We're going to the pancake barn in a minute as a peace offering to our poor children. They have suffered much in these tempestuous political times, having been made to watch the news and listen to us chatter and generally be sucked into a morasse of Idiocy. They deserve a pancake.
As for me, I am extraordinary relieved that the whole wretched thing is over. As I finally voted on my third try yesterday (First Time: Doddering Old Ladies couldn't cope with not finding my name in the book and sent me somewhere else. Second Time: Man with enormous mustache tells me "There's no way in hell you're voting here today." Third Time: "Doddering Old Ladies let me cast a paper ballot that probably won't be counted.) rather than feeling a flood of gratitude for our Great Democracy I was filled with a profound sense of Doom. And, of course, that carried itself well into the night.
Apart from the ongoing horror of abortion and my great great worries about the "foriegn policy" of the last few months, my biggest sense of grief is first hand, on the ground knowledge, that the more a government "gives away", the more it takes of the person. The more a government meagerly and miserly doles out to us poor wretches, the less room in the human heart for the majesty, risk, terror and love of God. The more we look to Man, the less we need God. This has real life applications for the local church as we struggle to spread the gospel. The State has won in a real and pracitcal sense the battle for the human soul. Our work here in Upstate NY, already an upward climb, I expect to become darker and more difficult.
And yet, as many have noted, God is soveriegn, Jesus sits gloriously on his throne, and he will bring everything about for his own glory. And so, we are going out for pancakes. And we're turning off the news in repentance for having turned it on in the first place. And we're going to set our eyes toward the high hills, the narrow way, the cool mountain air, going deeper in and further up to know the One in whom, one day, All will be All in All.
6 comments:
Thank you for this post. I'm exhausted and sad for our country, but decided to focus today on just being with my 4-year-old son. The full horror of the repercussions of this election can wait a few more hours to fully sink in.
So glad to read your blog and know that, in some homes and families, God and sanity are still in charge!
On what basis was the man with the mustache going to keep you from voting?
We, as a nation, do seem to have chosen The City of Man. It is an attractive choice; God has given us much ability, and we seek (as Romans 1 says) to suppress the truth and to worship anything but the Lord God
Well, yes, when we vote, we're participating in a manmade system that, despite some religious-sounding cliches and catch phrases, is all political, all of the time. I've gotten to the point where I resent politicians invoking God because I'm quite sure they're doing so for their own benefit and not in the least for God's glory. Cynical much, eh? Hahahaha.
My trust is in the Lord. I imagine that if He chooses, He can work through a political system but I doubt that it's His preferred method. I do imagine that He finds politics and political rhetoric entertaining, though, because it's all so clueless and off the mark, in the grand scheme of things.
So, IMO, who was elected doesn't matter one jot. God's will always prevails, just sometimes it emerges from a more ciruitous route rather than immediately straight lines.
For those feeling doom,
a fellow sufferer, Henri la Chat Noir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=0M7ibPk37_U&NR=1
See also his take on politics.
MM
I serve as the Republican Election judge in Asheville Precinct 10, NC. Part of my work from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm is to make sure that all voters vote. Those who are not found by the registration clerks in the county data base come to me. I call the county Board of Elections and if the office cannot find them they vote a Provisional Ballot. This goes into an envelope and is opened and counted next Tuesday at the Canvass. The voter gets a form with a unique identifying number and directions on how to call or e-mail to find out if the ballot was counted. I suggest you go to the Board of Election office after next Tuesday and reregister to vote. In NC the man with the mustache would be taken off the list of people to work elections. I encourage you to write up your experience and deliver it to the Board of Elections. Such behavior is simply wrong.
I agree with the comment that it doesn't matter which candidate is elected.
Are any of us proud of our representatives? Do we really enjoy hearing one baiting the other in derision? I hope we are not the ones taking pleasure in shallow one liners that take place of those difficult conversations in which something important can break through. Abortions happen, and have happened through out human history. The poor will always be with us, or even be us. God has loved us through it all. Our job is to love our neighbors as ourselves and walk humbly with our god.
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