O great, I think, as I’m reminded that I haven’t had The Talk.

Turning off the radio, I casually broach the subject.  “Hey buddy, I suppose we need to have a little talk.”

He turns to me, curious.  “About what?”

“Well, we haven’t had a conversation about the birds & the bees yet.”  I’m wondering what he’s thinking. “You do know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”

As sweet as an angel he replies, “You mean animals and stuff?”

As I’m thinking of a way to respond, he continues.  “We studied about fish in class, and a little about some birds.  We also learned about sedimentary rock and other science.  What I would like to study more is how to keep bees from stinging me.”

How I want to wait until he’s engaged and ready to marry…to delay this conversation, and the subsequent thoughts (and curiosity and experimentation) until some other day.  That his childhood “innocence” would continue for his whole life.

(As a calvinist, I reject the notion of sinless innocence in children, but would note that my use of the word is not in that sense.  Let’s not have a debate over it right now.)

O Lord, strengthen my son.  Please give him a desire for purity, and a heart quick to confess and turn to You. Amen.

As with most “differences of opinion”, this one started with a perception of what the other person meant.  Maybe it was me, maybe her, but somewhere along the way there was, at the root, a sense that the other person did not care, feel sorry, or empathize with something of great concern to the other.

Husbands and wives fight about such things because we are human.  Because we have made a vow to stay together, come what may, these fights usually result in little more than hurt feeling for a short while.  But when friends and brothers/sisters in Christ have a difference of opinion, it is fertile ground for the enemy to foment anger, hostility, and a host of other sinful behaviors.

That said, the mature Christian can agree to disagree without causing division.  I pray that my words bring understanding rather than division.  We can disagree and remain brothers and friends.

I woke up in the early hours of November 5 and went to my computer to see the election results.  My prayer for the election was, “God, please accomplish your will, and please do not let Obama win.”  As I read over the election headlines, I realized that the first half of my prayer (for His will to be done) had been answered, but it was not as I wanted.  There was an odd sense of peace with that, and you might say it was my first stunning revelation.  A few minutes later, as I was drifting off to sleep, a second revelation crossed my mind: I was making politics an idol, and expecting that John McCain would rescue the US from itself.

Our hope and our salvation is found in Jesus Christ, not Uncle Sam.

I agree that the election of Barak Obama is, in the arena of race relations, a matter of enormous positive impact.  My frustrations over his election pretty much died away when I came to understand that it was God’s will that he be elected.  I could see more clearly that God’s plan is more complex and exciting than anything I could ever imagine.  And as I have learned these past couple of days, this event is nothing less than a second emancipation proclamation for African-Americans.  I celebrate this achevement, for it represents a movement away from judgements based on race.

Still, I am deeply grieved that Barak Obama is our president-elect.  My grief has nothing to do with the color of his skin, or the origin of his ancestors.  In fact, Barak Obama was not the first black candidate on the final ballot for the presidency.  True, he was the first major party candidate, but one should recall that Alan Keyes ran unsuccessfully for president in 1996, 2000, and again this year.  But if the color of a person’s skin was a factor, why did the black community not support Keyes?  (I did, in 1996)

My grief comes from the fact that many believers went to the polls and voted for a man whose positions on issues are in stark contrast to the teaching of scripture.   I am not saying that John McCain was the perfect candidate, but he was not an advocate for the expansion of abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research, and homosexual rights.  Despite his promise to reduce the number of abortions, his stated goals, if enacted, will almost surely increase the number of defenseless babies murdered.

If I may make this far sharper, this toll does not fall equally across the spectrum.  Although African-Americans make up about 12.5 percent of the US population, roughly 35% of abortions are performed on African-American women.  President-Elect Obama would expand this genocide against African-Americans already under way.  Examine the issue and understand it well: Planned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger, a woman who believed that the black race was inherently inferior to whites, and who advocated abortion and sterilization as means of eliminating the black population.

So we are left with this: We have elected the most pro-abortion president since Roe v. Wade.  This president has vowed to use abortion as a litmus test for his court appointments.  And we will resume funding of abortions through government programs.

Have we traded one curse for another?

We have clearly taken a momentous step in the healing of racial division in our nation.  It will truly be a great day for America when Americans of all colors and origins show a similar level of support for candidates whose color or origin is not the same as their own.  Lately I have heard many white conservatives, who strongly oppose Obama’s stated positions, say that they will be praying for his safety and that God will grant him wisdom to do his job.  Should President-Elect Obama follows through with the radical agenda he advocated in his campaign, I hope that our strong, vigorous opposition will neither diminish our prayers for him personally, nor be interpreted as racially motivated.

