"O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!"
In case you didn't know these are the words to America the Beautiful. Hmmmmm...America the Beautiful...Is it really? So have you been following the election race? I mean how can you not...unless of course you are the most disconnected person on the planet. So who's your man? Obama or McCain? You don't have to tell me. But you had to know I could not let these historic events go without giving my stance on things. And then I am gonna make a risky move and tell you who I want to be my leader. I think some will be surprised and then some won't b/c well yall know how I do...after all some of you have come to know exactly how my mind works...But first I wanna say a few things...may I? Thanks!
MY VOICE
So we have an election of epic proportions. We've seen a campaign with candidates that truly represent this melting pot in which we live. But now it comes down to two men who see things totally different and both think they are right. It's funny, I just took a little online citizenship quiz and it asked who is the government accountible to? And the answer I chose was "The people" and guess what? I was right! Soooo, if the government is accountible to the people, how is it only two different points of view of two men are our only choices for president? Basically, when you vote, unless you write in a name, you are saying I stand solely with Obama or I stand solely with McCain. But what if you can pull a little from both sides, your voice really doesn't count. So is this fair? This electorial process is very polarized and in my opinion broken.
Do the words below sound familiar? What do they mean? Apparantly these are just words on paper. Because there are Americans who can quote but don't really believe the first line. Not even the men that wrote it. From the beginning this government was suspect but I do think the founding fathers were trying to get it right but they still had some misguided ideas they refused to let go of. Anyway, read it with me:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
Hmmmmm...yeah, so what is wrong with this picture? Same thing that has been wrong for a long time. It was never the intention for man to be governed by man. So will we ever get it right, of course not. We just don't get it and as long as we try to do it our way and not God's way, we never will.
Since the day the Israelites asked for a King...(1 Samuel 8:4-22):
(4) So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. (5) They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." (6) But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. (7) And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. (8) As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. (9) Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do." (10) Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. (11) He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. (12) Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. (13) He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. (14) He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. (15) He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. (16) Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. (17) He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. (18) When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." (19) But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. (20) Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." (21) When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. (22) The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king." Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, "Everyone go back to his town."
MY CHOICE
The people had a KING, a real KING who could fight and win any battle but they didn't see it. They were blind and wanted to live like the rest of the world. But this passage has really been eye-opening for me. Cause I thought, hmmmm, I don't need a president. I have something better and greater. See while I intend to exercise my right to vote, my leader has been around and has done more for me than any man. See I place no faith in Obama, I place no faith McCain. My help does not come from either of them. So it doesn't matter what they do, I have a connection with the I AM. So while the world fights and feuds over the ideologies of two men and two politcial parties, I can't get bogged down in that. I know the Obama folks are saying, but Sherry what about HOPE! To that I say, "My Hope is built on nothing less than Jesus's blood and righteousness!" And I can hear the McCain folks saying what about the safety and security of our nation and our freedom? To that I say, "Now the Lord is Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!"
I think Martin Luther King Jr. said it best when he proclaimed in his final speech:
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
