my soapbox

When I was younger, I never cared much about politics or knew enough about them to decipher what was what. Now, as a senior in college, these things are far more important to me. There are correlations floating around in the world of research that state that the more educated a person is, the more liberal they tend to be. I can see where they get that notion from. In higher education, horizons are broadened and your mind is challenged to see in multiple colors and not just black and white. Not to mention that some political issues are extremely complex. Having not just one, but two majors/pending degrees from the liberal arts college in one of the most consistently liberal voting towns in the state, believe me, there's no shortage of opinions. Because of criminal justice, I've taken multiple political science courses that have helped me to straighten out my belief system. You don't always have to be taught by someone who shares your beliefs (which in my case is fairly uncommon). Rather, being taught by someone who is polar opposite can often strengthen what you already believed in the first place.

I've really been trying to not get down about the current condition of our nation and world. It seems that all you hear about is negativity and what is going wrong and failing miserably. I think that's partly because I'm only now old enough to listen to current events and care about them. Everyone I know older than me can't believe how bad things are "nowadays." Because certainly "back in their day," things were "so much better." Truth is, America is quite used to fighting an uphill battle. Things have been pretty uneasy in these folks' past too. Anyone remember Vietnam? the Holocaust? the Great Depression? both World Wars?

Common to what is constantly talked about in conversation is wrong. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people hold extremely strong opinions concerning subjects they know nothing about. Did you know that crime rates are lower than they have been in a while? Teen pregnancy rates are declining? What? But so and so was just arrested for this... and little miss thing just got pregnant! Okay... so that seems more applicable to you because you happen to know a few folks that bad things have happened to. But I've got breaking news: things happen on a national scale that constitute these averages and statistics.

At church on Sunday, I learned of a very comforting message. The character of Nebuchadnezzar often reminds one of his incident of throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fiery furnace. I digress quickly to mention that sometimes my father calls me Abednego. Why? Have you met my father? Your guess is as good as mine. Anyway...What I haven't heard as much about is his legacy as a leader. Under King Nebuchadnezzar's reign, he pretty much took over the world. He thought that by his, and his alone, great leadership that he had turned Babylon into a city seiging machine. Babylon was quite the force to be reckoned with and had accumulated immense size and power. King Nebuchadnezzar took over city after city and took each place's citizens into captivity. One of these captives was a fellow named Daniel, who became "famous" for being a great interpreter of dreams. In Babylon, even prisoners of war could work their way up and become government workers. In Daniel's case, he became an advisor to the king.

To make a long story short, King Nebuchadnezzar continued to neglect gratitude and acceptance of Daniel's "Most High God," which is the God of Christianity today. After interpreting a dream of the King's, Daniel warned that if he didn't acknowlege God and become a better king to everyone, including the lowly captives and poor, that God would reckon with him (for the exact details check out Daniel 4). Of course, push came to shove, and King Nebby made no changes, and God kept his promise and turned the King's sanity upside down.

My message in all of this can be summarized in one verse:

"...until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." Daniel 4:32

Daniel was trying to tell the King that his "Most High" God ruled over ALL of the kingdoms of men... no matter how big or how small, and that the only reason Nebuchadnezzar had been as successful as he had been was because GOD ALLOWED HIM TO BE. Now, take this to modern day America. Yes, we are in a mess... a hot mess. But take comfort in the fact that God is in control of everything and both allows and withdraws what He chooses. We are NOT in so deep that He can't pull us back out. Who knows... maybe we are right where He wants us to be. It's easy to get very discouraged about the state of our nation and to dread November 4th and its final answer. But rather than dread the day, let's look forward to it. We could be on the brink of a radical revolution where God shakes this country from the ground up. It's possible that we don't even know the greatness that He has in store for us. Let's hope and pray for whatever life changes He has in mind for us... and be excited for what He has in store!

Let's get it while we got it AMEN!