What Moves You to Give Thanks?

I have been cheerfully enjoying my time off this past week. Thanksgiving is the official start of my favorite Holiday season. We start putting up lights...we will make the trek down the street to the Christmas tree farm a block from our house, to get a tree to put up, and I will climb up into the storage space to get our our decorations.

It is easy to simply enjoy the season, and not really reflect on what it means. Still, this is a season sparked with a celebration of thanks, marked by the waiting of advent, and culminating in the joy of the Christ-mas.

Giving thanks is a funny thing; it is rather like apologizing, in that it acknowledges a gift, perhaps even a debt, and grace from someone else on our behalf.

My wife tells me that I am quick to apologize...and I think that this is mostly true. My parents raised me to have a certain amount of humility about my choices and actions; something that is helpful when you make the kind of mistakes that I do. One of the pleasant results of that has been that I do frequently willingly embrace the burden of apologizing. I do sometimes wonder if I am too compliant...but I am convinced that it is safer to be compliant than stubborn, generally.

This is not to say that I am always humble or compliant...I do not always apologize first. One of the lessons of marriage I have had to learn is that, generally, fights last exactly as long as we refuse to make peace, and peace starts with someone being willing to admit fault. It is fair to say I don't like admitting I am wrong, even though if you know my wife, you can probably guess that I frequently am wrong. It's always easy to apologize when there's no skin on the line...when your pride is in the game (as it usually is in marital arguments), the words "I'm sorry" can seem almost impossible to conjure.

I mention all of this because, as I said earlier, I think giving thanks is very similar to apologizing. Sometimes it is simple and easy; who really cares about saying "thank you" when someone holds the door open for you, or when someone gives you the right of way on the road?

But life is rarely simple...how do we humble ourselves to acknowledge God's blessing, and credit not our own cunning as the source of our prosperity?

Or, as is increasing common in these times, many people feel less blessed and more stressed. In many instances, our skin is on the line; our credit, our investments, our livelihood...how do we give thanks to God for circumstances that don't seem to favor us? How do we acknowledge God's providence when it makes so very little sense from our perspective? In the midst of pain, fear, stress, how do we say, "Thanks be to God"?

If our thanks is based only on our personal experience, the answer is we don't say it very much at all. If our thanks is centered on our perspective, unless this year has been a year free of pain, filled with easy riches, and unfettered by the weight of the concerns of the wide world, we have little to be thankful for; after all, this is a hard time: people are dying and suffering, may of us are facing questionable financial futures, and it is all very stressful. Hope and change may be coming (it remains to be seen) but the reason so many people blindly leapt out into the void for the chance that Obama might be unlike every other politician is because we are exhausted and overwhelmed by all of our present circumstances. We need a tomorrow that is different from today, because today has been very disappointing...and yesterday wasn't much better.

How can the Lord call us to be at peace in the midst of this Winter of discontent?

I started writing this blog the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and became distracted by the holiday. Since then I have returned to class and have been teaching my 8th graders about the Greeks and their understanding of the world. I've mentioned a few times how much I am enjoying these classes, connecting them to the origins of their culture, the legacy of their heritage as citizens of the West. Yesterday the lesson concerned the way that the Greeks perceived history and the future; by and large, the Greeks were hopeless. For the Greeks, yesterday was better than today, and tomorrow will be worse still. The Hope that came out of Pandora's box wasn't a promise of a better tomorrow; it was the last cruel joke of the gods as they unleashed death, disease, suffering and pain on men. In almost every Greek myth, whenever circumstances have the chance of working out and people living happily ever after, you learn quickly that they almost never will.

This was a concept that my students didn't quite grasp (a fact that did my heart good). Of course, this is because they are Christians. We reflected on this reality in class, that unlike the fathers of the West, we had come to know a Hope that is not a cheat, that will not disappoint.

As we enter the Advent season, waiting for the promise of Christmas, and the coming of salvation from a God who did not create us to torment us, but to reveal His goodness to us, and many friends and relatives are sending notice that this year they will be foregoing the tradition of giving gifts, we have a unique opportunity to reflect on how the Christian life is bountiful regardless of the abundance of our bank accounts, or the presents under the tree. Let us give thanks, not based on our personal experiences, but as a result of our recognition of the hope that we have in tomorrow, and the ultimate hope that eternity's horizon promises to make known to us.

