One question I'm not likely to ask God...

...is, "why did you think Barack Obama needed to be President of the United States?" I'm not likely to ask him that, because despite the "Hope" posters that failed to deliver on their rabid optimism and awesome artwork, I've got hope that God had a way better reason for putting the guy in office and keeping him there than anybody else does. Part of me thinks that the man's mad with power and he's got the government drifting away from democracy and freedom and more toward the things that we hated about Britain a couple centuries ago. Then another part just reminds me to chill out. Here's why: "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." WTF. That's supposed to calm me down? We're supposed to submit to this guy, even if the founding fathers would've taken up arms and rebelled? Maybe. We'll cross the rebellion/revolution bridge when we get to it. What I take away from that passage in Romans 13 is that God's ultimately in charge. I realize that some people reading this may not be that into God--if at all--and that sounds either like some kind of ignorant bliss or a cop-out. Not really.

Ultimately, I don't know if we're a Christian nation or just a nation with a bunch of Christians. I'm not sure what God thinks of our country or if he really blesses America as an entity. He used to do that exclusively with Israel and, according to the Bible, they couldn't handle it. So I doubt he would've tried that again with a bunch of smelly, rude Europeans. What I think could've happened is that he saw how much politics inside and outside the church and government hindered most peoples' relationship with him, so he let us have America as a sort of "non-smoking area". Did he want us to kill the Injuns for it? Doubtful. Did he think we could've asked their permission to share the land and shared the joy of Christ with them instead? Probably! That probably really happened in some cases. Despite the sinful way we treated the tribes that were here, it seems like God's still forgiven us and let us have free haven to worship him. IMO, that is good.

Let's get back to Obama. A lot of people seem to think he's destroying everything that's good about America. When I listen to too much talk radio, I'm inclined to agree. However, deep down in my heart, I know God's on top of this. Unless Obama goes back in time and stops Jesus from dying on the cross (I wouldn't put it past him at this point), then my future is fine. The whole country's future would be like that if they just believed Jesus has made their futures just as good. It's crazy to think that the Romans putting a Jew to death 2,000 years ago would have that much of a personal impact on me, but it did. The Romans have seen better days, the Jews have seen better days, but that execution really resonates and physically alters my life. Seriously...that came out of a death, not strength or might or policy. Had the Romans wanted to use all the might of the empire at its peak to make my life better 2,000 years into the future...they would've failed miserably. But a death--something that had no life to begin with, let alone enough energy/power to conquer most of the world--was able to transcend wars, revolutions, invasions, natural disasters to do that. Either that's some pretty faulty logic or it's just so contrary to the way the world works that it might just be a very good thing.

So if Obama completely screws us and does obscene things to our freedom and our way of life, it still won't kill our life in Christ, because he already died. It sounds ridiculous, but in this case, our best horse in the race is the dead one. Completely ridiculous. We wouldn't re-elect George Washington to the White House, so why should we bother with Christ? Well, the Bible has it that he, unlike George Washington, didn't stay dead and, for those who believe, made it possible to know a God that brings change we can believe in. Yes, we can believe in Obama's hope, but how would he know what's best for us? Now THAT doesn't make sense. What does sort of make sense is that if there were anyone who knew what was best for us, it would be this supernatural being that's got the potential of creating us. So if anyone knows us, it'd go something like that. Fortunately, God tends to make good on his campaign promises, even though we may not always be receptive or attentive to that. Yes, we can put our hope in the next sweet-takling politician or Obama, in all his foolish egotism...but where does that get us?