rise up and bow down before Him.  Humbled and broken over the sin in our own lives that then leaks out into our nation.  May we beg His forgiveness and may we turn and change our ways.  Looking to Him as the only hope we have.  Our hope is found in no man - our hope is found only in Jesus Christ.  Whatever happens in November and whatever happens to our nation next year and the next, may it be said of me and my family - and of you and yours - that we serve the Lord.  In the end, it really will be all that matters.