Does Any of This Matter?

My purpose in creating this blog was to share my love of woodworking and, whenever possible, show how that love is related to my love of a God who loved me enough to show up on earth in human form and save me and any other who would believe in that sinless human form. Although this post deviates from the standard format, I feel compelled to sort out some of what has been occupying a lot of my thought time the last several weeks. My intent is not to spark a great political debate. Although whenever we choose to write about our belief systems, we run the risk of having some who believe differently feel compelled to tell us how wrong we are.

A quick and admittedly unscientific look at my friends, facebook and otherwise, would indicate an almost 50-50 split between those who, from what I can determine, supported one or the other of the two feasible choices in our recent presidential election. The reluctance on the part of either group to suggest that they may have made the wrong choice, I find baffling. Since practically all of my friends claim to be Christian, I have to believe that they prayed about their choice of candidate. This leaves me in quite a dilemma, Could it be that half of us were told go left and half go right? What was it we were praying for anyway? These are important questions. Because if we were all praying for the leadership that would make us move closer to being a nation that honors Christian values, wouldn't the answer to our prayers have been less ambivalent?

My faith life has been shaped by interaction with many different people. I think it fair to say that no one influenced me in trying to know God more than a man named Isaac Rottenberg. Some of you will recognize the name. Most probably will not. He was the pastor of our church for eight and a half years at a very formative point in the life of the church as well as the writer of this blog. Isaac taught me that God will always give you what you ask for as long as you ask for what He wants. In this past election, assuming people were asking the right question, He gave us two different answers. Could it be that we are being told that the results of one election in one country that will affect a microscopically tiny piece of eternal time just doesn't matter all that much?

As we Christ followers prepare to celebrate the miracle that occurred over 2,000 years ago. We will do well to remember why Christ had to become human, live a sinless life, die for our sinfulness and be raised from the dead as proof that we need not worry about worldly things. His plan is for eternity. No matter how you voted, realize that the only change in which God is interested is in each of us as individuals. How can we be more like Christ tomorrow than we are today? My prayer is that all my friends keep seeking God's guidance and loving one another in obedience to His command.