R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I really had no intentions of ever writing anything near a rant or diatribe about anything political. I just wanted to write about my life, and hope that in some way it would be able to touch someone else’s. But over the past few days, I have seen things via email and Facebook that I find simply sickening. As Christians we are called to live in the world and not of it. We are called out to be different. For eight years, my family and friends prayed for George W. Bush, the President of the United States, and asked God to guide his steps through some of the most trying times our nation has seen in recent years.

In November of 2008, our candidate of choice, John McCain, lost the Presidential Election to Barack Obama. From the beginning of his candidacy, many people I know called him out as being everything from a Muslim invader to the anti-christ.

While he is by no means my favorite President, I have tried to look only at the facts of a situation, and tried to believe that he is doing what he believes is right. I may not agree with what he does, but I do believe that, if nothing else, he deserves our respect and our prayers because he is the leader of our nation. The position of President deserves respect, even if you don’t respect the person in the position.

God called us to be His people, to live by His rules in the world He created. I can’t imagine that he is happy with our behavior.

Does this sound like something God would be happy to see in his inbox?

“From a minister:......
We were in slow-moving traffic the other day and the car in front of us had an Obama bumper sticker on it. It read: "Pray for Obama. Psalm 109:8".
My husband's Bible was lying on the dash board & he got it & opened it up to the scripture & read it. He started laughing & laughing. Then he read it to me. I couldn't believe what it said. I had a good laugh, too.
Psalm 109:8 "Let his days be few; and let another take his place of leadership.”
At last - I can voice a Biblical prayer for our president!
Look it up - it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray!”

Do you think that if He saw you join this Facebook group He would “like” it?

“DEAR LORD, THIS YEAR YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTOR, PATRICK SWAYZIE. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTRESS, FARAH FAWCETT. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE SINGER, MICHAEL JACKSON. I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW, MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT IS BARACK OBAMA. AMEN”

I don’t know about your god, but my God believes that everyone, including the dirtiest prostitute and the lowliest fisherman, is worth saving. I’m ashamed that my brothers and sisters in Christ would be PROUD to pass this trash around. I may not like Obama, but I’ll still be praying for him every day of his presidency, and come November 2012, I’ll be praying for God to place the right person in leadership of our country. If you want to reach out to your community, and bring the lost to Christ, don’t participate in this kind of garbage.

I am far from perfect, and don’t claim to do everything right. But I know I have lost respect for some good, Godly men and women, because of their lack of respect for our leadership. I'm sure I have done things that have hurt my witness too, so please don't take this as me judging you. I just think it's time for a wake up call for everyone.

**EDIT**
Please don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem at all with satire or making fun of the President. I think that's just part of the way things are, and should be. What I'm not OK with are the people who are offended when it's someone they support being made fun of, and then doing the same thing when they don't support the person in office. I also think there is a big difference between satire, and praying for someone to die.