To Live, not Survive

Pixar has a history of making entertaining movies that hit home on a variety of levels. My son loves to watch them, and so do I. As if it wasn't enough that they were pleasant and funny, they also address issues that we as a culture are wrestling with, if not in the mainstream, at least sub-conciously.

Wall-E was one such movie. Sure, there's the environmental issues, and the moral about laziness, and what not; all good things to think about. There are even "Cave" moments, as humans who had long ago lost sight of real things are awakened to gaze once again in wonder at the stars.

But what makes me well up inside everytime is actually a line that comes from the human captain as he struggles against he rogue auto-pilot. The "Auto" is telling him that the ship cannot return to Earth, due to secret directives from the last President of Earth, and his clinching argument is that because of this plan, "Mankind will survive," to which the human captain replies, "I don't want to just survive; I want to live!"

It gets me everytime.

I am in the midst of struggling to impart the legacy of the West to my students, and they frequently wonder if all the extra work they are called upon to do for the sake of their educations is really worth it. Their peers elsewhere are freer after school than they are; they have been working to learn how to write in ways that no students their age in America write, to master a language that hasn't been commonly spoken in in over a 1000 years, and to engage in the art of logic as 8th graders. On an average day, I will repeatedly hear the question, "But, why...?"

And though my answer will vary in type, it remains the same in its message; because the things worth having come at a cost, and the prize that you seek is actually valuable, and thus we should expect to have to sacrifice in order to gain it. I tell them that comfort and ease are not, in and of themselves, the highest goods we can attain; that as with atheletes in training, pain is just a natural part of the road that we must walk if we would grow and be more than what we naturally are.

If we would do more than merely survive, we must endure pain, fear, possibly even death. Survival as a goal is hardly worth fighting for. Life is more than comfort or even actually being physically alive. Pixar, in a Chestertonian spirit, shows us that the pursuit of life requires a willingness to lose one's life, even as one fights to keep it.

The Spirits of Yester-year

When I was a senior in high school I had a fun year. Having spent the majority of my junior year trying to survive Algebra II & Physics (my good friend Jeremy Williams told me when it was time to sign up for classes that, between Physics and Chemistry, Physics was the easier one, and the one that required less math...thanks for that Jer...to this day, I cannot look at a bridge without feeling that sinking feeling that comes before you flunk a test...I would routinely get home after wrestling practice at about 4:30, drink some water and then get started on my math & science homework...which I would finish at right about 9:00; I would do all my English/History homework at school in the half hour before classes got started); with this in mind, I was more than happy to ignore the advice of my high school academic counsellor and avoid just about every real class.

This was my senior year schedule, roughly adapted for the semester change, and as best as I can remember it in order:

Creative Writing
Wood Shop/Drama
Weight-Lifting (Originally it was going to be AP Psych...but, again, that involved work...and I was NOT interested...and I was a wrestler, after all)
Choir
AP English (my one *real* class...I was in a room with the smarties--including my wife and my best friend, BJ Cadd--and I was suffering woefully from senior-itus...Mrs. Cranston would usually evaluate my efforts with a look of mingled pity and impatience...I think she was happily surprised to hear that I learned to love learning in college...this class did actually change my life though, as it was the first time I ever read a C.S. Lewis work that wasn't Narnia...about a year-and-a-half later a discussion with Emily Moothart about the Great Divorce would be one of the significant stepping stones for getting me into the Torrey Honors Institute)
Bible
Photo/Pottery

It was the only year in high school that I made the good grade lists. I know what you're thinking...how on earth did I get into college? I wonder that often myself...to say nothing of how did I actually get into Torrey. I was lazy, and wasted a lot of opportunities...I don't really have regrets (it was a great year), but my academic life has suffered. There are worse things, and fortunately, God is gracious.

During my semester working on Black & White photos (which is a real art, and I loved it...it's a dream of mine to re-learn how to do the whole thing, and make a dark room of my own...maybe someday) we would take pictures of friends, trees, cars, water in the parking lot, and through the miracle of the absence of color, create instant nostalgic mementos for our youth.

