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.

It's been a long 7 days...

Well, it's been an eventful seven days, that's for sure.  Last week I really thought I'd comment on what I watched at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, but I wasn't blown away by any of it, and I just kept waiting.  Michelle Obama gave a nice speech for her husband, I liked it.  Hillary gave a pretty good Hillary speech, it was better than I expected.  Bill is good when he speaks, but not sure I believed it.  Joe Biden was Joe Biden.  Barack's finale was grand.  75,000+ people gathered was quite a spectacle.  I was however disappointed that he spent the first 1/3 of his speech doing what he's convinced many of us that he wouldn't do - typical political bashing of the other candidate.  The back 2/3 I thought were good, but in the end, I thought his 2004 speech was better and his speech last spring when his former pastor made the idiotic remarks were both more inspiring speeches.  DNC 08, in the books.

Friday brought another whirlwind with the selection of Alaskan governer Sarah Palin as John McCain's VP candidate.  Wow, that seemed to come out of left field.  I am neither for her nor against her, for I know her not.  It was pretty funny watching all of the media scramble on Friday because it seemed to catch everyone off-guard.  I like some of the things I hear about her, but I am concerned about other things.  I definitely think that it makes the next 60 days much more interesting.  I'm still liking the Meghan McCain blog.

Saturday came and an email from my mom changed the course of the weekend.  She asked us to come visit her and wait there until we determined where Gustav was going to make landfall.  Rhonda and I had already decided we weren't moving until the storm made a shift toward us, but when mom's ask, sons pretty much go, right?  We packed up and went west to Ganado, Texas.  We played a little golf, I got sick, was laid up all day Sunday, then played a little more golf on Monday, then headed back home.  I must say that being at my mom's was the best place to be sick, though.  Not for her and Dad, but for me.  She hooked me up with some meds that kept it all to a minimum.  

We watched Gustav push through Louisiana and heard about Gov. Palin's family situation.  I really wish her kids were grown and out of the house, because I know how valuable she is to her family right now and I think it might be more than the value she is to our country.  That's just me, though and I could be wrong.  I also happen to think that she just might make a great vice president.  I was proud of the political parties for their stances over the weekend with Gustav and I was proud to see Senator McCain request a tone-down of the convention-as-usual affairs for yesterday.  I am however looking forward to tonight and hopefully something will wow me enough to write about it in the morning.

Either way, I'm back and planning to be here every morning this week.  For the record, my blog is not a political blog, but rather a blog about how we are embracing the Christ-life in every place, with everything every day and one of the most exciting presidential elections of my time just happens to be falling in the middle of my "in every place, with everything everyday."  My apologies if my views don't line up with yours and you think they should.  Don't celebrate if they happen to line up anywhere today, because tomorrow might be a whole new story.  I'm not a journalist, so I am not always trying to be unbiased (though they aren't very good at it either).  I just want to spur those of us who follow Jesus to be more willing to listen and discuss with each other.  We may not always like each other's positions but that doesn't mean we can't have meaningful, intelligent conversation does it?  Have fun, don't take yourself or others too seriously.