Today, What Will It Matter?

   My routine is shattered, but it does not mean that the day is lost.

   After rising, my wife and I went to the church for a 7am prayer time in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer. There will be various events around our community today, and over the country as a whole, that call us to exercise our conviction that prayer matters, and that our country will be better because of these offerings.

   So we were encouraged to pray for people, leaders of government in the various levels of our society, for institutions, like schools and churches and the media and in business, and the leaders involved in each, for our military and the individuals serving in many places around the world, as well as those making policy and plans for these men and women.

   As I looked around in that largely empty church sanctuary this morning, I questioned whether it made any difference in the great scheme of things, that we were there. Evidently not too many others were concerned. I know it was early, and there would be other services throughout the day and evening, and the families all had stuff to do and places to be early, but it was a sparse crowd.

   Then, as I searched the Internet for an image for this National Day, I ran across a Washington Post article, on their Faith page for today, that was a cynical put down of the evangelical movement in the US, and in praise of our multicultural religion and faith ideas, especially of the "nones" as they were called. Nones are referred to as those who espouse no particular religious belief, and the author held them up as an example of what is good about our land.

   Then I read the official presidential proclamation for this May 2nd Day, hoping to see some reference to God, hoping to see some reference to thanksgiving for His blessings and calling on His help in our various crises, but the only thing I saw was God used as a hyphenated adjective that referred to our religious liberties. No calling for guidance or help was evident. The whole statement seemed to be a call for Americans to live up to what they could be, and, if that was the action, that we could bring our country through to a new land of freedom and opportunity. "We Can Do It" (without help).

   So, I sit here now, a little down at what I perceive to be the national mood of this day, or any day. I sense no contrition of past wrongs and sins. I sense no call for us to return to any moral roots that we might have had in the past. I sense no call for any help other than that we can do for ourselves, if we put our mind to it.

   In short, I feel a fear for our country, and not just that faceless mass of people called Americans, those that I know and that I don't. I fear for the conditions that my kids and grand kids might have to live in.

   But there is hope. God can do miracles, and the promises of II Chronicles 7:14 still ring true. "If my people will......"

   The ship of state is like a big battleship or cruise liner. It cannot stop on a dime and turn with the nimbleness of a Sea-Doo, but it can begin on that way when the people realize where it is headed and ask, in humbleness, for guidance from God who can give it. So...

   "and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."