Oh, to teach Democracy...

I'm not going to spend any time talking about my political views. We are of a greater kingdom, and one of the blessings He gave us was our incredible country. Living in China has left me with such an appreciation for our freedom, and more full of hope for where this leader is going to take us. I have trust in President-elect Obama, and am looking forward to him proving himself to us all. But I have the utmost faith in our Lord, who is so much greater than the divisions we create.

However, I did want to tell you what we did this monumental day because it was just too much fun. We celebrated Election Day with the Breeland's party agenda determined by a vote on hanging chad ballots! We watched Obama speech highlights, including the 2004 DNC speech where it all began and his acceptance speech. We pinned the lips on a pig, played a rousing game of Obama trivia, said goodbye to Bushisms, and watched the movie "Recount". Finally, we ended the night with a prayer for our country, lifting up its newest leader into the hands of the Father. Btw...Spending 45 minutes in class explaining checks and balances and liberal vs conservative, and discussing the economic crises, and Obama's future policies - priceless.

To close, I wanted to post this today. From Barack Obama's 2004 DNC speech:

For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we are all connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper -- that makes this country work.

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope? The hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. (Turn's Out, It's The White House!) Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead.