I haven’t heard that as much this time around and I don’t intend to.  I’m blaming this on the rise of SuperPACs.

In 2010, the rules changed.  Businesses and corporations could now give unlimited funds to a SuperPAC in efforts to support a candidate.  Rather than President Obama or former Governor Romney having to raise money, they can mostly rely on these SuperPACs to raise funds for ads on television, radio, the web, etc.

So far, I don’t have a problem.  It is weird that the majority of the leaders are former campaign aids of the candidate.  It is sketchy that almost half of the money donated to Super PACs comes from under 25 individuals.  Something does seem off when candidates have no control over the Super PAC that supports them (i.e. Romney’s rebuttal to Gingrich at a recent debate claiming he hasn’t seen all of the commercials from Restore Our Future Now campaign that supports him, implying he cannot control what they say).

There are some troubling facts above but the thing that is most distressing to me is this:  Most Super PACs actually function to tear down and destroy an opposing candidate rather than to build up their own candidate.  That’s not too big of a surprise in a hyper-aggresive political climate, but Super PACs, with the funding of billionaires and businesses, could take this atmosphere to new levels.

Though Super PACs are new, political action committees are not.  They were present and played a role in the 2008 and 2004 elections.  I believe they are the reason that so many of us have the mindset of “voting for the lesser of two evils” in an election.

We no longer hear the good side of any candidate.  We only hear the negative things.  We don’t hear about all the great things a candidate has accomplished anymore.  We only know the darkest and dirtiest things about them – and we hear them often.

I don’t have research or statistics to back this up, but it is my gut feeling that all of the negative ads we see – all of the lampooning made from Super PAC heads on the news, the ads and all of the false information and rumors they leak – actually turn us off to the whole thing.  All of that negative spin actually makes us dislike all the candidates.  And not because an ad said something terrible about them – but because we can feel (perhaps unconsciously) how gross and sinful the act of tearing each other down is, no matter what the cause.

Florida’s primary was the most negative campaign ever.  It’s likely to steep to lower places and the Super PACs will lead the way.

But the larger question on my mind is what happens next to believers in the United States?  Where do we go from here?  And what do we rally around?

The events of 9/11 were horrifying but the works and lies of the Enemy in the aftermath of the tragedy were equally devastating.  In any time of mourning or sadness, anger or bitterness, a longing for justice or vengeance, the thing we need is the love and the peace of Jesus.  But ten years ago, when we needed to choose Jesus, the Enemy snuck in and gave us patriotism and the pride that goes with being a citizen of the United States.  It seemed nice at the time.  Patriotism allowed all of us to come together as a unit, to comfort each other and feel connected to each other…things we all like and want.

Eventually though, we see U.S. flags next to crosses at the local church.  We start believing that part of being a good Christian is being a good American.  We begin to think that God favors the U.S. and would surely bless us over any Middle Eastern country.  Over the last ten years, we (the church) have incorporated a piece of patriotism into our identity as a christian.  I’m convinced that the outcome of this confused identity has bred not just a sense of exceptionalism in our country, but also a fear of Muslims both in our community and across the Earth in the Arab world.  It wouldn’t be out of line to say the church of America’s fear of Muslims has turned into racism.

All of this begs the question:  What does the church of the U.S. do now?  It would be easy to continue down the road we already began paving for ourselves.  We could gather around and celebrate an enemy’s death.  We could rejoice over the Kingdom of America being safer.  Or we could continue to live in ignorance and fear against some of the Arabs and Muslims around us.

But actually, all of those are bad ideas.

The thing we have to decide now is what Kingdom we belong to and what lens do we choose to see bin Laden’s death through?  If we opt for the lens of the Kingdom of America, we give the Enemy access to slip in and feed us false idols like patriotism.  But if we choose the lens of the Kingdom of God, then we get the Father’s eyes.

So let’s not make the same mistake we made ten years ago.  Instead of uniting against someone or uniting with a temporary Kingdom like we did after 9/11, let’s find our unity in Jesus this time.

I tend to lean left on many issues.  The way I arrive at my values and thoughts sometimes differ from that of other democrats or liberal-minded people but I often arrive at the same conclusion.  So initially, I was a bit disappointed with the elections.  The GOP party will take over the House of Representatives and John Boehner will succeed Nancy Pelosi’s Speaker of the House position.  But after giving the elections more thought, maybe it’s a good thing.  A bitter, cold and unproductive culture has been created amongst the current politicians in Washington.  Most republicans feel as if democrats are passing laws that are leading the United States into a decline where socialism and welfare are accepted.  Most democrats believe the republican base doesn’t offer any suggestions and feel as if they have to pass everything themselves because the republicans have no new or innovative ideas.

Maybe getting some new blood (both republican and democrat) will be helpful.  I’m hoping the new members in both the House and the Senate will take it upon themselves to change the culture and hopefully provide motivation.  Surely, the GOP party will learn from the democrat’s mistakes of losing touch with the people they represent and work well together.  More than legislature, taxes or spending, I want to see a culture shift.  Rather than fear-mongering and hateful rhetoric, I’m hoping the incoming politicians will get humble fast and work together.

To continue, I think the American model of government has its strengths and flaws.  However, I do not think our federal government is at its best when one party dominates the three branches.  I’m not sure of the effect partisanship has on how the branches work together but I’m hopeful that the GOP taking the House is a good thing.  I’m even more hopeful that those who were awarded new jobs Tuesday will focus more on changing the culture around them than any bills or legislature.

In no particular order:

Living with Luke is interesting because he is a completely different person to live with than he is to be around once or twice a week.  In past years, I always saw him as shy, calm and soft spoken – of course he would occasionally snap a witty comment if it was too good to pass up, but even then, it was a rarity.  I remember being excited to live with him but nervous that it might be hard to break his quiet shell or that he may get offended easily with childish humor.  I thought he would sit in his room and study and live up to the academic genius most knew him as.

Courtesy of Kelli Fairbairn

After living with him for a month or so, my worries had shifted.  Instead of him being offended by my humor, he was encouraging it and pushing it to new levels.  His poor study habits and tendency to skip multiple classes a week rubbed off on me.  His subtle and sneaky ideas of pranks and jokes took our friendship to new levels.

We clicked in a lot of these areas.

We watched countless awful movies.  Not the kind that are laugh-out-loud bad, but the kind where it takes real perseverance to finish.  We even tried to start a blog about it – naturally, the blog failed.  We thought of endless gags to get under Robert’s skin and always wondered what Andrew Steinle was actually doing in his room.  We theorized as to why one neighbor had an ambulance at his house three times a week and another stayed out until three in the morning swinging away at his punching bag.  Together, we successfully prayed that Winter would last longer and that the cold weather would overpower the sun.  We shared ideas about politics and discussed how much Jesus actually cares about what is going on in the world.  We would often explode into laughter after someone said something that Luke and I took in a “different” way.  On his last night in town, we did a pub crawl of the worst bars in Norman.  And though Luke enjoys Blu and the Library, his humor is revealed by doing karaoke at Bill and Dee’s or ordering a drink at Ol’ Blue.

It’s without doubt that I wasted more of my life with Luke Chitwood than anyone else in the past year.

I saw Luke dive into community this year too.  He’d always been a vital part of our house church but this year he began to make relationships with people from different house churches too.  He was an excellent supporter of Jill and I.  And as the year went by and we developed more trust in each other’s friendship, we both began to open up about God, girls and whatever else life was throwing at us.  I saw his diligence in making time for God everyday.  Even when we visited New York City in February, he made a point to meet with some people from a church he was interested in.

New York City is a perfect fit for Luke.  It’s huge.  It’s a fast moving city.  It has cold winters.  It has unending culture.  It’s a good fit.  Teaching is a good role for him too.  He’s served the kids in our house church well and has worked with Big Brothers Big Sisters while he has been in Norman.

So Luke, when you remember Norman, I hope you’re greatest memories are of the Chiller station, the Blue Bonnet and tupperware.

But as crazy and aggressive as the political environment is now, I don’t think it is as heated as it was when Jesus walked the Earth.  The first century world that Jesus lived in was crazed with politics.  Instead of Republicans v. Democrats, it was the Jews v. Romans.  The Jews were upset that the Romans seemed to have power over them and their was this constant tension and disagreement.  When Jesus roamed the Earth, he was asked (often in hopes of tricking Jesus) which “political” side was the right side.   Why else would Jews have asked Jesus if they should play by the rules of the Roman government?

