Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Choosing to celebrate Obama's victory.....

The last 24 hours have been so emotionally exhausting. Since the announcement of our new president I have been so weepy. I haven't been sad, really, just somber. My heart has felt so tender towards Obama, McCain, our country, the black community, the Christian community, etc. My heart has felt tender towards the event in its entirety.

I admit that I am a McCain supporter and I am disappointed, however, what I have been feeling the last 24 hours still didn't make sense to me until this evening. I didn't totally understand this tenderness and, goodness, all the tears. From the get go of electing Obama I knew that my job would be to support him and pray for him. One friend asked me several times what I was afraid of with Obama in office. I couldn't explain myself well.

Finally, after getting out in the fresh air it hit me. I'm not afraid at all. This is what I know. On a spiritual level I have been feeling and sensing that something significant has happened. You may being thinking ... well duh! lol But I'm not solely referring to the obvious. I'm referring to the unseen ... I'm talking about in the spiritual realm. I can't really explain it completely as I only have a small piece of the puzzle. But I just know that it is. And as I am to know these things and act He will direct me. I have peace in that.

My 20 year old son wrote a fabulous note on facebook today. I invite you to read it, think about it, and comment on the wisdom that he has beyond his years. I ask that you join him and I to pray for our new president, our country, and for one another.

By the way... he is a Christian who voted but voted for neither candidate.

On Unity, Collaboration and The Pursuit of Godliness

So it's the 5th of November (remember remember the 5th of November...) and that crazy election just got the results in a little over 14 hours ago.

Obama is officially the next President of the United States of America. Kudos to him. He worked hard for it and won by a land slide. Also, history was made yesterday as he is the first black US president. That's pretty amazing.

But, I must say I'm incredibly disappointed by a lot of people's reactions to Obama (I'm not going to call him B. Hussein Obama or Hussein Obama to make a point, because a man cannot help what his name is and this is a foolish thing to use against him) being elected. ESPECIALLY Christians. Here are some of the Facebook status' I have seen in the last 12 hours. (They're all quotes. I'm keeping the profanity to make a point.)

"xxx apparently lives in a country full of fucking idiots. Good job, everyone."

"xxx didn't vote for the muslim!"

"xxx is excited to see how bad this country gets over the next 4 years."

"xxx knows the end is near."

"xxx is fucked as an American."

I'm sad to say that some of these have come from proclaimed Christian's mouths.

Aren't we as American Christians supposed to be uniting under God as such? The president is in God's hands and we need to support him as our leader and spokesperson. I'd be saying the same thing about McCain if he had been elected.

We need to unite as Americans and as Christians. We need to be proud of our heritage and our country, regardless of what party runs our government for the next four years.

Obama is a child of God, just like you and me. He needs to be in our prayers continuously to make good decisions for this nation.

I'm not going to look at this as some giant mistake the American people have made, because God is in control of this situation, and whether you agree with Obama or not, he needs your support and God's support.

Maybe you're right, maybe he's the worst thing to happen to America - but that won't be proven for some time. And, if he's as "evil" as the Christian community is saying he is, and he's going to mess up this country as much as they think he is, then I think we need to find a new God to worship because according to what's being said the current God can't handle Obama.


We need to unite as Americans and love people, including our President. He's a human being who has just as much sin in his life as everyone else. He just happens to have a lot more responsibility than most.

Pray for our president. Pray for our country. Pray for each other.

Written by Justin A. Nixon, my son! =)







7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We serve the office of the presidency and our gracious Lord.

My husband swore to serve at the pleasure of the president, and we define this as the presidency. The office. The country is lead by people like my husband and yours. Hopefully they are being led by the Lord, and hopefully we are lifting them in prayer, but I admit that I'm not doing my part in praying for that to happen. Shame on me. However we live, we are to be serving our country and our God. Colossians 3:23.

My family will continue to serve you overseas no matter who is in office becuase we serve the American people and our very great God.

Thank you, Justin, for your words. I also felt shame at the reaction of my fellow Christians. Maybe that is why I find it so difficult to live among them.

