It's Finally Over

2 years and $1 billion later, the 44th president of the United States has finally been elected. Congratulations to Barack Obama! I am cautiously optimistic about his presidency and am interested to see what he's going to do. Having a Democratically controlled house & senate, along with a Democratic president, scares me, but I am operating on faith that Obama will try to reach across party lines as he has stated in his campaign. He certainly won't have many excuses for not getting things done! I'm interested also to see who his cabinet will be as well.

I am absolutely thrilled that an African-American has been elected to the white house. It's time and it's amazing to see how far we've come. Jim Crow laws were in effect in this country scarcely 60 years ago and look where we are now. Wow. My fervent hope & prayer is that the young African-American at-risk young men in this country would see and begin to realize that their fate as poor and disadvantaged is not sealed, that they can aspire to the highest office in the land. It's no longer impossible. The ceiling has shattered.

For those who love John Piper as much as Chris & I do (and for those who don't, you should watch this too), here's a video that my friend Matt linked on his blog:



As I mentioned before, one really great thing that has happened during this election season has been opening up dialogue between lots of different people. I've been having a pretty insightful conversation with some college friends of mine who are spread all over the country, both Democrats and Republicans and Independents. It's been really interesting and challenging for me. Here are my closing thoughts on politics that I wrote to them and then I'm going to stop talking about politics for awhile and focus on more interesting things, like how my kids both hate to have their hair washed and what we ate for breakfast in the morning.

"...the best thing to remember is that we're Christians, not Americans. I wholeheartedly agree. But, the last time I checked, the Kingdom of God was not up for a vote. I think that what's best for God's Kingdom doesn't come in the form of a vote or politics, it comes through servanthood, sharing the gospel, being a light and witness to our neighbors. I am disillusioned with the *political* Christian Right as they seem to believe that it's through politics that revival is going to come to our nation. 8 years of George Bush has proved that very wrong...

...I think too often we, as Americans, think that we can cast a vote and think our responsibilities end there, but if we as Christians want to further the Kingdom of God, we need to be working with organizations that are actually doing that and not with politicians who are in less of a position to actually affect people's lives and allow the gospel to go forward."