“Do the next thing”

About that Euphoria. The media seem to believe that the election result was greeted with overwhelming, unanimous glee. Where did they get that idea? No, we aren’t protesting in the streets like the folks in California who once again lost their shot at allowing same sex marriage. That doesn’t mean, however, that we are sitting back contented and appeased by the visions of Camelot painted on the front cover of every magazine.

While 67 million Americans may be euphoric, catatonic even, there are a good 58 million Americans who wanted a different outcome and are downright unhappy. Fortunately our resolve is strong and many of us are coming out of our grieving process about now. We realize that there is still a lot of work to do and there’s just no time for crying.

We are also starting to be honest with ourselves, and those of us who dare, are becoming honest with each other: McCain wasn’t really our guy anyway. We actually, for the most part, wanted someone more conservative!! If you can fathom that. So, anyway, have a heart. Reach across the aisle. Give us some time to heal. Peace and love and all that.

From 18 months to 18 years; where does the time go?
Happy 18th Birthday!!

“Sometimes one has to get very low before he is in a place where he can look up and see hope for a purpose and a place for his life and work. Once he gets to that place, he is the most desperate to make a change inside his heart and to make the strongest attempts at influencing outward change through the gifts and skills that have been bestowed upon him by God. When one is very, very low, the light from above is at it’s brightest.”

I was watching Amazing Grace yesterday afternoon. I had to pause it to get a piece of paper and write this thought down. I’ve been waiting for the movie and the quote and the Sunday sermon teachings to gel into a coherent philosophical treatise. I’m not there yet…..

I now check my notes from my church evening service, however, and see a note I jotted, “Psalm 22:1 prelude…A cry of anguish and a song of praise.” Read that Psalm from beginning to end.

The preceding post was printed in our local paper on the opinion page as a guest commentary. I preceded to receive calls from people in our region. Even yesterday an 82 year old woman called to thank me. (Her daughter’s neighbor reported her daughter to the neighborhood watch because she had her flag hung upside down…a sign of distress. The watch officer rightly told the nosy neighbor that this woman was within her rights.)

Fundamentally, they were all surprised that such an essay would be printed in a undeniably left publication. They all stated that they stopped writing or didn’t bother to write letters to the editor because they didn’t believe such a liberal paper would print the “other side.” They were encouraged to know that there were others out there that thought the same way they do and they felt some hope.

Now, I figure today or this week at some point my metal will be tested. The rebuttals should be scathing and I must remain level headed and kind as I engage in the printed debate. If you live local to me, go ahead and chime in if you are so inclined.

We’ve dropped our guard down. We’ve chosen to abandon virtue and to ignore knowledge. Stopping our ears like school children chanting “I’m not listening.” all the way to the voting booth. We’ve become apathetic and held our heads in the sand for too long. When things started to get a little tough, the heads popped up. They looked around, saw hope and change, panicked and voted for it without counting the cost. Without even finding out what that change would look like! We are about to be enslaved by a new breed of government and society. With a president who feels that there are fundamental flaws in the Constitution; brace your selves.

It’s a sad day in the history of our country. Right is wrong and wrong is right. The good have been mocked and the evil have been praised, worshipped and now elected. True heroes have been picked apart and connivers couched and protected by teams of media elite.

I daydream of statesmen who once stood for truth and honor. I long for the day when men stood for right because their integrity required it of them. Their decisions might not make their life easier. Their choices might even walk them into their own private hell. Yet down deep inside they knew they were doing the right thing for the good of the country. They knew that there was a supreme God that would provide peace to their souls because they were doing the right thing, despite the trials that were: hunger, discouragement, cold, injury, torture or even death. Their determination and courage brought us a land of opportunity and freedom.

We have now chosen a future of mystery and uncertainty all in the name of hope and change. As flowery as his words sound to all who have voted democratic, our president-elect’s “values” are an abomination to our American ideals. Those who have been researching and learning the truth realize that this contest’s outcome is the first step toward converting our democratic republic to communism. Wait and see. You’ve unleashed an unknown force that even you will tremble from in days to come.

We have a choice. Will we worship this new leader who has promised so very much at our own expense or will we instead choose to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and resolve to resurrect that America that our national anthem refers to? Land of the free and home of the brave.

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.” –Thomas Jefferson