It is something few people can understand; unless you're a missionary kid, a military brat, or something very similar, I cannot explain what is like to grow up without a home. I am not complaining, either; it is just that this fact altered the way we all interacted with everything, in ways that I am certain we did not realize at the time. We had to carve out pieces of permanence for ourselves, so we could explain where we came from. Figuring out where we were going to often proved a challenge. College was, for me, just the next step...I had zero expectations and just about no specific ambitions for it...I just knew my time as a kid in the Philippines was over and I had to go out alone and make my life into something (in all fairness, I should add that I chose to go alone...I chose an expensive University on the opposite side of the country from my parents, at least in part initially because of a girl..again, wisdom was clearly not my gift).

While we would work in the dark red glow of the dark room, and watch our pictures materialize in the developer fluid, we would listen to music. Music is one of those special gifts, that allows us to connect events and feelings with sounds, so that some experiences never entirely fade away from the memory. When I was in there, we would listen to 1 of 4 - 5 different tapes (back when things were still on tapes...at least, in the P.I.). One of my favorites was a song already dripping with nostalgia all on its own; added to that environment, it became an anthem for the cleaving that was taking place that last year at Faith Academy. Although my state-side counter-parts knew this song as "that annoying song over-played on the radio" or a song off of a soundtrack, I knew it only as "The Sunscreen Song," on my friend's tape.

It's been 8 years since I had access to this song, but every now and then I'd hear a snippet somewhere, or look at one of my black and white pictures of the flowers that grew on our hill, or the tree that we'd climb during lunch time, or the puddles left after one of my last tropical storms, and I would remember my Fall semester senior year in high school. I stumbled across an i-Tunes gift card yesterday from two years ago, and for the first time I have access to DSL...so, once again, I have access to instant nostalgia in song form.

Some of the maxims remind me of painful mistakes, or some of the happiest moments I can remember (I am one of those rare few that actually enjoyed my high school experience...I attribute this to my parents, my teachers, my friends, my circumstances...but above all, my God, who really was merciful; I made it through with my innocence mostly intact, something that I have since learned not to take for granted). Mostly, they make me reflect on how I have changed since the last time I heard them, and whether or not I still consider them to be wisdom or "a form of nostalgia, dispensing it (advice) is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than its worth."

Maybe it's because it's been eight years...maybe it is because we have just moved and I feel a little alone and am starting over once again...maybe it is because I am now a dad, a husband, and my best friend from high school is going to be married this Spring and that makes me feel a little old...maybe it's because Facebook keeps showing me pictures of people I knew when I was my student's age or younger...but I have been very nostalgic of late. I want to connect with my past, and if possible to make it a part of my present. I hope I have abandoned the foolish lie I accepted when I was in high school, that those were the best times of my life, and that being young was the best part of living, period. Youth is painful, and it is good that it transitions into maturity. But there are sweet things about youth, and the bonds and memories of our firsts are worth treasuring, so long as we don't try to revive a life that nature and time has resigned to the past.

This is why we strive to be winsome, curious souls that grow in the Lord, but retain our youthful excitement about the potential to grow and learn and explore the undiscovered countries of heaven.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my parent's 30th Anniversary. Thank you Mom, and thank you Dad. I grew up in a solid home, with parents that loved each other, and us. Where you made mistakes, you also worked hard to be better--for each other, and for us. Mostly, you were great, and spent a lot of time and effort trying to raise us to be healthy, happy, and walking with the Lord.

My parents were the first solid believers in their respective families. They imparted a legacy of faith and trust in God that has impacted every decision in my life. I pray that I can be as good a husband and as good a father as my Dad. My mother imparted a gentle spirit to me and has frequently been my standard and guide when trying to navigate the waters of parenthood.

Thanks Mom & Dad. Happy Anniversary!

In Defense of the West

When the movie 300 came out, there were mixed responses amongst many of my friends. Some loved it. Some hated it. Some scoffed at the suggestion that the Spartans were the defenders of freedom and liberty and the West. Some wondered why everyone was wearing a leather bikini...

I loved the movie. I thought it was a lot of fun, but more than that, that it spoke to a call that I believe rang out at Thermopylae, and again and again throughout the ages...the call to defend the West.

