Perspective
Outside my house, the mountains are slowly smoldering with early, fiery shades of red and orange, dampened still by green pines and other persistently verdant hardwoods. My wife and children are healthy. My job is secure.
I have so far spent my career serving God and the men and women charged to my care. I have done it professionally and well. I have prospered from hard work and have provided for the needs of my children and others with the skills and motivation given to me by my maker, and which my parents and extended family taught me.
My family is intact, further helping to ensure their physical, spiritual and economic well-being. My diabetic child is thriving. All of my children are learning so much as we home-school them. Their character, their reasoning and their fund of knowledge is growing exponentially, and they are preparing to be thoughtful, wise, productive citizens of this nation. They are also preparing to be the leaders of the Church as they mature.
In the course of my life I have served my country as an officer of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. I help prepare my community for disaster while working with our local nuclear power plant.
My readers are dear treasures to me and I am thankful for the words God gives me to put down, online and on paper, for others to enjoy…or detest, as the case may be. I am blessed beyond mere words to have the gift of writing, and the gift of publications through which to put my words before the public. I am blessed to have access to human suffering and joy through my family, and the practice of medicine. Both fill my well with experiences and ideas every day. I am blessed with free speech which allows me to say what I want in the safety of our great nation.
What’s my point? The election may change America dramatically. People like me may benefit or be punished for the effort and contributions we have put forth. We may pay a price or receive a dividend for the investment of work, capital and ideas we have put into the country at large.
But I have, with God’s help, lived honorably. I have contributed, worked, risked, learned, struggled and prospered.
I have been, as so many millions of Americans, an every-day patriot. I have helped keep this great land on course, in my home and in my work, in my words and in my prayers, in my character and in my actions. Vilified, feared, right wing, evangelical conservative I may be, I have lived without shame, and loved others enormously in my walk thus far.
God is sovereign. He will place in power whomever He wishes. Though I fear dark times ahead for the producers, the traditionalists, the devoutly religious, the devoutly American, I cannot see far ahead. God sees to the end.
If I lose money or freedom, it is not mine. If I gain, it is not mine. It all is the property of my Creator and Father.
So, I go into the election, and the unknown but potentially dramatic changes of the future, with my head held high in honor. With the confidence that whatever bad things have happened to our land, they were not because of my action or inaction, or that of any of my family.
And I go into the future with the sure and certain knowledge expressed by Job: ‘I know that my redeemer liveth and that in the end he shall stand upon the earth.’
Therefore, come what may, I will keep this perspective in mind:
‘The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.’
God bless America, God bless our leaders, present and future, and God bless all of you.
Have a wonderful weekend; enjoy the Autumn.
Edwin
Dear Edwin,
Thank you so much for the inspiring words. I have really struggled over the possible (probable) outcome this Tuesday. Your wise words have given me some comfort.
I have to be honest with you when I state I don’t really share your religious view…..but still find your writings deeply moving. I had a terrible experience with Christianity as a teenager…hippie parents converted overnight into fundamentalists with major emphasis placed on predestination doctrine. I will never forget the day when at 17, I was told by my parents and the church elders that I was “unsavable” and destined for hell….”Jacob have I love and Esu have I hated” I think is what they quoted me. They did reassure me, though, how upset it made them….I guess that is some comfort LOL.
My rambling point is that through your writings, I have come to see a different face to the Christian God who in my youth terrorized me. I actually find him likable and maybe even approachable.
I have a loooooooong way to go in my spiritual journey, but thank you for being a wonderful compass.
Respectfully yours,
Jennifer
The thing to remember it that it is God and not man that places rulers and leaders. He does it according to His purposes.
Thank you, Edwin, for your perspective. It’s one I share. There is so much disregard for God and his word in our country that I have been concerned we were due for a serious correction. It may well be that Tuesday’s election will bring it. I pray not.
But what you say above is what I’ve been saying to people around me. God is good, and he doesn’t choose harm for anyone. However, we are tiny cogs in the vast and nearly timeless wheel of the universe. We don’t have the perspective to know the reason for all things that happen. I just remember, “all things work together for good to those that love the Lord”. That doesn’t mean that all good things come to Christians, but rather that anything that happens we can use to some good for God’s kingdom. I hope Obama doesn’t win, but my prayer has not been that, but rather that what is best for the Lord’s kingdom long term is what happens. That may be Obama, although I don’t see how.
Jennifer, no one is ever beyond God’s love as long as they draw breath. I’m sorry that people who misunderstood that caused so much harm in your life. I’m glad you found in Edwin’s words a comfort and a place to reconsider. I hope you continue to search God’s word for yourself. I don’t know what behaviors your parents and others found “beyond redemption”, but I can’t imagine that it was anywhere near the behaviors of people who then turned to God and are spoken of in Scripture as our examples: David, an adulterer and murderer who repented and was called “A man after God’s own heart”; the apostle Paul, who sought out and murdered Christians as Saul, until he became a Christian and began teaching some of the people whose relatives he had probably killed; Peter, who denied knowing Jesus three times, hours after promising the Lord he would never deny him; the list goes on. All of us come to God as sinners.
Dear Jennifer,
Thank you so much for writing! It’s a great thrill to know that my words are an encouragement to you. If they are, it’s with God’s help. If they aren’t, well, it’s just me being human.
I’ve known a lot of folks who were driven away from God. But even as they ran, God was running behind going, ‘No, that wasn’t my idea! Come back! I love you!’
Humans, especially ones who think they are very holy, can be hard to live with. I’ve met plenty of them in my walk. Your parents came from a generation that threw themselves into spirituality and politics with admirable passion, but with less than admirable thought and study. I hate the fact that someone misled them, and caused you to be hurt.
It wasn’t God’s intention, I’m sure of that. I don’t get predestination; I’m not a theologian. But I am a father, and I know fatherhood. God, the Father, ‘is not willing that any should perish,’ as the Bible says. And if we become his, by our choice, then we are adopted, loved children. 1 John 3:1 says: ‘How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us, that we should be called the children of God; for that is what we are!’ I can almost see old John trembling at the delightful thought of it.
I believe that God has always been with you; and he understands your pain of rejection, rejected as he often is.
We needn’t agree on all things ‘religious.’ But we can agree that it is nice to know that God loves us; and that God the laughing, loving Father is a more accurate depiction than that of a god who dismisses you out of hand as a mere child.
I’ve been writing a book about this called ‘God our Papa.’ When I’m finished, I’ll mention it on the blog. Drop me a line at edwinleap@gmail.com, and I’ll send you a copy if you’re interested.
Jennifer, you are loved and desired by your maker. I’m confident of that, just as I’m confident that I love and desire each of my children; and I’m not nearly as good a father as He is!
Prayerfully yours,
Edwin
PS We all, dear Jennifer, have a long way to go. But at least we’re going…