"Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right"

(Abraham Lincoln, 16th President to the United States of America)

One of the things I got involved in a month or so before the election was a prayer site for whomever it was going to be that would be our next president. It is a non-partisan site, and it helped me have space to pray for God's whatever. I think it was initially 40 days of prayer for our new President. Now it is 77 days of prayer for our new President, up to the Inauguration. It makes me smile in its precise timekeeping--right now it says: Day Seven: November 11, 2008: 70 days, 15 hours and 26 minutes left until inauguration day.

This morning, I clicked on the "Post a prayer or leave a comment" button, curious to see what my fellow pray-ers might have posted there. And, of course, it reflected what is happening in our nation, as we get used to the fact that either "our guy" won or lost.

There were prayers thanking God that we had elected this man. There were prayers disappointed that we had elected this man. (Most of those, though, also said, I will continue to pray because it is my duty to pray for my leaders.)

This was the prayer I posted:

Thank you Lord, that we live in these United States, not the red states or the blue states, but all of the states. I pray for us that are praying, and I pray that our numbers may increase. As I walk around, I want to hug people, but I know there are others who have bitter faces. May we put our feelings aside to pray for this man, who will lead our nation, whether we voted for him or not.

I praise your name that you know every word that I have typed and every word that I have deleted.

In Jesus precious name.

Growing my political backbone

This is excerpted from an email I wrote this morning to a friend from college. She and I were the only ones in our little group who had read Tom Friedman's book From Beruit to Jerusalem for the freshman orientation the year she and I were transfer students to the college we graduated from. (How's that for a run on?) So started an intellectual friendship filled with discovery which is into its first decade and a half.

I've just re-started reading The Audacity of Hope--I started about 3 weeks before the election but had to put it down b/c I was too nervous. He is so smart! There are sentences I don't understand! As a child who grew up knowing that my dad's boss boss boss was the President, I appreciate what he said about how even though he didn't like Reagan as a pres or Bush Jr, he could see why folks voted for them and when he met Bush Jr when he became a Senator, he actually had a friendly conversation with him. My mother can't understand (and maybe you neither) how anyone could have voted for Bush, but I think Barack would understand why I did. This is not only a man who can rule our country, he is a man I would love to have dinner with and discuss life. I am growing my political backbone, not an easy thing to do, at any age, but at (almost) 37, people expect that you should have known a long time ago what to look for in a leader. I've never voted for a man that lost. My brother laughs and says, "You're the average American voter." My sister, I know, wouldn't laugh. She is a Democrat like a Mama bear--FIERCE. I'm actually starting a third blog, called Stuff N'at, where not only am I going to post all the YouTubes I know are getting annoying on FB because, okay, he won already, but also as a place to talk about growing my political backbone.

More to come.

Untitled

so this is where I'm going to post stuff. N'at. After I have breakfast. Maybe.