I cannot offer the most articulate defense of this idea, "The West", and even if I did here offer up my best thoughts, they would be poor shadows of better men's thoughts. What I will offer tonight is my best reason for believing that 300 got something important right.

The Spartan 300 have been hailed through the ages as some of the first glorious martyrs for the cause of the West. Many have suggested that this is a particularly ironic interpretation of the events, since the Spartans were not a free society...and their prosperity came at the cost of other's freedom (poor Helots). Still...they stood against the first global empire...they resisted a tyrant, in favor of preserving the Greek way of life; the Polis, and free citizens.

Were the Spartans perfect representations of the West that was born, in part, as a result of their efforts? No. Barely a generation later, Spartans would be responsible for sacking Athens, the seat of freedom and liberty in Greece. But against the Persians, the Spartans stood with their fellow Greeks, in defiance.

Reynolds used to tell us that it was a sign of the downfall of the West that he is allowed to teach us at all. By this same reasoning...it is a sign of how fragile and new the West was that the Spartans were among the defenders...yet defend it, they did. They worked to establish a future they did not even comprehend, a world they would not have been allowed to inhabit, once it was established. They faced overwhelming odds and certain defeat, with hope and reckless abandon, for the tomorrow they would not allow to slip away into the night.

"They ushered in a future brighter than anything they could imagine."

Today, we may be poor, shattered, fragments of the inheritance to which we still cling. We teachers may barely qualify as students, starting their educations, in the generations that have gone before. Our challenges are daunting, and it is doubtful that the tide can be held back; but our task is clearly set out before us. As the last heirs of the West in twilight, it is ours to hold the line, to stand as 300 stood in a gap and make a mark that will change history. It is a good time to be a teacher.

What Do You Take?

As with everyone else who currently resides in Southern California, I have been thinking a lot about how I would respond to a disaster, such as the fires that have devoured hundreds of homes and changed radically thousands of live this past weekend.

Many are reflecting on the very important questions of why this sort of thing happens, what we can do, how to help those of our community that have suffered from these fires, etc. My school is putting together an effort to collect for those that lost everything some food, clothes, and necessities as they start the process of rebuilding and recovering. While I am praying for those that have been impacted by this recent blow in a season of hard knocks, I have become aware of a new thought that is germinating as a result of this most recent disaster.

I am in the midst of getting our new house put together. It is a long, costly process...what money we do make doesn't stay for long in the bank account; it is frittered away on light bulbs, and stair railings, plumbing issues, paint, furniture, etc. And to be fair, we spend to much money on stuff to makes it all easier; we are working on being good stewards of what we have. Our house is beginning to take shape, and I am finally enjoying coming home, enjoying sitting in my living room, enjoying walking up the stairs to bed, passing pictures of our family that now decorate our walls. Our house is becoming home.

And then, the fires come.

One of my professors used to say that people become Conservatives once they have stuff they want to conserve. I have been a Conservative since before I had stuff...but now that I have stuff, I DO want to conserve it. So fires, while always bad, now represent doom on a whole new scale. I have watched more avidly then before; and in the midst of fairly standard coverage of such a tragedy I resonated with some things I have not reflected on, in this way, before.

As with every disaster that dominates the headlines and impacts the society en masse, we are reminded that it can happen to us, our security is precarious, and we should plan for the future. Emergency plans, survival kits, insurance, etc.

All of which has prodded me to consider this question; if disaster were to come, what would I grab for in the rush of trying to get out of the way?

This isn't really a deep question; it amounts to little more than a variation of the game "Desert Island": what book would you take, what one tool, what one food, what one person, etc., if you were stuck on a desert island?

Assuming my family is safe, the important documents are in the car, and now I have a chance to grab one or two things...what do I pack up on the way out from the fire?

I think I will ammend the situation to allow for packing up a few small things into a box, and count that box as "one thing," though that may be cheating, its my game and I make the rules.

My first would be the pictures on the wall. I started to say some of my books, or new TV or something like that...but of course, those can actually be replaced...and if they can't, life will go on. I would generally be a better person if I watched less TV. But those pictures of my son and I at the Aquarium of the Pacific, my wife and I at our rehearsal dinner...those are the moments I want to hold on to.

My second is unfortunately my rotten computer. I hate to think of saving a computer...and maybe this will inspire me to transfer some of those things to a safer, easier to grab place, but my computer has my papers, my music, and hundreds of pictures that haven't made their way to the walls.

My heart is sad to think of my books burning and saving my rotten PC...but such is the age I live in. I need to get an external hard-drive, so I can throw that in the box of pictures and start picking up books...

What would you take?

I Moved Into a Burning Ring of Fire...

It was the Summer of 2008 when we moved from La Mirada, our home for the first five years of our marriage, my home since I left the Philippines in 2000 to go to college at Biola University.

We moved up to Santa Clarita, almost exactly 50 miles from where we once lived. On the whole, though I miss many dear friends from our old home, I love our new place. We have a house, we are settling in, we will get a dog (SOON!!!) and it has been a good time.

Something I didn't realize, as we were making our move, was that we were moving into the area where all the Fires happen. Today, we're cut off from home...because of massive fires everywhere.

I didn't realize it until I looked outside today and the sky was orange. Cah-razy

These are not...my...pants

It would happen on a Friday.

Out on the dodgeball field, revealing my mad dodgeballing skills...I went to reach for a ball...bent down...and suddenly felt a breath of fresh air...in the seat of my pants.

I split my pants.

I SPLIT MY STUPID, STINKING, *@&&!#@#@ PANTS.

Fortunately, not badly. Right up the seam...and not too noticably. I was due to teach a class in two minutes...so I managed to back off the field without attracting any attention, and call over another teacher to get some help.

The resolution to this problem wasn't all that exciting. What I don't understand, what puzzles me beyond reason, is why this pair of pants has always been so ridiculously tight. Not because I am in denial about a flux in my own weight...I know I have fluxed. No, the problem is that this pair of pants was exactly the same as three other pairs of pants that I own, excepting the color. The same brand, the same cut, the same size...and all a different fit.

Why, oh world of affordable fashion, why are your pants vairable sizes when they claim to be uniform?!?!?!? WHY?!?!?!?

I have resolved to procure some pants of real quality in the near future...I like to set attainable goals. This week...get new pants.

Mayor Newsome and the Law of the Land

Gavin Newsome, the ignoble mayor of San Francisco, has weighed in on the will of the people of California. Unsurprisingly, he opposes the measure, which carried the day.

Mr. Newsome, who has shown a general disregard for laws which he personally finds distasteful, is condemning the voices of the majority once again. Apparently, rule of the majority matters when they agree with you, but when they disagree, it is because they are hateful, wrong, or simply ignorant.

While I will agree that the Law should not be subject to merely the whim of the masses, at the same time, we have a process in place for the masses to speak and give their judgement regarding what we as a society accept. In this case, the people have spoken, a couple of times, and in each instance, the cause of Gay Marriage has failed to carry the day. Continuing the argument is perfectly acceptable; this is also part of the process. However, as has so often been the case in these last few years, a loss on the Left isn't merely a political loss; it's a critique of the morality of all involved, and a condemnation of our very souls. Freedom itself is overturned and in question if a liberal cause fails at the ballot box; the Republic walks a little closer to doom every time a Liberal issue is defeated.

When I encounter this sort of rhetoric from the Right, I do what I can to denounce it and work to calm the naysayers. Obama is not a Nazi...Obama is not actually a Marxist. Obama is not out to kill your babies, nor is He out to give your house to the bums on the street. He is a patriot, and has accomplished some truly praiseworthy things; he has my allegiance as the leader of the nation and my prayers as a man who undoubtedly needs God's guidance for the many problems he is facing. I disagree with nearly all of his platform...but the hyperbole doesn't ease tension; it makes the situation more dire.

For Mr. Newsome and much of his party, unfortunately, this breath of reality is not frequently forthcoming. As any Republican can tell you, the last 7 1/2 years have been filled with bitterness, spewing from the Left. It is not that disagreements are unhealthy or unexpected; it is that the way the Left fights has very little to do with what is actually good for the nation. How much of President Bush's time as President was rendered impotent because of the irrational hatred for him and everyone that supported him?

