Reclaiming American Integrity and Pride!

In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean. He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth. Ephraim's jealousy will vanish, and Judah's enemies will be destroyed; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of Philista to the west; together they will plunder the people to the east. They will subdue Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be subject to them. The Lord will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind he will sweep his over the Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams so that anyone can cross over in sandals. There will be a highway for the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from Egypt. Isaiah 11:11-16 NIV

Taking a few literary liberties to use this scripture as the foundation for an analogy this morning.
No matter what the tRump administration does to subdue the press or depress the public, we will not be left alone to fight this fight of faith. We will be victorious with The Lord on our side. We will reclaim the trust of Americans and our allies once the cancerous boil is removed from the White House and we no longer have the stench of corruption and treason oozing throughout the nation.

God has not forgotten us, but unlike those who claimed God chose trump and some even said, "Jesus went into the voting booth and voted for trump," we know God always works through people. It was ill-informed, undereducated, and misled people who voted for trump--many of whom simply voted out of the hatred they had for President Obama and the Clintons, and "facts" did not matter to them.

For those of us who are true Everyday Americans, we know better--facts do matter and fake news is collected lies used to misinform those who refuse to think for themselves. It's truly a shame critical thinking skills are lacking from such a large portion of our population. If people were capable of critical thinking, they would know (not think) truth has never been part of the current administrations platform.

• The coal mining industry will never be what it once was--trump lied to them.
• Companies will still send their jobs to other countries--trump lied to them
• Repealing and replacing ACA has been a nightmare, lived daily for those who hated Obama so much, they voted for trump to rid themselves of Obamacare and now--trumpcare will help to see early deaths. 
• "The election is rigged! They're going to rig the election!" trump cried. Hillary didn't rig the election--he did.

For those who claimed they were embarrassed by Obama as a president let me ask this:

• Did Obama insult our allies by shoving them around?
• Did Obama need a golf cart to walk a short distance?
• Did Obama speak with word salads that most media decree "unintelligible?"
• Did Obama hire unqualified family (or others) to hold key positions in the White House?
• Did Obama fall asleep during a photo op with other world leaders?
• Did Obama attempt to man-handle other world leaders when simply shaking their hands?
• Did Obama decide that humanitarian efforts (saving humanity) was not worth it?
• Did Obama launch missiles to flex his muscles?
• Did Obama use commencement opportunities to whine about how the press treated him? 
• How many students at commencement ceremonies stood up and turned their backs,  or walked out on Obama while he was speaking to them?
• How many times did Obama not show common courtesy and affection to his wife while they traveled?
• Were you embarrassed when Bin Laden was killed?
• Were you embarrassed when gas prices came down below $3.00? 
• Were you embarrassed when he held press conferences and took the tough questions without whining?
• Were you embarrassed when his wife cared enough about other children that she wanted to see all eating healthy, nutritious meals?
• Were you embarrassed when Obama wanted to make sure everyone had access to affordable healthcare?
• Exactly what did he do to embarrass you and make you ashamed he was President of the United States? 

Only those who harbor hatred within their hearts--against any who don't look like them or worship like them--are claiming to be embarrassed when they should be ashamed of themselves--for espousing their bigotry.

Though there were many outcries for his impeachment, it was simply because people didn't agree with his policies, not because he committed treasonous acts. We cannot say the same for trump. His policies belittle and leave the poor bereft--facing even more financial challenges than they have before. But the rich--the 1% of the nation will enjoy even more riches under trump/GOP corrupt policies.

We will soon be able to celebrate reclaiming sanity, integrity, and honor returning to the White House--as long as we continue to fight to reclaim it.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the challenges of reclaiming American pride!

Looking Ahead!

I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:10-14 NLT

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" (Winston Churchill).

On the surface, it would appear that there is a contradiction to what Paul is saying and what Churchill said (hundreds of years later)--but is there really? On the one hand Paul is telling us to forget the past--all the wrongs committed by us or against us before we knew Christ and look ahead--focused on Jesus. And on the other hand--Churchill reminds us to remember--all those things that led us into precarious situations and learn from them so we don't do them again.

If we really look at what is being said and the context in which it is said, there is no contradiction--but a concern--expressed to help us to keep moving forward.

Holding onto to past hurts and never forgiving others--keeps us in a holding pattern and for some--in a rut--stuck in the past and never able to move forward. We are reminded in God's Word to let go--of those things that burden us--and keep us from achieving what God has planned for us. I can say--without hesitation--that keeping things bottled inside because of something that happened in the past causes more damage--physically, emotionally and spiritually--than it ever helps.

So what if someone hurt your feelings? So what if they stole from you? So what if you didn't get the job you wanted? If we allow hurt feelings to get in our way or keep us from living a full life--the only person we're hurting is us. People--bad people--steal from others all the time, but things can be replaced, so we must keep moving forward and not allow that deter us from receiving God's best. And yes, many of us have been overlooked for positions we wanted and were qualified to do, but perhaps--just perhaps--those who overlooked us did us a favor by freeing us to receive what God has for us. 

But what we must remember--not holding grudges--is to think about what led us into the predicament with an open mind, so we can learn what not to do. If someone hurt our feelings--how did we get to that place? Was it because of our misplaced trust--low self-esteem or simply being naive? If they stole from us--was it because of our negligence in securing what belonged to us? If we were overlooked for a position--was it because we trusted mere mortals more than God? Did we seek Him--and His wisdom in making all decisions? If we are not able to "study" what we've done in the past, we'll never learn from it and will--keep repeating the past--ensuring the same results. And this is what Churchill was talking about--in the broader sense of what leads to wars and loss of life.

What did we learn from history about racial equality? Did slavery--treating other human beings as sub-humans not teach us anything about the fact that none of us are superior to another? Did we not learn from the past that in any society, women should be treated with equality--same pay and respect shown to men? Did we not learn that words have power and we should watch what we say about and to others? Must we continue on a merry-go-around that is moving faster with each generation--trying to hold onto to myths about people--until we are flung off because of our pride? We cannot keep doing the same foolish things over and over expecting different results--which is the definition of insanity (Einstein).

It's time for us to get off the merry-go-round of life holding onto misguided beliefs about people that do nothing to unite us as human beings, but do everything to keep us from grasping and achieving what God wants for us. Let's learn--from past histories and yesterdays--how to treat each other with loving kindness so we can forego all the bitterness that is bound to occur when we refuse to learn from the past.Let's move on--looking forward to all the great things God has in store for us.