Oh No! Not Again!

I just couldn't believe it!  When Fox News called Ohio for Obama, I felt this horrible sinking feeling in my gut!  It just couldn't be happening!  There is no way we could endure another four years of the administration!  How could this be happening?  The "Architect," Karl Rove, had predicted Romney would win, certainly not by as big a margin as Dick Morris, who predicted Romney with 325 electoral votes!  I really wanted to believe it would be a landslide for Romney.  We need things to turn around so badly!  I even followed Dick Morris' commentary as he tweeted through the election coverage.  He tried so hard to keep encouraging the folks who were following his comments.  His last tweet was, "don't give up!"  I found myself trying to hold to the idea that just maybe they were wrong.  All the votes would be counted and the outcome would be different.  We felt like the second verse of the Christmas hymn, I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day: 

And in despair I bowed my head: 

"There is no peace on earth," I said, 

"For hate is strong and mocks the song

of peace on earth good will to men."

Numbly I listened to the commentators.  What went wrong?  Many will play the blame game.  They will blame the candidate.  He certainly wasn't my first choice, but he was who we ended up with, and even though we differed on a number of things, I still believe he was the better man for the job.  Some will blame Sandy the "Frankenstorm."  If the storm hadn't hit and caused all this devastation, it wouldn't have given Obama, this opportunity so near the election to present himself as bi-partisan, and so presidential!  I guess we might even blame God, because He could have stopped or redirected the storm. Why would He allow this man, who has been the friend of Israel's enemies, to continue to lead our country for another four years?

I guess we need to sing the third verse of this Christmas hymn: 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, 

"God is not dead nor does he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, 

with peace on earth good will to men."

One of Romney's sound bites on the campaign trail was that "America would be restored as the Hope of the world."  The truth is that Jesus Christ is the Hope of the world!  He alone is the answer for what ails America.  We desperately need Revival.  We can't allow our spirits to be overwhelmed by disappointment!  In Psalm 42:5 the psalmist writes:

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God.

I'm sure that Dick Morris didn't know what else to say after his last message, "Don't give up."  Perhps he was really right on target with those very words, echoed in the following old poem:

 Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow--
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,
It seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up,
When he might have captured the victor's cup,
And he learned too late when the night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Author Unknown

So... put your hope and trust in God, and don't give up.  Don't quit!

Blessings!