In California, they lost the debate. Marriage is not a right, it is a privilege, and as such it has been awarded to those for whom it has traditionally been the natural result of romance. This doesn't amount to the State making second-class citizens of Homosexuals; it is merely a specific contingent of the populace making their opinions known and declaring that they desire the Law to reflect their beliefs. It has roots in religion, but it is also defensible by those who want to see society prosper. Traditional marriage is good for our society...Homosexual unions do not contribute to society, in and of themselves. There are other, better, arguments for why the Law passed at the polls.

But this is really neither here nor there. The final point for today is this: the Law passed. Newsome and his ilk lost. Rather than taking it on the chin and planning for the next debate, they are spending their time protesting, and trying to force the issue by threatening to be publically upset. In California, this might be enough...but the Law of the Land cannot survive for long if either side decides that elections are only good when their values are upheld by the populace.

Christian Dems and opponents of Prop 8: don't let your side get away with undermining election results just because they're disappointing!

Vindication

I told you so.

Not even saying I agree with whatever may or may not be being said from some on the Right...but Lefties...remember...this is the cost of victory...and we've been experiencing it for years now.

The Storyteller: Greek Myths

When I was 9 or 10, there was a show on PBS that told Faerie Tales in a way that nobody else told a story. They were amazing...so much so that, though I knew absolutely nothing about who produced them or what they were called, I have been hoping to stumble across them once again as an adult. The past few weeks, whenever I would visit our local grocer, I would notice a DVD next to the check-out stand called "The Storyteller," by Jim Henson. I looked at it a couple of times, but wasn't sure if it was worth it (probably a bad call...most things by Jim Henson are worth seeing at least once). Finally I broke down and just tossed it into the basket; a true impluse buy. The stores are quite clever with their placement of movies...I have grown out of the candy impulse (for the most part) but movies at $9.99 are very tempting...

And in this case, totally worth it. I soon discovered that this was what I have been passively searching for, the complete collection of fables and stories that impacted me as a child so dramatically. After a quick review of the first disc, I soon realized that I had not only stumbled on a treasure trove for my quickly growing son, but also a boon for my history (and quite possibly literature) classes. What better way of helping kids in the 21st Century connect with the myths that painted the imaginations of generations through the centuries then to allow them to hear them as stories? That Jim Henson...what a man!

Needless to say, we've been watching The Storyteller: Greek Myths in my History class this past week. The assignment has been to glean two (and from my perspective, picking only two is a chore...there are TONS of gems thrown out through the telling of the story) morals from each of the 4 myths, and speculate on how those myths would have shaped the culture in which they were told; Daedalus & Icarus, Orpheus & Eurydice, Perseus & the Gorgon, and Theseus & the Minotaur. The stories are not editted for modern sensibilities...they end sadly, and often justice is at the very least in question, if not seemingly absent altogether.

My favorite is a toss up between the moral of Daedalus and Icarus and a question from the tale of Theseus. On the one hand, you have to wrestle with the lesson of the value of moderation, and with Theseus I think you have to ask yourself...what must one become to be the champion that defeats the Minotaur? Theseus is a bad man...and a hero. His glory seems to cost him any virtue he had. Obviously the lessons are closely related...but the discussion comes from different directions.

Even more fun is the fact that in the process of discussing the Greeks on these issues, Milton keeps coming up. Is it better to be a king in Hell than a slave in heaven? Is glory worth more than a mediocre life on earth? If glory is our immortality, what then? Perhaps that is why Christ makes the difference between Christianity and everything else so clear: if you would keep your life, you must be willing to give it up. Clinging to life is the surest way to lose what you hold dear...through this paradox, Christianity resolves the dilemmas that plagued the Greeks. It's a good time to be a teacher.

More on This Later...

There are many reasons I support our veterans, and I will be happy and proud to show my appreciation for their service and sacrifice over the next few days...but on a light-hearted note, allow me to say that I am thankful to our Vet's because they afford us a three day weekend...just about exactly when I needed one.

Thank you, men and women of the armed services...in so many ways you sacrifice so that others do not need to...and for one lame but very sincere teacher, this three day weekend is just another instance of your provision for our country!

Getting Back On the Horse

Hugh Hewitt is, as always, encouraging in his analysis.

