Go vote!

If I hear one more person tell me they aren't voting next Tuesday because they "don't like the choices" I'm going to flip out and shove them onto a cargo ship to Albania. They don't like the choices then go somewhere that never gets choices at all! Seriously. One of the greatest gifts that God has given America is the privilege-- and responsibility -- to vote. Remember that first election in Iraq? The one where the people all ran around with purple fingers and were proud of it? America wake up! The fate of our nation is in the hands of the voting public- and if that block of folks stays home and grouses about everything, they are going to hand the nation over to people who don't care about it. ( I think they did that...) God wants people who are doers of the Word, not couch potatoes who gripe. I hear Christians complain about a Mormon candidate- and my answer is so what? This is the very thing that sank us all in the last election: murmuring and backstabbing, complaining and whining. They didn't like John McCain and look what happened: instead of a moderate we got a screaming liberal. Brilliant, people. Way to go. God will one day demand of us an account of our actions. He will want to know why we stayed home and refused to vote when millions of other people on the planet are not allowed that privilege. It must mean that we are not a grateful people, and we don't value that which God has given us. Personally, I don't want to be on that end of the conversation, do you?

The Heart of It All

As a nation we must move past the partisan foolishness that has so imprisoned our ability to move forward. The first debate was civil, with Mitt Romney the clear winner. The VP debate was rancorous with obnoxious sidelines from our Vice President that created a muddled victory for both candidates. Last night's debate was a solid draw by most who measure such things. I will ask the obvious question...why? Why are the American people so easily led astray? Why do we listen to deception and lies, and see what we want to see rather than the truth? We are so divided on contentious issues that we can't hear the truth because our opinions (judgments in disguise) get in the way. Abraham Lincoln once quoted Jesus in his "House Divided Speech"... "A house divided cannot stand." He wasn't kidding, and we're in it right now. Abraham Lincoln intended to give a prophetic thought for America in that speech. He believed strongly that we would not remain divided on the issue of slavery. He foresaw that we would eventually ban the evil practice and move on toward unity. But I will ask you now...will we move on from this current rift? As long as attitudes remain self-serving, as long as self-seeking people remain in office, we have little hope of our society taking the strides toward solving America's problems. We need heart changes. The church needs heart changes to be more like Christ with less fear, anger and bitterness. All of us, Christians, Muslims and every other religion, every race (we're all part of the human race as a friend puts it) need to stand as Americans, not as separate little groups. A house divided cannot stand. Hatred, anger, distrust, fear, those words that carry such venom cannot be our heritage. Only God's love, His favor, His purpose for America, can become the legacy that lasts through eternity.

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

I laughed last night when even CBS mentioned that Mitt Romney won the first debate. Took them long enough to figure it out. Overconfidence, however, is as deadly as apathy in the political realm. Winning is a heady experience, but there are several more debates left in this last month before the election, so Romney and company must be vigilant. The healthcare crisis is going to break out on top of Obamacare one of these days- thousands of middle class Americans were notified that their "Medicare Advantage" coverage will cease to exist as of December 31, 2012. It means that the companies who used to supply such marvelous coverage can no longer do so. So we will need separate policies for prescription drugs and medical coverage. Separate usually mean more expensive, by the way. It's a recipe for disaster. The problem as I see it is this: "social conservatives" (that's evangelicals to you and me)tend to get into a snit about who's running and hand the election off to the other guy. Yep, that's right, in the last election scores of people stayed home and look where it got us! They didn't like John McCain so we got Barack Obama. Whiners, they should have voted ANYWAY. Now I get emails consistently about how bad the Mormons are. Frankly I don't care if Mitt Romney is from Mars and has antenna under his hair. If we don't get out and V.O.T.E. we will have a fiscal explosion so big that I very much think America will not survive it. So for everyone you know...kick them in the read end and tell them to get out and VOTE! Don't just hand this election over to Barack Obama!