Worry and Elation

Now, I want no spoilers... I haven't been the Buckhead Church worship service yet, but when I was down in the Resource Center talking to my friends after Upstreet I couldn't help but catch a few snippets... so the material that I'm blogging about is "enough to be dangerous" but I couldn't help myself :)

It has been interesting to observe the divergent reactions of myself and other folks in my social circle this week as the results from the long, painful, tiring election have transpired.  One one hand, many of my liberal friends are in a state of euphoria, for the first time in a long time putting American flags up and talking about how great our country is.. on the other hand, many of my conservative friends are talking as if this is the end of the world (literally), evoking images of Orwell's 1984, the Great Tribulation, etc.  Seems a little strange... 

To be fair, I am glad that not everyone in my circle is reacting in (either) way.  I mean, I'm a little disappointed in the outcome, don't really like some of the stuff that I know is coming down the pike, but at the end of the day it is what it is... America voted, and this is the result.  At the end of the day, God is on the throne and He is in control.  We don't have to like what He (God) is giving us, but we should recognize that it is coming as a part of God's story of what He is doing in the world unfolding and that His ways are higher than our ways.  

About 8 to 10 years ago, I listened to a series at Logos at Second Baptist entitled "The Gospel According to..." that Ben Young put on, which talked about many of the "gospel" messages being "taught" out there in the public media, and evaluated each of these.  One of the talks was "The Gospel According to Rush Limbaugh" - in which this "gospel" stated that our hopes and dreams really lie on who's running the Government (in Rush's case, conservative Republicans).  And... if you watch a lot of conservatives, you see this playing out in the "panic" that resulted from Barak Obama being elected... things were good when Bush is(was) in the White House.  This sense of misery is coming right out of that "gospel" - we base a lot of our security on having the right people in office and when that doesn't happen our security blanket is taken away.  

Same goes for the liberals... I'll betcha you didn't think you agreed with Rush Limbaugh on something :-)... in this case, you do... (oh no, DNC suicide watch!!!! lol).  This has been interesting to watch... for "8 long years" (btw - was it really "that bad?" Seriously.) you complained about Bush and Bush, and more Bush.  It was as if this guy was a total doofus, the devil incarnate, or both... and I'm not sure if anything positive has come out of the Left in 8 years.  Now, Barak Obama is elected President and there's cheering in the streets of San Francisco, blatant patriotism, euphoria... and please tell me now that YOU too (like most of us on the Right) aren't fixing your hopes and dreams on having the "right" (or left, I'm confused ;) ) person in office.  If it weren't sad, it'd be funny.  

Back to today's "what I caught at Buckhead Church" moment... I heard Andy say something about what we worry about is what we fix our hopes and dreams on.  And seriously if we are worrying (or conversely giving ourselves in worship for...) about something going on in the political realm, are we really not trusting in the right thing, which is our Heavenly Father?  When we fix our hopes and dreams on Him, and truly do that, we can't worry because God is always reliable, and we know and are confident of His love for us and His care for us.  Governments change... for all the Democrats out there... it'll change again... it did for us Republicans.  The truth is that God, not the government or our job or whether we have a girlfriend or not or how cool our car is... etc, is the only one that we can fix our hopes and dreams on and not be disappointed.  

In that case, we should elate... 

and we don't have to worry.  :)

Ain't that cool?  :)

Chris <><