Folks,
Forgive my intrusion into your life on a weekend, but after mulling it over, I wanted to go on and send this to you. Consider it, if nothing else, a weekend devotional.
I believe Mitt Romney will win on election day. I’m somewhat stunned to be writing that as I never really thought he could win until about the moment Clint Eastwood trotted out on stage at the Republican National Convention with that empty chair. Even now I waver by the hour, but if forced to predict, I think Romney wins Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Wisconsin, and even Ohio. I put the Electoral College at 285 to 253. Ask me tomorrow, though, and I could decide otherwise. I cast my absentee ballot last week and voted for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
I write the rest of this now because if Romney loses, it will be viewed as “Erickson is trying to talk them off the ledge” and if Romney wins it will be viewed as “Erickson is rubbing salt in wounds.” Neither is true, which is why this must come before the election and not after.
I get the enormity of what is at stake in the election. I get it. I really do. I get the passion. I get the excitement. But, and maybe I’m just too worn out, I don’t get the anger, worry, and dread on either side. I have friends upset with me for not getting it and for not sharing it. “Don’t you know what is at stake?” they demand.
Don’t you know what is not at stake?
People on the left are convinced if Mitt Romney wins blacks will be put in chains out in cotton fields and uteruses will be locked up.
People on the right are convinced if Barack Obama wins the stars and stripes will come down, the red banner of communism will go up, and this American experiment will be promptly concluded.
My world view is pretty simple. I think this world is destined to go to hell in a hand basket by design. I think things are supposed to go to pot. So if Barack Obama wins, I won’t be upset. If Mitt Romney wins, I won’t be running through the streets cheering. I think, either way, it is all part of the design. The world is going down hill. Barack Obama re-elected just gets us down the slippery slope faster in my view. For others, it is Mitt Romney who does.
God is sovereign and He is in charge and He will return. That is my hope and my ever present expectation.
We often get so wrapped up in the view of things at ground level, we forget to look at the world from 50,000 feet. In the historic, grand scheme of things, this too will end.
Don’t confuse me with a fatalist and don’t confuse me with someone who does not really care about the future of our nation. I think we are the last best hope of mankind on this planet. But my destiny is not tied to this planet. While I am here, however, I have convictions that are greater than either candidate and either party and I fight more for a cause than a candidate. I expect, regardless of who is in the White House, I’ll find myself at odds with them, though more so with Obama than Romney.
When I wake up on Wednesday morning, I’m still going to have my wife. I’m still going to have my kids. I’m still going to have my family. And I’m still going to have my God. So will you.
Some of you, on both sides, are convinced that the end of the world is nigh. It is. But not quite yet and no one really knows when.
What I do know for sure is that I’m headed home to eternity and this world is temporary. So while I like politics and have my side and want it to win, I’m not going to be partying in the street if my side does win and I’m not going to think the end of the world is upon us if my side loses.
You should not either.
Too many of my friends have gotten so focused on the outcome and are so convinced the country as they know it is over if the other side wins that they are joyless to be around right now. They are full of dread and worry and fear. They’ve lost their sense of humor. They cannot laugh at themselves, their side, or much of anything. They are mad at others, myself included, for not being as worked up as they are. The frenzy has become a purity test, not the conviction.
God is sovereign. And whether you are for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, set your sights on God, not November 6th, and be happy. In four years, we really will do this all over again whether right now you think so or not. There is no permanence except in Heaven.
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
— Hebrews 11:13-16 (ESV)
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