What's Next?

It's a different world since I last blogged on here.

The American election captured my attention for a significant portion of the last couple of months, as we waited and pondered whether it could really happen.

Whether it was really possible to witness the turn of a new page of history in a nation. It surprised me how many people last Wednesday waited through the night to see the results come in. Lots of us, keeping each other company awake via Facebook and trading knowledgable sounding gambits regarding electoral college votes and waiting for Ohio to make sure the change was really coming and that President Obama would be part of our lives for at least the next four years and maybe even longer.

Then the dust had a day to settle.

Our friend Claire says the States is a strange place to be for a Christian at the moment, seeing as this election was perhaps the first to split the Christian vote. From some of the blogs I follow, I was shocked and saddened to see disappointed Republicans using language about how America is now heading for judgement for not electing McCain. I was disappointed to see some big names spouting judgement and despair and berating Americans for not doing the right thing and how abortion will now be rife, carefully overlooking the statistics that abortions have actually increased during the last two terms of Republican administration.

Now, I try not to wade into these things too often, but I feel I should on this one. Didn't God raise up kings and rulers in the Old Testament, some of whom didn't even acknowledge Him, to accomplish His will? The answer is yes, and although I don't agree with Obama's views on everything, does that mean he cannot do anything good? Of course not.

Surely the simple answer is that if the person in charge has a policy you don't agree with, that you engage with that person, graciously explain why you think your way would be a better course and try to bring change.

Maybe in four years it will all go horribly wrong and people will have earned the right to say I told you so. Those of us in this country who lived through the change from Conservative to New Labour government may well recall the heady days of 1997 when anything seemed possible, and realise they are a far cry from today's troubled political and economic landscape.

But maybe it will work. And no matter what your political affiliation or perspective on the President-elect, surely everyone must agree that a new day, a new year, a new anything, is always filled with the possibility that the new will bring forth something brighter than what came before. It'll be exciting to see what the future holds for America beyond January 20th.

Apologies for getting a bit political. Let's end with some music, unconnected with the post except for the hopeful sentiment, and the fact that it will bring my wife much joy.