On the Day (or two) After the Election

First and foremost, major congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama. His election marks a major landmark in American history and a truly admirable accomplishment. Mr Obama and his family have been and will be in our prayers for the days, weeks, months and years to come. May God grant him wisdom and foresight, and may he be a leader that increases the liberty and virtue of our nation.

It is a good day to be an American.

The Republic has once again withstood a complete change of government, and no blood has been shed. We Americans take this for granted, but this has rarely been the case in the course of world history.

Faith in the election process has been restored for half the nation. Although we could argue about their reasons for doubting the process in the first place, that fact is worth noting. It is a bad thing when a significant portion of the nation believes they have been disenfranchised of their vote. If McCain was the necessary sacrificial lamb to set this right, we could not have asked for a better man, full of integrity and honor, to endure the loss of a long and difficult election. I hope that our friends on the Left take note...as we fully intend to return to power; remember, the Republic is more important than the results of the election, and tough as some loses may be, the nation needs both sides to come together in the aftermath.

It is important to remind ourselves (those of us frustrated Conservatives) that this is part of the political process. Loses are part of the game...and much good can come from having to re-examine our approach.


Let us pray for the President-to-Be and draw together as Christians and country-men.

The Dawning of the Age of Obamius

Although I firmly hold to my prediction that McCain is about to be elected President, it seems wise to say something now, on the chance that I am wrong.

If I am wrong, at least I will no longer have to strive after success; in the coming Obamatocracy, I will no longer need to put gas in my car; I will not need to make my mortgage payments; doctors will come to my door free of charge when I get my annual cold/flu bout. Haircuts will no longer be just haircuts; they will make us beautiful people. Even farts will smell sweet...after all, when Obama comes to town, bad gas is a thing of the past.

Well, that was fun. But seriously...if Obama does win, I want to say right here and now...

It won't be the worst thing in the world.

I think the country will be worse for it (obviously). I did vote for McCain, and generally I vote for the man I believe to be best qualified for the office, best able to make a positive impact on our way of life.

However...successful discussions are not one-sided. And for the last 8 years, the discussion from the White House has been from one point of view. To the Liberals, this point of view represents just about their idea of Hell on Earth. The Left HATES Bush...really they do. At this point, it is practically impossible to have a discussion about his decisions with anyone who seriously disagrees with them and avoid some very emotionally charged accusations.

For the Liberals of this nation, Bush represents the worst case scenario. Yet the Nation still stands, and if a person can shoe-horn themselves into a reasonable frame of mind, I think we all agree that while the last 8 years may not have been your cup of tea, the Republic still stands.

I say all of this because...if Obama wins...I firmly believe that the Republic will still be standing 4 years from now. It won't be my cup of tea...I voted for the other guy. But I am not going to take the route of the inflated Hollywood diva's or perpetually disenfranchised and threaten to move to Canada (not that it would offer much solace...talk about leaving the frying pan in favor of the fire...). Obama is just a man, and even if he does preside over a Democrat dream team (solidly Liberal Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches), the Republic is bigger than the people who comprise the government of the nation.

Successful discussions are not one-sided. The nation may just be better for allowing one side to air-out their beliefs and test their theories. Certainly it appears that this is the desire of many Americans...why not have the patience and the trust in our system to endure the rule of a party we really disagree with? A challenge to conservatives...have the stalwart faith to congratulate Dems on winning this round and start prepping for 2010...changing the minds of America with regard to our beliefs requires a more coherent discussion than we have been offering for years now.

Also...as I have mentioned elsewhere, and taking the over-used line from Spiderman...with power comes responsibility. If the Dem's get their wish...they also inherit responsibility for everything. As their opponents, this should excite Conservatives...criticism is easy to level; leadership is difficult, even painful...and history frequently shows us that the reward for leaders who do more than pander to the mob is disdain and explusion from power.

Still and all...its an election. It is part of the process of the discussion of power and law in our nation...it is exciting, it is heartbreaking...it is also just another day. The Republic stands, and we work to make it the best we can. Take heart, losers on either side! An election is lost today, but not the Republic, not the Nation, not the World...not our salvation. Deep breaths...deep breaths...

If Obama is the next President of the United States of America, good Christians and certainly good Americans should all raise their glasses in the following toast:

God Bless the United States of America!

I hope the same will resound tomorrow, when John McCain starts his celebration of Victory!