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That’s it! We’re leaving the country!

November 9th, 2016 3 comments

What an election season!  The divide between red and blue has never been greater, and so I find a piece of Abraham Lincoln’s speech in 1858 applicable.  In it, this Godly man referenced scripture as was typical of him to do.

In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. 

It will become all one thing or all the other.

It is my estimation that our country is at no different place of impasse, and even the concept of slavery could be applied.  We are either slaves to self, or free to God and others.  The difference is not red and blue, but instead the difference is self and selflessness.  I made my vote for the candidate that I felt best suited to lead this country into the future, and I have many close friends that I love and respect who voted for the other.  There are many good people with good character on each wing of our country’s political preference.

In the months leading up to the election, and now in the early hours of aftermath, I have witnessed the force that drives the wedge of division in the country.  It is worship of self.  My preference, my company, my success, my kids, my way of life, my circumstance, my victory is all that matters.  In this way, the representatives for each wing of political philosophy were a very accurate representation of who the people of this country have become.  Our differences could be our greatest strength if we could just learn from each other and humbly esteem others more highly than ourselves.

For the record, we booked our one-way tickets to Uganda on the eve of the election.  The outcome, of course, had nothing to do with our leaving.  We are leaving because God said that the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  We are leaving because God said that the second greatest commandment is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.  We are leaving because we feel strongly that while we could accomplish these things here, He has called us to go.  We are obedient to Him because before I could ever fathom quitting a successful career to follow Him, He left his throne and became flesh to die for me.  My God lovingly and sacrificially made a way for me to restore my relationship with Him in spite of my sin, and loved me before I could even begin to conceive of who He is.  He convinces me every day to give up my love of self and continue to cleanse myself from the sin of worshipping myself in favor of worshipping Him.  I am so imperfect and broken, and yet He works in me to heal me and bring me closer to being just like Him.  He is a loving God who loves first and rightly judges, but only after He has offered to pay the penalty for the verdict.  God has so distinctly, so clearly called us that we finally had to give in and say, “That’s it!  We’re leaving the country!”

That’s it!  We’re leaving the country!

As we go to Uganda, I hope the people of this nation, especially those who claim Christ as King, can humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways, pray and seek His face, so that He might heal and restore this land.  If those who would call themselves Christian will truly follow Him, they will sacrificially love one another as He did.  They will place the needs of others above their own, especially when it is not deserved.  They will extend a hand to those who have opposing views, and those who live their lives in complete disobedience to God will see this love as a testimony of the Holy Spirit dwelling inside the hearts of those who claim faith in Christ.

As Abraham Lincoln’s quote suggests, if we do not turn soon, our nation will not continue to be divided.  We will become one or the other.  We will be a people who honor God and others first, or we will become a nation only capable of honoring ourselves.

My family will choose not place our trust in men.  We believe that the restoration of a people governed by the people, starts with the hearts and motives of the people.  We will endeavor to follow Christ and love with complete abandon to self in as much as He helps us to accomplish it.  My family is not worthy of praise or honor because anything we do that could be perceived as honorable or righteous was done through His power, that not of ourselves.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord… in Uganda.

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