A big day

you know, all though I did not vote for Obama, I think there is some sort of pride in the fact that we, as America, have gotten far enough where a black man has been elected and will be the next president of the United States.  I teach kids who everyday come to school heavy-hearted and at times beaten down by life.  They have circumstances that are far beyond anything I have ever had to deal with, and just in watching them, I think that tomorrow's inauguration will be a very big moment in their lives.  Where some of them do not really know much about politics, or they listen to their parents, and tend to agree with what they say...I know to each of the minorities, which are now, really majorities in the United States, this is a huge day for them.  It is a huge day for each and every one of the kids I teach because it is history.  They are going to be watching history in the making.  

I do not know why today has affected me in the way that it has.  I have thought a lot about Martin Luther King Jr, everything he stood for, and wondering what he would think about everything that will be happening tomorrow.  I have thought a lot about the prejudice people there are in America thinking that there is no way that a black man can run this country, or even wishing bodily harm upon him.  I have thought about people thinking that the world is ending because he is in office.  Bottom line with that is that the Lord is in control.  Obama could run us into the ground, or be the best president we have ever had.  That is only for the Lord to know and time to tell.  However, when I think about these things, my mind goes back to my kids at school.  What they go through on a daily basis, and what they have been taught about stereotypes and what they are worth because of what treatment they have been shown.  I think about how we talk about that there is no color, but there is a personality and depth and life and a soul behind each every INDIVIDUAL in my class.  I guess my hope in this time of "change" is that we, as adults, really do implement a change.  That we be the change we long to see in our nation, and in our community.  That we think about what the Lord has for our lives, and implement what he is showing us on a daily basis.  That we go to the word before we open our mouths, and we seek Him before we seek ourselves.  This is a tall order... I know, and all day that is what I have been thinking about.  The thing is...we (through the Lord) can be hope, and change, and light for the kids I teach, and even for their parents that I do not see.  Racism, judgement, inappropriate behavior towards others that we do not know can end with us.  So, although I do not agree with all of our new president's policies, I will support our president because that is what we are called to do right now.  I will also support him because I have 150 kids looking at me everyday as an example for what an adult should be.  I plead with you to be that example for someone that you are around as well, because it could affect one of the families of a child I am teaching...

An encouraging verse:

This is love for God: to obey his commands.  And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 5:3-5

I love you guys.  Sorry this is so serious tonight...this has just been on my heart.