{"id":112,"date":"2008-09-19T09:35:31","date_gmt":"2008-09-19T15:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/one-church.net\/wordpress\/?p=112"},"modified":"2008-09-19T09:35:31","modified_gmt":"2008-09-19T15:35:31","slug":"obama-mccain-and-bears-o-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/2008\/09\/19\/obama-mccain-and-bears-o-my\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama, McCain and Bears, O My!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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As a former journalist I find myself pretty excited every four years when our national elections roll around. It\u2019s pretty sick I know, but I scour the newspapers daily, trade in the ol\u2019 IPOD music for talk radio for a few weeks and tap network news every morning like an addict jonesing for the morning hit.<\/p>\n

Someone help me\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Dog eat dog politics, biting commercials and round the clock reporting all seem to get my juices flowing. There\u2019s nothing quite as exhilarating as a super-revealing expose about the embarrassing third grade shenanigans of some candidate that you can only get on this network, you won\u2019t want to miss it, tonight at nine!<\/p>\n

I feel like I am on a first name basis with Anderson Cooper, Bill O\u2019Reilly and Robin Meade. I know no network allegiance, and I can find something to appreciate about them all.<\/p>\n

Except Chris Matthews. Dang he annoys me. Even if he is a Christian, I\u2019ll just trust heaven\u2019s a big place and we probably won\u2019t bump into each other<\/p>\n

Still, when I step back and really look what\u2019s at stake I am far less excited and a lot more concerned about where we are is a country and where we\u2019re going as a culture.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not so much amusing as it is terrifying.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure many of you have sat in front of your television in just the last few weeks shaking your head muttering to yourself in a very Rain Manesque way, “If BLANK<\/em> <\/strong>gets in office, we\u2019re in so much trouble” (you can fill in the blank for whichever guy you are particularly concerned about).<\/p>\n

From the economy to the environment, from open conflict to hidden terror, it\u2019s a great big scary world, and we\u2019re all petrified that some yahoo with a personal agenda and whacked out world-view is going to get in charge.<\/p>\n

Good grief, if this election doesn\u2019t turn out right, by this time next term we\u2019ll all be brainwashed, communist, flat broke, sexual deviants, who beat our children and like it. OOO\u2026OOO\u2026OOO\u2026 and, we\u2019ll be paying higher taxes to live that way, too! We\u2019re going to hell in a handbasket and it\u2019s all going down on the six o\u2019clock news!!!<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n
Paranoid sarcasm is my specialty. It\u2019s a gift.<\/em><\/div>\n
In the middle of all this political chaos and tumultuous global siren blowing, let me make this statement: have no fear.<\/em><\/div>\n

From the time that time began people have looked at their leaders for direction\u2026and then sat down to weep.<\/p>\n

<\/em>But, let me take you back to a Biblical lesson that can give you hope on this, or any election year.<\/p>\n

It was the time of the prophet Isaiah and God\u2019s people had been lead by a great King named Uzziah. He had been in charge for 52 years (there were no term limits in those days beyond life span) and according to historians his rule was the most prosperous excepting that of King Jehosaphat since the time of Solomon. Translation: things had been very good for generations.<\/p>\n

He was loved, popular, successful and unfortunately, now, he was dead.<\/p>\n

The next guy to ascend the throne was King Uzziah\u2019s son Jotham, only 25 years old when he took the reigns of the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

    \n
  • How could he ever fill his daddy\u2019s shoes? <\/span><\/li>\n
  • How could he ever be the leader the people needed? <\/span><\/li>\n
  • What hope was there to continue the success that they had seen the last 52 years? <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Had he ever done anything more significant than being a community organizer? <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Had he ever accepted earmarks? <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Had he ever built a bridge to anywhere? <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Wasn\u2019t putting the king\u2019s son in office just putting lipstick on a pig?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    (Go ahead, count them up\u2026 I poked fun at both sides equal times)<\/p>\n

    These were dark days for the country with lots of uncertainty, but this was the exact time that God appears to Isaiah in a vision.<\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/p>\n

    In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.<\/strong><\/div>\n
    The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Is 6:1). Grand Rapids: Zondervan. <\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
    \u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n
    When all eyes were on the passing of a leader they loved and trusted and moving to leadership that was unknown and untested God reminded them of the most important thing: He is still on the throne!<\/strong><\/div>\n

    Sure it was the year that King Uzziah died, and people we scared, concerned and preoccupied with \u2018the issues.\u2019<\/p>\n

    But, if you\u2019d just look beyond the end of your nose, past the talk shows, debates and negative attack ads, God is seated on the throne, the train of His robe filled the temple and angels flew about his head crying “Holy, Holy, Holy!”<\/p>\n

    <\/strong>The worship of Him was so amazing that it\u2019s sound shook the very foundations of the temple.<\/p>\n

    Isaiah\u2026King Uzziah is no longer in charge, but God is. There is nothing to worry about.<\/p>\n

    I remember my momma coming out of the bathroom in her robe to hear the TV announcement that Jimmy Carter had been elected. She sat down on the couch and cried.<\/p>\n

    We survived.<\/p>\n

    I remember preachers going crazy when Bill Clinton took the White House.<\/p>\n

    We\u2019re still here.<\/p>\n

    I recall the Conservative Christian Coalition celebrating Ronald Reagan\u2019s re-election as though it were the second coming of Jesus Himself.<\/p>\n

    Nope.<\/p>\n

    In fact in 1987 I got a chance to meet President Reagan in the Rose Garden of the White House, a hero of mine. But, I would have to say this:<\/p>\n

    I serve Jesus Christ, I know Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is a friend of mine. Ronald Reagan, you are no Jesus Christ. (If you didn’t get why that last line was funny… first, you are too young. Second, read this:Lloyd Bentsen (democratic vice-presidential candidate) will be remembered for his interchange with Dan Quayle in their vice-presidential debate in 1988, in which Quayle, a Republican senator, compared himself to President Kennedy. Bentsen, a Democratic senator, replied: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Republican. Democract. Independent. Whacko, Nutjob. We really don\u2019t need to fear, because even though the residents of the White House change, God has never left His throne.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s important that we are a part of the process, don\u2019t get me wrong, this is not a call to apathy. This is simply a call to return to sanity.<\/p>\n

    Make sure you carefully consider, pray and vote your heart, but fear not.<\/p>\n

    God will not be moved.<\/span><\/div>\n
    \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
    \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
    \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

    \u00a0<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As a former journalist I find myself pretty excited every four years when our national elections roll around. It\u2019s pretty sick I know, but I scour the newspapers daily, trade in the ol\u2019 IPOD music for talk radio for a few weeks and tap network news every morning like an addict jonesing for the morning hit. Someone help me\u2026 Dog eat dog politics, biting commercials and round the clock reporting all seem to get my juices flowing. There\u2019s nothing quite as exhilarating as a super-revealing expose about the embarrassing third grade shenanigans of some candidate that you can only get on this network, you won\u2019t want to miss it, tonight at nine!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.crosseyedlife.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}