It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

The opening line of Snoopy's Great American Novel is a classic. He then goes on to list every cliched trouble that could ever happen: a door slammed. A shot rang out. The maid screamed. A pirate ship appeared on the horizon. His opening line foreshadows all the terrible things that are about to take place.

Tuesday it was a dark and stormy night.

It didn't matter that it was daylight. It didn't matter that the sky was blue, or the air cold. It was a dark and stormy night. As the 44th President of the United States was sworn into office, the world watched with fascination and approval that bordered on mass hysteria. It was a dark and stormy night, and I shivered as I watched a ceremony that must have made Satan dance with glee. I am very much afraid we are getting a small glimpse of what it will be like after the rapture. When those who trusted in Christ as their Saviour are taken home, and the rest of the world falls at the feet of the antichrist.
No one seems to care that this man's stated beliefs are the most radical and liberal of any who have ever held this office.
No one even seems to care that the man has less experience than any other world leader on the face of the planet.
Supposedly Fidel Castro himself has broken the silence of near death to praise Barack Obama. That in itself should give warning!

And yet on Tuesday I heard reporters and newsmakers--even conservative ones--declare that they would "put aside their differences" and celebrate the day when history was being made. That would be when our country elected the first black man as a leader. Yes, I realize it's not politically correct to call him that; although I'm not sure why since we are often referred to as "white". But it doesn't matter. Just because history is being made doesn't mean it's good history. I did not vote against this man because of his color, and I wouldn't vote for anyone else because of their skin color. That has absolutely nothing to do with a person's qualifications for leading the country. And quite frankly, I resent the fact that people make so much of his skin color. We cannot truly ever become colorblind; we cannot completely become a society where skin color does not matter as long as we take such pains to point out how far someone has come either because of or in spite of the color of their skin. The very people who insist that skin color shouldn't matter are the ones trumpeting the man's skin color and linking it to his success. Some people demand freedom from chains, while draping themselves in those same chains in order to show how disadvantaged they are. I think this is a case of not being able to have your cake and eat it too.
But that little rant was beside the point. The point was, people all praised Tuesday as a day history was made. In the first place, every Presidential inauguration makes history. Name one that hasn't. In the second place, making history isn't always such a good thing. The Titanic made history, but no one praised it's sinking for that reason. Hitler made history, but I don't think anyone praises his decisions because of that.
Let's get a little focus here, people. The man who is now our country's President is not a god. He is a human. He cannot save us from the harsh realities of terrorism and recession. He cannot usher in a utopian existence for all of us. He is, however, capable of plunging our nation deeper into war. He is capable of extending and even worsening the recession that is not, at this point, the worst since the Great Depression. (Anyone remember the 70's and Jimmy Carter's presidency? You might want to study up on it. That was also history. And we look like we may be doomed to repeat it.) Our current President has offered solutions that have failed before. He has no new programs for easing our struggles through life.
Tuesday it was a dark and stormy night. And I don't think this storm is going away anytime soon.
BUT WAIT! Let's not end on doom and gloom. In spite of what's ahead--and it's going to get rough, people--we need to remember Who is on the throne. God is still in control. He still loves and cares for us. We may be getting a taste of what we deserve, we may be getting everything we asked for, but Romans 8:28 is still true in the lives of those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.
So what am I going to do? I'm going to tighten my belt. I'm going to keep in touch with my representatives in Congress and the Senators from my state. And I'm going to pray. I'm going to pray for our nation. I'm going to pray for our President. And I'm going to pray for Christians in our land to grow a backbone once again and start standing up for what is right. I'm going to pray that in January of 2012, we have an end to our dark and stormy night.