Causing a Ruckus on the Internet is New to Me... Be Gentle Please

I feel nervous about this blog... I don't usually write blogs like this. Here is why:

1. It is political (I rarely, or maybe even never, write in length about my political stance.. because of #2)

2. It could offend some people (because of recent conversations with people of differing views, I felt it on my heart to share my ideas)

3. In an extension to my #2 reason, people who may think I am talking directly about them (you know, the "You're so Vain" - Carly Simon Syndrome), may decide to start a blog war with me (Now I know what Mark Driscoll is always talking about... crazy bloggers! haha)

But either way, I will write... and I will post anyway. To stay in the theme of writing titles, followed by a list (I don't usually do that... too structured for random thoughts if you ask me! hehe), here I go...



Reasons I am okay with Obama's being elected, even thought I didn't vote for him:


1. God put him there

"Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God." - Romans 13:1


2. As Christians, we are the LAST people who should be fearing what is happening now or what is to happen later. So if God put Obama as president, then this is all apart of His plan... and we know what happens at the end: Jesus wins!!

"Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." - Luke 21:28


3. Has anyone seen gas prices?? ;)


and 4.

The word... the one word that surrounded the entire campaign... to some people it is a motto... or others it is now a cuss word...

HOPE

To start with, I do see a danger in people looking to a man, a sinful man (like the rest of us), for the hope of this nation. Only one man could bring hope to all mankind and He did not sin and is coming back for us someday. Obama will fall short of being the true hope of this nation...

However, I see something new happening with people now that he has been elected. People do have a new sense of hope, and even responsibility, regarding their place here in the US.

I have been thinking about Obama's non-saluting gig. I will admit that it is iffy to me... especially since he is our president. But then I think about what the flag is SUPPOSED to represent... and then I look at our actually country, from two hundred years ago to today... Two VERY different things. So different in fact, that it is hard for me to be proud of where we came from and how not-far we actually have come. It makes me so sad what people have had to go through to get here (geographically even), what they have gone through to prove themselves (even just as a human being), and the things that still happen to people today. I am not at all un-patrotic. But I am just saying that for most people (who aren't white basically), this land has been anything but free.

And so, although I think that our president, of all people, should be saluting the flag, perhaps because of a man who doesn't salute, many people will... for the first time in their lives.

For the first time, people who felt like they have never had a voice in this country, do. They have someone as president who knows what it is like to be a minority and who wants to use that experience to right the wrongs and make sure that people really are being treated equally. There is now someone in a high place in the country who 'sympathizes' with the people. Hmmm... sounds familiar. Although it falls short of being close to any type of comparison, how could this be used to tell people about what Jesus has done for us? (Being someone who is preparing to do more work in the inner city someday, I think more and more about these types of things!) What would that mean to some one to be able to say now, "Just as Obama knows what it is like to be a minority in this country, on a much, much, MUCH larger scale, JESUS knows what it is like to be a human and He wants us to be with Him."

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." - Hebrews 4:15-16


So overall, I think instead of just surviving these next four (or possibly eight) years, let's pray and think of ways that God could be using our new president to bring people to His Kingdom... that's what this whole silly little life here on Earth is all about anyway, right? :)