The words of my Son...

I found this poem in my office while rifling through some papers. My son, Billy, wrote this several years ago. I find hope in these words. I hope you will too.

Lord, I've run out of places to turn
I guess I've run out of excuses
To make it feel okay
Running out of time
My life feels like it's going nowhere
I'm lost and blind
Oh but now I realize
I know I can hear you say:

I've already been there
I know what its like
To feel so broken
That you think there's nowhere left to go
But I'll always be there
To catch you

(written by William Howard II)

Jesus said: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29)

My son's words remind me of this. He's there, waiting for us to turn (return?) to Him. We want to find rest for our soul, yet we turn to things of this world. My wife and I went to Las Vegas this past week for a little R & R, but our souls were not fulfulled. It was good to hang with some old friends, but it was not fulfilling.

Lord forgive me for turning to the world to find rest, comfort and fulfillment. You are the only One who can provide the kind of deep rest our souls long for. Your word says that you dwell in him who is contrite and lowly in spirit; to revive the the lowly in spirit and revive the heart of the contrite. My prayer today is that you would make me contrite and lowly in spirit to the point of desperation; so desperate that THE only place I can turn is upward!

What were you thinking?

I had resigned myself a couple weeks ago to the fact that Barrack Obama was more than likely going to win the election, but I still have to say this. I pose this question to those of you who voted for Obama: What were you thinking? Barack Obama has very little executive experience, having only served 7 years in the Illinois State Senate, and 2 years in the U.S. Senate. This fact alone should have kept him out of the Whitehouse.

Obviously Obama was not my choice. In fact, McCain was not my preferred candidate. I would have preferred to see Mike Huckabee in the Whitehouse. But, like it or not, Barack Obama will be our president and we as American citizens must unite behind him. We may not like decisions made during his term as our president and we have the right to express this, but we must not turn into some disgruntled citizen. Remember the Dixie Chicks derogatory statements toward President Bush? We weren't to happy about that. Were we to make similar comments about President Obama, we'd be stooping to that same level.

My son used to where a tee shirt with an imprint of the statement, "He's not my president," referring of course to President Bush. This is far from the truth. If you are an American Citizen, the President of the United States of America--regarless of how you voted--is your president. You're welcome to express your displeasure with policy, but you can't go around saying he's not your president, because it's not true.

I'm not happy that Obama was elected, but I'll get over it. God knew what He was doing in allowing this and I have to trust that God will carry out his plan, whatever it is.

Oh, one more thing. If you didn't vote in this election, then I urge you to hold your complaints about the new president. You really don't have any right to complain if you didn't participate in the process.