Emotional Evening...Emotional Morning

Last night was a night of high emotion...all across our country.  From the extatic gathering in Chicago to the solemn gathering outside Phoenix.  It's been a long campaign and it's now over.  As Senator McCain delivered his concession speech, I was proud of a man who has so valiantly served our country for years and will continue to do so with his head held high.  As I listened to Senator Obama's speech, I was proud of a man who rose from a position of nothing to the highest office in the world.  I was proud of my country, not because we elected Barack Obama as our 44th President, but because we are able to elect an African-American to be our president.  My pride for my country doesn't come from one man, but from the millions of us who have participated in the process.  The millions of us who stood in long lines and short lines and no lines to cast our ballot - to make our voice heard.  It astounds me that there are still people in this world who cannot do what we all did yesterday --uuugghhh!!!

Today, I got to wake up and tell my daughter that Senator Obama was going to be her next president.  This was a great thing for Garin, because like me, she is growing up playing everyday with kids who didn't think it was possible for them to become president because of the color of their skin.  This is a good thing for my daughter.  We didn't even talk about it in terms of race - we had that discussion during the democratic primaries.  I asked her this morning if she remembered which one was Obama and which one was McCain and she said, "Obama is the one with black hair and McCain has the white hair."  Being black does not qualify one to be president, but today we can clearly see that it no longer disqualifies one either.

I have hope, not because a candidate used it in their campaign this year, but because of who Christ is in me, in you and in us.  I have hope because I know that Jesus' life was revolutionary when he walked on this earth, and that to live like him will bring change - change to our homes, our neighborhoods, our cities, our state and our country.

You may have enjoyed my posts during this election year regarding the questioning of candidates, and you may have hated it.  Regardless, if you are reading this you haven't given up on me, so I am happy to conclude that my coverage of this year's election is officially over.  I will continue to post about what it means to me to be a man, a husband, a father embracing the Christ-life in every place with everything, everyday, but my attempt at being fair and balanced is over.

"See" you again soon with a post about what I'm learning about Jesus!

Well, that was interesting...

Last night, I saw my favorite debate format I've ever seen.  I thought the set up was awesome.  I loved having the candidates face each other...even though there were times when I thought a fist-fight just might break out.  This made for a great segment of television drama for me.

In the end, neither candidate shared anything new.  Personally, I thought that the explanation of positions was better than in previous years.  In an election as big as this one (btw, doesn't every election advertise as the "most important in our nation's history"?), I know that substance ought to win out over style.  For McCain's sake, it will have to.  Per the focus groups, I heard from last night, McCain came across as angry and frazzled, much more than Obama did.  I realize that the opinion is different on a certain "fair and balanced" network, but I watched the whole thing and I got that impression a little.  Obama came across to me as more presidential in his demeanor the whole night.

The button that I finally push will depend on much more than how the candidate appeared in a three nationally televised debates.  I have much more at stake...my kids have much more at stake.  I will do my best to push through the negative ads I've seen on television - which took up way too much time in last night's debate.  On a bit of a side note:  I've been accused of leaning left in this election and I have to tell you that if I knew nothing about either candidate and only went off the tenor of emails that have been forwarded to me, I'd be more than leaning left.  In some attempts to woo me, I have received some of the most hateful and untrue emails from friends regarding Senator Obama.  I have not received one single email about McCain - negative or positive.  This is where some of my rub comes,when it comes to elections.  Sell me on your candidate by telling me why he would be the best, not why the other one would be worse.  Somebody tell me where my values as a Christ-follower show up in your candidate of choice.

I like Senator Obama better than I like Senator McCain.  But that's not a reason to vote someone into the presidency.  I is an educated person and I'd like to think that my brain is capable of separating the two.  I've done it before, and I think I'll do it again.  A friend of mine said yesterday that she's just sick of the whole thing and would like to ditch them both and start over.  Well, that might be nice for some, but it's just not an option for us...one of these two men is going to be the next president of my favorite country in the world...and I get to play a small role in selecting that man...and so do you.