On top of that, Jesus had guys following Him around who sat on both sides of the aisle – so to speak.  His disciple Simon was a zealot.  Zealots could be equated to modern day liberal.  They wanted to overthrow the Roman government and saw it as oppressive.  They despised tax collectors.  And who was the tax collector?  His fellow disciple…Matthew.  Tax collectors were the conservatives.  But it’s more than that…this is like a socialist and an ultra-conservative like Newt Gingrich.  They had no problem submitting to the government because they often benefitted from it.  Tax collectors were often wealthy and were employees of the government.  But Jesus calls both of them and they follow him for three years.

I can only imagine the conversations that Matthew and Simon had throughout their years of travel and meals together.  It’s logical to assume they talked about every hot button topic and new laws passed down pretty frequently.  The crazy thing is that Jesus never commented on those topics.  To our knowledge, he never sat them down and went through what was right or what was wrong.  Neither Matthew nor Simon had to get their political beliefs right before they played an active part in Jesus’ ministry.  That’s really something when you consider how politically opposite of each other these two guys were.  It doesn’t seem likely that Matthew and Simon simply tolerated each other.  They were brothers in Christ and devout followers of Jesus.

I’m praying for the heart of Matthew over the conservative folks and the heart of Simon over the liberal folks.  Wouldn’t it be something if instead of partisan arguing, even over issues like health care, Roe v. Wade, our relationship with President Karzai, etc., our eyes were kept on Jesus.  We shouldn’t be discounting others from the Kingdom or questions someone’s faith or loyalty to Jesus when they sit on the opposite side of a social or political idea than we do.  If Jesus didn’t care, neither can we.

As Simon and Matthew spent more time with Jesus, I’m betting their political ideologies were shifted from liberal and conservative to Kingdom of God.

I think we should stop focusing on issues.  They have their place.  They are okay to talk about and discuss.  But when we stop searching out what the Kingdom of God holds on these issues, things get rough.  I believe that when we set our eyes on Jesus and what his Kingdom holds, political and social differences will fade away.

Thoughts?

The sweet thing about today was that I didn’t have to try.

For Easter, I went with my family to a place that I put behind me years ago.  There was nothing wrong with the place, it was just a place I didn’t care to be anymore.  I have a new home now and because of that, this place had also been replaced.  But as I was sitting there with my family  today, I really felt God being to start something up in me.  I began to look at people around me, people I didn’t know, some I hadn’t seen before, and get the Lord’s heart for them.  I got prophetic insights and the Father’s love over random people.  I began to feel the authority of a son rise up – something that doesn’t happen often in Tulsa.  He began to tell me that he knows the things people are struggling with, he knows their pains and sorrows as well as their joys and strengths.

I don’t think anyone is surprised to hear about God loving people anymore.  Most people get that.  But it’s just God showing up in a place I hadn’t seen him show up before, or at least in a long time, that got me.  I had stopped looking for God here.  For some reason.

The rest of the day was similar.  God kept showing up in little, subtle ways throughout the day.  From my car ride to Norman to having full, lengthy conversations with Him and even healing Jill’s head, He was all over the place.

Good thing Jesus rose.

I got chills reading this post by Donald Miller… like Holy Spirit chills.  You know when you read something that is so good, everything in you reaffirms it?

Here’s a clip:

But I’m not writing this blog to say Jim Wallis is right, though I believe he is. I’m writing this blog because I want to join Jim Wallis in praying for Glenn Beck. Even as I type this I feel a love for the man. It’s hard to keep your ratings up, and saying shocking things is a way to do so. But Glenn Beck is a child of God, a man who God loves, and while I disagree with him about whether the church should perform acts of justice, I don’t hate him for it. I want to cross this bridge with Jim Wallis, and love my enemy. It’s a much more peaceful way to live.

Glenn Beck is now saying that he is receiving hate mail from Christians, and is using the hate mail to fuel the controversy. But the truth is, I’ve never seen hate win in the end. Hate makes us guilty, and so creates a fight of guilty vs guilty. You just can’t keep beating an innocent man. Even if he dies, his death may change the world. In the end, love will win.

If you want to read the whole thing, click here.