My Not So Political Election Day Post

I woke up today in the year 2555!  Seriously, there was no flux capacitator involved! I'm in Chiang Mai, Thailand where it is the year 2555!  Why?! Because their year is based on the life of Buddha.  No A.D. / B.C. here in Thailand.  It made me think, our (us 'Mericans) EVERYTHING is based on the influence of Christ!  I know some of you will disagree, but our calendar B.C. / A.D, our pledge "One Nation Under God," our dinero "In God we Trust," our zoning codes take into account our houses of worship, some states even limit or prohibit the sell of alcohol on Sundays, many establishments remain closed or open later on Sundays, we even have songs about it "God Bless America!"

I sit here in a beautiful nation where only 1% of them are Christians.  To be Thai is to be Buddhist.  95% of Thailand is Buddhist.  There is a temple
on every corner!


 In my country there is a church on every corner.  According to the Thai, to be American is to be Christian, Christianity is the westerner's religion.  Sure we have our problems, we're no doubt a sinful nation, I half agree with Ruth Bell Graham, "If God doesn't punish America, He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!"  We've ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of God! Romans 3:23.  (Why, Yes, yes I was an Honor Star!) Thank God for Jesus, Thank God for grace, Thank God for Mercy, Thank God for His love! I know some sit and wring their hands and say, America is going to hell in a handbasket.  I say, "Love Wins!"  Not in a creepy, Rob Bell, there is no hell kind of way, but in a, "My God is Greater, My God is Stronger, My God is Higher than any other!" kind of way! For you old timers, "A Nothing is Too Difficult for Thee" kind of way.  Merica, We got it good! We're free to do ridiculous things like this if we are so inclined! (Man on Chicago Street corner earlier this fall!)

We're a nation saturated with the Gospel, we're free to worship, we're free to stand on street corners and tell people they're going to hell, tell people TO go to hell when they cut us off in traffic, and how to get to heaven every Sunday! Nearly 80% of Americans claim to be Christians.  Praise God.  Only 30 or 40% of those attend church regularly & 100% of those complain about the songs the worship leader chose, the volume of the band, the pastor's attire, and his wife should sure act more pastor wifey, and oh my goodness, they pass that offerin' plate every single Sunday. Love still wins.  HIS love still wins!

I woke up at 5am on my day off and climbed with my team to the top of a mountain, okay, I climbed half way and took a song taew the 

Can you see it, it's in the clouds up
 there at the top of that mountain!
We're on our way up as I take this photo!

other half, to the most prominent temple in Chiang Mai Wat Doi Suthep. I was struck first of all by my underestimation of how out of shape I am! 2ndly by the vastness of it all, millions and millions of dollars in architecture before my eyes, but 3rdly and MOSTLY by the patrons.  

In droves, they filed in purchasing flowers or candles, they gave money in one of the many offering boxes or in the baskets of the monks, they hit gongs, they rang bells, all in an effort to earn
merit!



 I thank God I am not on a merit system! "It is finished!" "Jesus paid it all!"  They continued to hit the gong and ring the bells, I have to admit I couldn't resist this row of bells, but all I could think about the resounding gong clanging cymbals of I Corinthians 13!

13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues,they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

God bless America! He sure does, every single day! Be grateful.  Be prayerful.  Be His nation today! Pray for your nation today, but remember too the nations that do not have a church on every corner, the freedom to worship or even the opportunity to seek God, the ones that don't just go without good healthcare policies, but without clean water and food, the ones that can't pray in schools or even in their own homes!  The ones pounding gongs & clanging cymbals, in a futile effort to pay a debt that they'll never be able to pay! I love my country, I love my God, I will share 
His Love!