The Emotion of the Last 24 Hours

I was so surprised!
I know I'm emotional, but I didn't expect tears to flow.
It hit me hard. It may be a great historical moment.
The fact that our next President is an African-American person, turned the tears on.
They were not tears of fear or anger, but tears of joy.

I have seen so much hurt and pain caused by our imperfect love of all God's children.
I have had persons in my churches who were black, white, Asian, Native American. I have seen some of these who were young persons being teased by others because they were different.

But last night, it hit me that our nation may be turning a big corner.
We have not allowed the color of a person's skin to disqualify him from being elected.

My mind went back to 1963 as I sat in front of a TV and heard Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. I remember 1968 when Robert Kenney and M.L. King lost their lives serving this country.

I remember growing up in Chillicothe where the water fountains at the Ben Bolt theater were marked for "whites" and for "colored."

I remember when we were forced to integrate the swimming pool and I shared the water with them.

I can't imagine what the black kids were feeling in Chillicothe.

Whether we are Democrats or Republicans....
Whether we voted for Obama or McCain...
The decision has been made and it is time for us to be in prayer for all the leaders who have been elected including our future president.
Just as I have prayed for every president we have had, I will continue to be in prayer for our new president.

I pray further that this may be a time which will get rid of the hate and bitterness that has been so much of the speech in our deadlocked society for the several years.

Finally, let me say that I shed tears when John McCain gave such a positive concession speech. What an example he was! He could have been bitter, but he gave the example of acceptance and good will.

Pastor Larry