I Can't Sleep

It is about 4:40 a.m. The alarm clock doesn't go off for another 50 minutes, but I can't sleep. All I can do is think about today's presidential election. I know by now most people have heard all they want to hear about the election. But I'm not really writing this for my readers. This is as much personal therapy as anything. (And I'm afraid by the end of the day I am going to need some personal therapy.)

I am very concerned that our country is going to make a tragic decision today and I am afraid many believers will be complicit in that decision.

Personally, I am not a fan of either candidate. Personally, I have not been pleased with the way they have conducted their campaigns. Personally, I believe both candidates have promised some things that they have no intentions to follow through with. Personally, I believe neither candidate has a complete grasp of the real problems that America faces.

I have some strong views about subjects such as immigration, taxes, national security and so on. And while one candidate is much closer to my views than the other, neither man espouses my convictions or instills my confidence in these areas.

So what am I going to do, and why am I so concerned?

There are about four issues and reasons driving my actions and concerns, but I will point out just one...

I have two precious daughters. I love them with every fiber of my being. The quickest way you could start a fight with me is to try to hurt one of my little girls. I am a fairly calm, quiet person, but there are few things I wouldn't do to protect my girls. I have never been in a physical altercation in my adult life, but I would not hesitate to stand and physically defend either of my girls against any kind of physical attack that might occur. And I am no different from 99% of the dads in the world.

I feel very strongly about protecting my children, but I feel pretty much the same about protecting your children. I feel pretty strongly about protecting all children. I cannot imagine being in a public place and watching someone beat and injure a child without doing everything within my power to stop them. Again, I am no different from 99% of the people in the world.

So what does that have to do with the election?

I will cast a vote today for John McCain because I feel like in doing so, I'm doing all I can in this election to protect children. I may not agree with all of his viewpoints... I may not support all his policies... I may not have 100% confidence in his judgement on all matters... but, he has publicly stated that he will do all he can to protect the unborn, and he has a pretty good track record of doing so.

Barack Obama, who I imagine is a nice man who loves our country, has clearly stated the he supports free access to abortion and would like to see that access expanded. And he has expressed this view fairly consistently through the years. I cannot support a man who will not even try to protect the lives of the millions of aborted children every year.

Some will say, "Noel, there is a big difference between protecting your daughters or a neighbor child walking down the street and trying to protect unborn babies."

I would say, "I don't see any difference at all!"

Some will say, "Noel, John McCain may not follow through on his promises to put in place conservative judges on the Supreme Court."

I would say, "He may not. And if he doesn't, I will be very angry. But I've got to make the best choice I can make today. When a child is being injured, that is no time to make an ideological stand, that is no time to shrug our shoulders because there is no perfect solution. No! That is the time to choose the best option we have available to protect the child."

Some will say, "The whole political system is corrupt. It has failed. There is no point in voting."

I would say, "That is a cop-out. If it has failed, it is because people haven't stood on their convictions and voted. How does refusing to take this seriously and voting for one of the two candidates fix the 'corrupt system'?"

I believe too many believers are taking this election too lightly. I think that is a tragedy.

Will the election of John McCain solve all of our nations problems? No.
Will the election of John McCain usher revival to America? No.
Will the election of John McCain return our country to her Christian roots? No.
But will the election of John McCain over Barack Obama save the lives of at least a few unborn babies here and around the world? Yes! Even the most skeptical person would have to admit it would.

So if you are going to play around with your vote, if you are going to vote for some mystical concept of change, if you would rather have free insurance than protect the lives of the unborn, then please don't tell me, please don't email me... facebook me... or ask me to read your blog. I am just not in the mood for it today.

I don't want to hear about your high and mighty ideals and your lofty musings about never compromising to vote for someone you don't completely agree with. When it comes to protecting children there is no room for those kind of arrogant attitudes. If there were ever a time to 'get in the frey' now is it.

And this is just reason one of four that I can't sleep.

Pastor Noel

Heart2Heart & Miscellaneous

This week we will begin a new four week series of messages titled, Heart2Heart. In this series we will take a look at what kind of hearts we really have. Often times we are not the people we imagine ourselves to be. Jeremiah 17:9, says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?"

So we are going hold Scripture up next to our hearts for the next few weeks and see what we can learn about ourselves.

Here is the road map for the series...

· 11/ 2 I have a Caring Heart – Luke 10:25-37
· 11/9 I have a Believing Heart – Malachi 3
· 11/16 I have a Trusting Heart – Daniel 3
· 11/23 I have a Willing Heart – Exodus 35:21

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This Sunday morning, our prayer ministry is hosting a special breakfast. We have a lady from Pittsburgh for whom we have been praying a long time. She wants to share with us how much those prayers have meant to her and her family and what God has done as a result. It will be a special morning. If you haven't RSVP'd by calling the church office, please do so soon.

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Last minute invite... Randy Wagner, Ray & Bernie's son, called and invited our choir to join his choir in singing at the John McCain / Arnold Swarzenagger rally this Friday. Hank Williams Jr. will also be singing. Can't you just imagine Pastor Shawn and Hank singing together. That may be very interesting!

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I just got an email with the estimate from Kenya for the house we want to help the Strausz family build. This will serve as the home for Greg and Lisa as long as they are there and will also serve as the home base for our church's mission work there. Do you want to know how much it is? Are you sitting down? Almost three million dollars... or actually shillings... Kenya shillings... or about thirty-seven thousand US dollars.

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I was talking with a young lady in our church this past Sunday evening. I won't mention her name here on the internet, but many of my Ohio readers will know who I am talking about in another sentence or two. I told her I had used her as an illustration of spiritual growth in a discipleship class I had taught last Saturday morning. She then reminded me that this month, October (I think she said, October 20th) marked the one year anniversary of her profession of faith. She talked about how much her life had changed in one year. She said she had been telling all her friends that October was her birthday month :). So far as I know, she had no church background at all a year ago, and look at her now! Faithful to the Lord... Serving the Lord... In fact, a week or two ago, Donna, my wife, was calling around trying to line up people for our table at the upcoming Heartbeats banquet. Several of the people she called had already been called by this young lady. I think that is GREAT! The grace of God still works pretty well, doesn't it? We should all be that excited about the Lord.

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Donna brought her camera by the church today to take some photo's for me for an upcoming slideshow. We took pictures of all the things the church has been able to do because of the faithfulness of our members in their capital fund giving these last three years. It took an hour to get all of the photos. It was exciting to look back and remember all that has happened. Have you walked through the renovated gym and family life center lately? By the way, can I give a shameless plug for my wife's photography blog? She is really getting pretty good at this photography stuff... MyDearPhotography.blogspot.com.

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I heard from an old friend of mine this week from Montgomery, AL. She and her husband are trying to adopt a child from just over in Pennsylvania. They have faced some real obstacles and complications with this. You can get more details if you have a password to the church's prayer page. Just keep them in your prayers from now through the end of November. Pray that they will have wisdom and receive grace from the Lord.

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Back to the To Do list...

Pastor Noel