Shileen said...

I sit and weep over your comment my dear sweet anonymous relative..{hugs}. I so appreciate what you and your family are doing. Your honestly and your heart has touched me so deeply this morning. Thank you for sharing. You are such a beautiful Christian woman ... and I really do love you and your family!!

Heather said...

1st, may I say your son is a brilliant writer. Kudos to him both for his writing and his message. :) And I am with him--I didn't vote for either. :)

And it is true. I have been too busy frustrated at the absolute rudeness of Obama supporters and since the Christians I do hang around are not the grumpy type I had not noticed the trend on that side. We are called to support and pray for whomever is in charge of our country, regardless of what we think of them. God is still in control.

And BTW--remember the spiritual gifts thing? You def. have the gift of mercy/compassion. It so beautifully evident and amazing to see as it is something I struggle with.

Anonymous said...

Shileen, I also have to say that Justin is a fantastic writer. I have agonized over this election (as I'm sure so many others have as well) and I ended up voting a way that many would scorn me for. Yes, I voted for Obama. One of the things that pushed me toward that decision was the attitude of so many so-called Christians around me. I am ashamed to say that I am a Christian sometimes because the people who claim to be God's biggest supporters do nothing more than spew hate, bigotry and ignorance. I, too, have seen the same sort of comments that Justin has and they made my heart ache. I'm sure there will be friends deleted from my list at some point, because I'm frankly sick of them showing their lack of faith by bemoaning the fact that the "idiots" of this country elected the "Anti-Christ". Where is their faith in God? We've had democratic presidents before. Why, now, are they suddenly so up in arms over THIS particular democrat? I fear that their ignorance of who he is has led them to believe the hype and lies spread by the McCain campaign. I find it sad that people didn't vote based on the issues but rather the tripe they received in an email and that they believed without question. It was frustrating to hear them spew the "facts" over and over, when they'd been disproven time and time again. I am glad that Obama has been elected, and I will continue to support him and my country with my prayers. I would have done the exact same thing had John McCain been elected, because like Justin, I believe the country is in God's hands and He will protect us. I am anxious to see how the next four years pan out. I truly hope that Obama proves all of his detractors wrong. He has given us hope and the nation showed that they want to embrace that hope. I hope he doesn't let us down. Tell Justin that his words gave me hope that the young men and women of our great nation will accomplish wonderful things!

Danielle said...

Thank you for sharing this, its a nice change to see something like this posted. Something positive. Its been very upsetting to me to see such hatred and negativity coming from so many people.

The line about finding a new God touched me the most!

Anonymous said...

You have a very well trained young man in your family Shileen. A young man who has learned to think and see things for himself and will be an asset to society.

I too have mixed feelings about the new year and upcoming changes. Mm upcoming? I read in usatoday just the other day that Obama has already outlined changes in 200 of Bush's policies, one of them being "reproductive rights" (I HOPE he does not intend to legalize abortion and/or gay "rights").

All we can do is pray and stand for righteousness, since it is righteousness that exalts a nation!

My first take is --

I pray that those who supported Obama be happy and those who did not be pleasantly surprized.

Lord let it be so!

Unknown said...

Well, considering abortion is already legal I don't think that's going to change.


it bums me out that people are so wrapped up in abortion and gay marriage.

I'm probably going to get a lot of crap for this, but whatever.

abortion was the leading killer of women before it was legalized - I would hate to see that happen again. I am pro life morally and pro choice politically - but if we are going to make a difference to keep children alive then I think I need to quote Shane Claiborne: "If I'm going to be pro life I had better start adopting some babies and loving some mothers." Good words.

as far as gay rights go - why not let them get married? Who does that hurt? I know exactly what the word of God says about homosexuals, but does he not say that we are not to divorce under any circumstance? 50% of marriages fail, and why aren't we as christians fighting to have divorce be illegal as well?

I think it's because the christian community is scared of the gay community, which is sad. We need to be loving these couples whether they're married or not, and letting God judge them and hope they find God and decide to lead a Godly life.