Yes we have made a great victory, but not because of the reason you might think. No, it’s not because the Democrats are now terrified of the Reps, as entertaining as that might be, but because of one little man with one big plan. That’s right, an “independent” has won the governorship of Rhode Island. I know, I know, it’s a tiny insignificant state that is so out of the way that Rhode shows up as misspelled in my spellchecker. I don’t care. I like Rhode. Now more than ever. But why am I not enthusiastic about the Reps victory? I haven’t seen many of them that I would actually vote for. No offense the ones that I have offended, but it all sounds like differing versions of Socialism to me. But for an independent to win the governorship gives me hope that a third party might arise and take the lead one day. A party that stands for Biblical truth, and not politics as usual. If one can win, two can win. And that is all the false hope I need to keep smiling.

But on the “Big Win” of November 2010, the war is far from over. The two sides are still fighting hard, casualties on both sides, even if they are just politically dead. Men have come back to the living, women have left their households, and name calling is prevalent on every page of your local newspaper. Now is not the time to celebrate, but to act! Arise, men of America! (and women) Vote against the income tax, the property tax, and government spending so much. Rise up in this cold war and live or die- okay I’m done. Seriously, this is good and all, but won’t fix a thing. It all is rather childish.

What the country needs is not a trust in the “P” word or the government, but a change of heart. My true challenge is to the pastors. Become leaders instead of followers. Bring Christ back into the lives of men (and women) and not just in the pews. Get personal, change lives, make a difference in their hearts and minds as well as their souls. Getting men (and women) to Heaven is not our job, but God’s. Our job is to proclaim and live Truth. Emphasize the “live.”

And another thing: I hate politics.

Thank you.

And then when we got home, Ashley, Joella, Elliot and I sat in the car and had some honest discussion.

Which has got me thinking. You know how when everything is wrong in your life and someone asks how you’re doing and you say ‘fine’? You know how you get sick of that lie over and over again and wish you would just say ‘terrible’ when someone asks you?

So what if your life is utterly chaos and despair and you hide it all behind a mask? What then? Where do you begin to recover? How do you break out?

My best guess is just starting with one person and telling them the truth when they ask. But my fear is that when you’d tell one person, you’d have to tell everybody the truth. And then what happens? They tell your parents and your world comes crashing down in a painful talk? That’s not something I want to do.

Or what if you or I started being a lot more honest to everybody? I know there are books about this. “Radical honesty”, I’ve heard the term. I distrust it because I guess it’s psychobabble. But I think there is some power in the truth whether they’re right or wrong. What if we knew what was happening in our friends’ and families’ lives instead of giving trite answers and asking questions we don’t really want to have answered? What if we actually considered that the lives of everybody around us might be just as complicated and messy as ours or even more so?

I know I’m generalizing here, but consider the questions nonetheless, I ask. I know they’re just questions, but hopefully our lives will change, even if little by little, hopefully we’ll slowly find answers to these questions. Maybe there will be different answers. I don’t know. But I do know that I’ve heard that people pay more attention when questions are answered that they already asked, so ask the questions and then we’ll try to find the answers, God help us.