One final note: It is both my pride and shame to be a descendant of Thomas Jefferson.  My pride, because Jefferson was instrumental in the founding of our nation, and the individual who penned the words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”  It is my shame because my great ancestor held human beings in bondage as slaves, despite his statements that slavery was morally wrong.  His hypocrisy on this matter would forestall, for less than one hundred years, a larger reckoning of the matter, when 618,000 men would die fighting in a terrible civil war.  Had he been a man of greater principle, perhaps the bondage that was broken last Tuesday would never have happened in the first place.  Let us pray that Mr. Obama not yoke us further with the culture of death.

When I think of my high school days I remember an overwhelming need to be popular, a willingness to do almost anything to get a laugh, fear of rejection, and sadness.  This, coming from someone who probably was not seen as sad, rejected, or needy, would probably surprise my old friends.

Of course we look older.  I struggled to recognize the faces of people I knew very well, and it was embarrassing at times.  There were a couple of people who might have sent a proxy in their place – no one would have known.  Our aging hasn’t hurt us, but we are getting a lot older.

After we left the park, I was thinking about how much everyone’s personalities had changed.  Some of the quiet people were more outgoing and there was a genuine warmth and caring feeling that I hadn’t noticed, or more likely, didn’t notice 20+ years ago because I was so wrapped up in myself.  (still trying to unwrap that thing even to this day)

Regrettably, many did not show up.  Whether it was haunting memories or other commitments, only they know.  Someone brought along an annual and we shared a few of the happy memories, and mourned the loss of so many of our classmates.

That last point takes me back to the first reunion I attended in 1987.  I was a relatively new Christian at the time and a little intimidated at the prospect of sharing my faith with classmates who knew how I used to be.  At that reunion I spent a while telling my friend Greg Hughey about Jesus.  One month later Greg was killed in a car wreck, one of the first of my classmates to die since graduating.

Investor’s Business Daily put together a 20-part series on Wonderhope, the Candidate of Change(TM).  You may learn a thing or two about our favorite candidate with a messianic fixation that you didn’t know yesterday.

Click here to get there.

Will the result be bad for the United States?  Maybe.

I trust that God will make all things work together for all those that are called according to His purpose.  That is why I’m not worried about the long-term.  God takes care of it.

On the other hand, if you think the economy is bad now, just wait until Barak Obama is the president.  This guy is a real, live socialist.  He wants to take more money away from people that earn it, and give it to people who are not working, will not work, or are too uneducated to have a decent job.  Shades of Jimmy Carter, except that he’ll be inheriting a difficult economy (a bit of charity is in order).

Barak Obama believes in a concept called “economic justice”, which basically is…socialism.

(If you want to read a really good, long series of articles about Obama and his background, check it out over at Investor’s Business Daily.  Click here.)

Barak Obama wants to end poverty and ensure that every child has clean water, a decent house, and enough food to eat every day.  That is a wonderful idea.  But his vision is global.  He wants to tax US to do all of this.  It does not matter that many countries have the resources to do these things themselves.  We have to do it for them.

I spent a week with some wonderful people Honduras this year.  Honduras is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere.  In our own small way we are doing something special for some of the kindest people there.  But, in speaking with our local church planter, it is clear that their biggest problem is not a lack of money, but rather, corruption that taints everything the government touches.

So we’re left with this thought.  If Barak is elected, we will be eliminating poverty around the world.  We will either have to give our hard earned money to corrupt governments, or insert ourselves into the affairs of those nations.  In one case we’ll be making a bad investment; in the other we’ll basically become the de facto world government.

I’m watching the talking heads on FNC and it’s 8:53.  Carl Cameron, who my cousin-in-law says is a really super nice guy, is talking, and the noise is coming out of his head.  So far, about as expected.

The format may be McCain’s ace-in-the hole as it gives him a chance to show that he can think on his feet.

The Kennedy medical issue will be mentioned early on, no doubt.  I bet McCain tries to mention it first.  He gets 3 points if he does.

It kinda stinks, don’t you think, that these thinks are defined more by who is funnier?

Okay, time to kick off.

Two podiums.  Where are the candidates?

9:01…”Good evening…”

9 minute segments.

I say a prayer: God, may Your will be done.

First response come from Obama.  Wall Street…Main Street…trying to connect with the common man.  “I’ve put together several proposals”.  [I wonder what they are?]  Gotta make sure the money doesn’t pad the pockets of blah blah blah.   Failure of 8 years of Bush years.

McCain…YES, mentioned Kennedy right away.  [Maybe I should be a political consultant.]  Establishing himself as bi-partisan.  Where is he going?   I’m confused… “This is not the beginning of the end, this is the end of the beginning.”

You know, I can’t watch & type at the same time.  I hope you like my analysis of the first 9 1/2 minutes of the debate.