A Call to Fast and Pray

My Sisters, My friends.

As I have been consumed with interceding on behalf of our nation through this past election season, I have had one thing float up to the surface of my heart - the heart to see change, real and lasting change come to this great nation again!

You know it is easy to get sidelined by an election that did not work out the way we anticipated, expected or planned, but the truth is - God had it planned all along and He is doing this to bring about our good and His glory! Let's stand on that, shall we?

Did anyone hear about California? Yes, the same state that is just blue, blue, blue for the Democrats and has the Gay Marriage Capital of the world in San Francisco spoke out on Tuesday and voted to define marriage in California as between a Man and a Woman.

Did you hear about South Dakota? They sought to outlaw all abortions with a ballot amendment to their state constitution. That amendment failed by some 39,000 or so votes, but THINK of it. It made it to the polls. The amendment would have made all abortions except those in the case of rape, incest and when the woman's life is at risk illegal.

Did you hear about Colorado? They sought to define a person as being alive from the time of "fertilization" which would effectively outlaw abortion in the state. The measure was defeated handly as approval came out in the tens of thousands, and disapproval of the amendment came out in the hundreds of thousands.

Did you hear that the U. S. Senate did not get a filibuster proof majority? While they did gain more seats and will most likely easily pass their sponsored legislation and block any legislation from the right. The idea of a fully governed United States from the Democratic side of the aisle may be a welcome reality check. Should we be praying for the decisions to come? ABSOLUTELY.

After all, what will the 44th President's legacy be if he cannot bring the likes of Pelosi and Reed in off the left fringe wall. I am not being critical here. But in the summer I was watching C-Span as a session of the House of Representatives was under way. (I know, I know. I am a bit of a political junkie.) And these members who get paid 100s of thousands of our hard earned tax dollars per year were - and I'm not even kidding - refusing to have open debate on off shore drilling.

As a matter of fact, the vote was to renew some bill having to do with the Chesapeake Bay Waterway and somehow that tied into off shore drilling and renewable energy resources. A distinguished congresswoman from Michigan got up in the middle of her colleagues on the left refusing to talk about off shore drilling and her colleagues on the right demanding a vote be brought to the floor on the issue to bring relief to the voters and taxpayers in this country... and all she had to say was, "Congratulations, Detroit Red Wings on wining the Stanley Cup...." This congratulatory remark went on for at least five and maybe up to ten minutes. The entire remark about THE DETROIT REDWINGS. I mean, nothing wrong with giving a shout out to you home team, but come on... She did nothing to add to the issues brought to the floor.

Nancy Pelosi, the distinguished speaker from California, stood to say that this country was doing something about the energy crisis. The Democratic Legislators in Congress had gotten a measure approved that allowed them to "file suit" against the members of OPEC. In what court would this suit be enforcable? And, these people already don't like us much, they just tolerate us because we tend to fight their wars without charging them for it. Think of it. What is going on up there on Capital Hill anyway?

The most interesting thing said during the entire two hours or so of debate was from a Republican Congressman (whose name escapes me) he went a detailed explanation of why we should teach "Mother Nature" a lesson and go drill up the millions of gallons of oil that seeps up through the ocean floor each year and put an end to the pollution she is causing with her natural phenomenon. I had to laugh out loud. But to be honest - the Republicans were begging the Democrats to do something for the people of this country and the Democrats would only say, not now. If there is truly to be a healing in the body politic it must start with getting rid of the ridiculous and breaching the great divide of "Us vs. Them." Bi-Partisan? We can only pray.

I am praying that the number of new Washington faces is a trend and this nation learns to vote based on job approval and not based on the side of the aisle their candidate sits on. If they are not working for us, they are not working. If you or I showed up at work and did nothing but argue with our co-workers and produce little... We'd be fired. But, these people are living quite well and doing just that. Let's pray that God would give us wisdom to know who is working to make this country a more perfect union and who seeks His will... and Let's pray for the church to rise up and take her place as her voice is heard among the nations.

Can somebody please explain how they decide who gets what electoral votes? People are moving to Texas in droves, but our votes stay the same? How does that work? Okay... I did some research - the votes are assigned to the states based on the census numbers from the most recent census results. IOW: The 2004 and 2008 elections were assigned based on the 2000 census. There is a great website about the electoral college if you are interested that explains the role of the electoral college and the states who require their electors to vote based on the popular vote and those who have no such requirement. May I just say, Texas, New York and Pennsylvania have no law requiring their electors to vote based on the popular vote, but California, Washington and Oregon do. There is no federal mandate requiring electoral voters to vote based on the popular vote it is left to the states to decide how they want their votes counted.

Now that we have had our civics lesson - are you more enlightened as to how someone could win the popular vote and not the electoral vote? I did not understand it until today, but I knew it would be true. For instance, President Elect Obama beat John McCain by more than double the electoral college votes but he did not have double the number of popular votes. I didn't get that until today. President Elect Obama decidely won both the popular and the electoral vote - but that has not always been the case. Anyway... I'm rambling about the political machine.

Just remember, you must vote - it is a responsibility no matter how the electoral votes sort out. We must be heard - and I believe in respectively two and four years, we will have that very opportunity to approve or disapprove of the job that the new administration and congress will do.

Let's agree to pray, and fast as God directs for this nation and stand for what God's Word says as we turn our hearts and our eyes toward Him in the days ahead. God's speed and blessing to you all.