Come on people, are we still in High School?

I have seen comments like, "R.I.P. America! July 4, 1776 - January 20, 2009", and "Welcome to the Socialist States of America". Has it really come down to adults calling each other names (note: I didn't post those kids of quotes on purpose) and declaring that the sky is falling? I know many of these are rhetorical over stated sarcasm - BUT - do we resort to such things when it doesn't go our way? I mean, really? A look at some numbers showed that registered Democrats went to the polls in record numbers while registered Republicans attendance was way down. It sounds like they had given up before the votes were even counted. Without everyone participating it's hard to tell if the outcome would have been any different - but to not even show up. Those of you who didn't vote really have no right to complain about the outcome. Now, that does not mean you don't have a voice. You can make sure your elected officials know your opinions on the legislation that comes up. They may not vote the way you want to as an individual, but don't remain the silent "majority" because a "majority" that is not heard is irrelevant. You will have a another chance to change things in two more years when 34 seats will be coming open in the Senate. Considering the slide of the Republican party of late... it would be a good idea to get started on cleaning some things up. Stop just pointing out what the other guy is doing wrong or incapable of and start taking care of business. During this campaign I did hear some valid points about how the Republicans had tried to reign in Fannie and Freddie. I especially liked a commentator on CNN Tuesday night, "One of the primary jobs of the President is the protection of the United States. Can we at least acknowledge that security is not one of the top concerns of the American public"? After that man left the stage the Democratic supports among them continued to make "points" about what the exit polls were saying about this or that. The IQ and the ability of those who get in front of the cameras, especially in politics, is considerable. These are smart people. Intentional or not - they have an agenda, just like their opponents on the other side of the aisle. As a Christian we need to stop listening to such rhetoric. We need to get our noses back into God's word. We need to quiet our hearts to the noise of the world and seek first the Kingdom of God and listen for His voice. As God places things on our heart (whether it's abortion, or national security, or moral standards regarding local laws) and vote accordingly. For us it's not about how much money the government takes in taxes, or even how welfare is distributed (at least not directly). If we, as God's people, take care of the business He has for us - the rest will be taken care of. Yes we need to participate. God has given us the privilege of living in this time and place (whether the reader of this lives in the United States, the United Kingdom, Asia, Africa, wherever). We all have our limitations that we live in and under. We need to seek out how to make such 'limitations' can be worked, how we can best work within them, and if we have the God given ability to make a change to such things - we should do that. I have my concerns about where this country is headed. My ability to affect change on a national scale is quite limited, but the ability to affect change within myself (with the help of the Holy Spirit) and my community is not. Stop you complaining America - and roll up your sleeves and get back to work! Verse for today: 2 Chronicles 7 : 12-22, Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

“But if you [2] turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you [3] up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”