This time, every year...

...2 things happen:

1 - I roll my age another year older

2 - elections are held

This year is a presidential election - it's very special! I'm blessed to work near home (and thus near my polling place), but also in an environment where we're strongly encouraged to do our civic duty and take advantage of the privilege we have in choosing our leaders. Indeed, when I laid my work out before my boss on the 4th, asking for help prioritizing, with "VOTING" on my list of to-dos for the day, he moved voting to the very top.

We made history that day, some of us voting for the first black man on the ballot, some of us voting for the first woman (by proxy) on the ballot. Hopefully America is getting beyond petty discrimination. Time will tell.

I was definitely suffering from election fatigue, however. Living near DC, national news is local news, so Obama/McCain banter is all I've been hearing for the past...um...well, you get the idea.

A friend said to me on the 4th "It'll all be over tomorrow." I responded "I sure hope so - I hope we don't have a repeat of 2000... I'm already open to the guys flipping a coin as it is...that would push me over the edge."

Of course I was being facetious about the candidates flipping a coin - no way would I say that in reality. But I was SO ready for this election season to be over - that's the truth!

You can almost smell politics around here. It just seems to waft up the Potomac from the City. Yesterday, you could tell that, either way, there were going to be a large group of people who would be very dissapointed, because there were lots of folks who were putting their hope in a man.

That's the biggest heartbreaker of this election, even more than I've seen in past years. People are looking around at growing threats of terrorism, an incredibly long war with no end in sight, and an economic crisis that's crippling many of us - and not just us, but others around the world. The world is scary. We want change. We want hope.

Stephan was up late last night doing homework. When he finally crawled into bed around midnight he whispered the verdict to me. "Obama won."

I wasn't either happy or sad. I wasn't enamored with either candidate. I didn't feel I could put stock in either Obama's message of change or McCain's energetic determination. They are both men. The world is scary to me too. I want change and hope as much as anyone else in this nation. I want someone to protect me from the trouble that could be coming. But I'm not going to find any of those things in men.

So where can we look? Scripture tells us:

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way...The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress...Come, behold the works of the Lord... He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire." (from Psalm 46)

This passage is so clear that God is over all the earth - the nations of the world rage and fight and fall, but it's God's voice that could melt the earth and all on it with a single utterance. He is sovereign over any war humans are fighting.

And for the Christian, he is our fortress, our very present help in trouble.

This passage ends with a thrilling declaration from God himself, giving us our marching orders for times of trouble:

"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." (from Psalm 46)

This is the hope of my heart as we transition into new leadership. No matter who we put on America's (figurative) throne, God has already decided that one day, he will be exalted throughout the earth. We're to be still - or trust him - until that day. This doesn't mean do nothing (we still vote knowing we're pleasing God, for example). But our ultimate hope is not in those votes. It's in the Lord. We're to confess and believe that he is God.

I was cleaning up my home earlier and had music playing. One of the songs was the old hymn Crown Him with Many Crowns. The closing verse struck me today as we put a (again, figurative) king on America's throne. It was hope-giving. The last phrases go as follows:

Crown Him with many crowns
As thrones before him fall;
Crown him, ye kings, with many crowns
for he is King of all.

One day the thrones of the earth are going to fall, and all those leaders will acknowledge God's over-arching reign. Let me interrupt myself here to clarify that I'm not preaching doom against America's government - nor do I think scripture is. One of my prayers this election season was that God would continue to have mercy on and sustain our nation, despite our horrendous rebellion against him, in order that we'd would have longer to repent and turn to him. That is still my prayer. I don't want to see America fall. But it would be short-sighted to think we can put our hope in our government. God is our only hope, for, as Psalm 47:8 tells us plainly, "God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne."

Congratulations to President elect Obama! I'm thrilled to have a black president!! I'm also excited to give you the respect and support your office deserves. However, I do still confess with Proverbs 21:1: "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord, He turns it wherever He will."