What was Your Take?

On Wednesday, January 20, 2021 our 46th president was inaugurated. President Joseph R Biden, Jr. is our new Commander in Chief. Another historic moment. Since 1789, when George Washington was unanimously elected our first president and the new U. S. Constitution went into effect and all those years of war, depression, and pandemics, our nation lives on. As bad awful the tumultuous times have been over those many years as well as the last four years, there has been incredibly momentous and victorious times. I assure you that there are countries and places that cannot imagine such a peaceful, democratic transfer of power as it was on Wednesday nor the peace that prevails in our lives daily. We are a blessed Country. I refuse to go along with the naysayers and I will not hold grudges nor will I wish ill will or speak negatively about this new administration. "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:44-45) My Austin family and I were extremely busy with heads down on tasks-at-hand. The inauguration wasn't on our minds. My 16-year old grandson, Brennan, came home after school asking: "Did you see the inauguration?" We hadn't. He had -- during his physics class. He was upbeat and said: "You have to watch it. Biden talked about God several times! It was great!" So, Brennan, again, with the rest of us, including our cousin visiting from Canada, sat down and watched it together. I was pleasantly surprised at the congeniality and calm and inclusion of God and devotion to our Country. It made me proud and grateful to live in a country where Protestants and Catholics can be elected president and where a Black and South Asian woman can be elected vice-president. I am grateful to live in a nation where I can daily speak about biblical truths. I heard Bishop T.D. Jakes give his take: "The message of President Biden seemed to combine the historical data of Abraham Lincoln's emancipation proclamation with the memories of the hard-fought Women's Right to Vote. Here we are now with a woman -- Vice President Kamala Harris. It couldn't have even been dreamed of back in the days of even a woman getting the right to vote. It is naive to think President Biden's message itself will be the cure we need against the virus of malice and hatred -- much less the physical virus we are facing. It would be naive to think that one ceremony would eradicate the years and years of historical complexities that make up this great Country we live in. However, it does set a tone for the hope that will reproduce itself in the behavior and character of our Country. It is crucial that we treat each other with respect from the White House to our house." I agree with Bishop Jakes. Garth Brooks asked those at the inauguration and everyone watching across the Country to join him in singing, “Amazing grace / how sweet the sound / that saved a wretch like me / I once was lost, but now am found / was blind, but now I see.” Aw! The overwhelming, never-ending, abundant, and free grace of God. We don't know what the future holds for our Country in this new administration, but God does. And He is our absolute certainty of what tomorrow holds as long as we hold to HIS unchanging hands. Let us pray for the day when every American can sing those "Amazing Grace" words from eyes and hearts opened by the saving grace of Jesus -- WHO truly IS the answer to everything we faced since the beginning of our democracy -- and in the last four years and in the next four years and beyond. "America. America. God shed His grace on thee. And crowned thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!"