The conservative party has been making strides since November 4 to re-evaluate itself and fix what went wrong. We have lost major ground in the last two elections. Many have spoken up saying that we need to redefine our positions on conservative issues. They say that socially, issues such partial-birth abortion and gay marriage should be rethought. And financially, higher taxes and spending might be the way to go. Some have even gone so far as to say, "Conservatism is dead."

They couldn't be more wrong, however. Conservatism wasn't even <em>on</em> the ballot this past election. John McCain is not a conservative. He prides himself on being a moderate Republican. He brags about his trips "across the aisle," and his resume' includes the McCain/Liberman amnesty bill and the McCain/Feingold campaign financing bill, both co-authored by Democrats.

After the primaries, many pundits agreed that McCain was the only electable Republican candidate <em>because</em> of his moderate views. Yet, McCain lost by six percentage points. Some believe this edge was made possible by two percentage points more of black voters, two percentage points of democratic voters as a whole, and two percentage points less of Republicans who were discouraged with their choices and didn't show up at the polls.

And yet, 57 million people voted against Barak Obama.  Subsequent, the Gallup organization asked voters if the Republican party should be MORE (not less) conservative. Their findings? 59 percent of Republicans, 35 percent of Independents, and 25 percent of Democrats said, "Yes!"

That support is nothing to ignore, and even more important is God's support. Conservatism is the closest our country has to traditional biblical values. And while the people who carry them out are flawed, we can't throw the conservative baby out with the bath water. Instead, we need to save both and use the bath water to wash away those non-conservative values we've adopted that made us look more like liberals.

It's not time to discard conservatism, it's time to revive it. We need to go back to the beginning and remember what our party stands for. Then we need to stand for it.  Period. We need to be there with our act together when our society realizes once again that liberal ideas do not work. And we need to be ready to offer a strong, stick-to-our guns conservative alternative.

After all, God's standards will never go out of style. Let's get busy making them strong again.   

I heard the other day that giving to charities is down these days--except in those places where high church-attenders live. In other words, Christians are still giving. What does your giving record look like this year? How much have you shared with those less fortunate or at your place of worship?

Now for a more probing question. What does your <em>attitude </em>toward giving look like this year? How many times have you <em>joyfully</em> shared with those less fortunate or at your house of worship? 

From the beginning of Scripture, God brought attention not only to giving, but to giving with the right attitude, with a willing heart.
<em>"Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering"</em> (Ex. 25:2). 
<em>"Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord" </em>(Ex. 35:5).

Willingness is called "cheerfulness" in the New Testament:
<em>"God loves a cheerful giver" </em>(2 Cor. 9:7).

The word "cheerfulness" use here is <em>"hilarotes". </em> It means "graciousness, joyfulness, gladness, benevolence, amiability, gaiety, affability." In primitive lands, Bible translators define <em>hilarotes</em> as, "The heart is laughing and the eyes are dancing."

When you pull out $20.00 of your grocery or lunch money and give to the beggar on the street or to the offering plate at church, do you do it begrudgingly or with a laughing heart and dancing eyes?

When I was the editor of the <em>Single-Parent Family </em>magazine at Focus on the Family, I asked a man well-known in the area of Christian giving to write an article for my magazine. I wanted him to explain to the reader that no matter how little money we make, God wants us to give Him His part first. That's how we open the door to His provision and abundance. Give first, then allow God to give back. The man wrote the article for me, but he basically said, "If you don't <em>want </em>to give, then don't!"

I edited out those words, as it destroyed the message I wanted to convey. That called for a passionate discussion by phone. I told the man that day, "I think we should be encouraging and concentrating on the <em>cheerfulness</em> of the giver, not whether or not they should give in the first place."

All these years later, I've decided that we were <em>both</em> right. We were both getting at the attitude of the giver. The motive.  The cheerfulness. The <em>hilarotes.</em>  God is looking not only for givers, but for the ones who do so with laughing hearts and dancing eyes. 

It's the kind of giving Dave and I experienced after we met two little boys last week.  They're from a country on the other side of the world. Their mother's family had been miraculously delivered from Hinduism when she was 16. She married an American missionary, moved with him to America, and after bad things happened, has been left to raise her children on her own. 

I got the privilege of meeting this courageous woman at a retreat where I spoke.  Last Saturday afternoon, Dave and I had this woman and her children to our home for pizza, then we took them to an amusement park behind our home. Those 5-and-7-year-old boys never knew anything like that existed. We rode on every ride and played every game in the arcade. Those boys literally ran from one activity to the other. 

Their hearts were laughing and eyes were dancing, but so were Dave's and mine. I didn't see as <em>much</em> excitement when I handed money to the man in the grocery store parking lot or to the young girl who waited on me in the restaurant the other day, though I'm sure it was there. What I did observe, however, was a newfound willingness and cheerfulness in me <em>toward</em> passing on the blessing.    

Dave and I have learned new lessons in giving this year. We've not only made an effort to give until it hurts, but to do so cheerfully. To date we have met our goals in the money, but we are still working on the cheerful part--especially when we don't have much to give.

But we have learned that when it comes to giving, God wants the cheerful part before He wants the sacrifice. He wants the right motive more than the money.  He knows that cheerful giving is a sign that we've chosen God over the dollar and pleasing Him more than the accumulation of things and the satisfaction of our desires.

So at this time of year when money demands are high and the provision is low, let's cut back on the things that don't matter and give until it hurts to the things that do.  And as we give, let's glance in a mirror. Do we see dancing eyes? Do we feel a laughing heart?

When we don't always, let's keep working at it. Let's keep searching for the truth Dave and I found at amusement park last Saturday. Let's give until it hurts--and until the laughing and dancing comes.       
 

Some Christians believe they should stay out of politics. Many say, "God will do what He wants. He doesn't need me."

But God <em>does </em>need you. Though He could just speak circumstances into being, He chooses to work through His people. In the Old Testament, God does assure us that He changes times and seasons and puts up and takes down kings. However, that same verse goes on to tell us that "He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding" (Dan. 1:21).

I guess that's why a recent poll caught my attention. Recently, talkshow host John Ziegler hired pollster John Zogby to conduct a poll testing the "wisdom" and "knowledge" of more than 500 people who voted for Barak Obama in the November 4 election. Those surveyed did not lack education. All had high school diplomas and more than half had college degrees. Yet, only 2 percent of these voters scored "perfect or near-perfect" on the questions asked. These included:

Which party controls Congress?  57 percent didn't know.
Did Obama indicate that his policies would bankrupt the coal industry? 88 percent didn't know.
Did Obama launch his career at the home of domestic terrorists? 56 percent didn't know.
Did Joe Biden drop out of a previous campaign due to plagiarism? 72 percent didn't know.

Yet almost all these same people (94 and 88 percent) knew about Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter and her campaign wardrobe. 

With "wisdom" and "knowledge" like that, don't you think God could use His people in the public arena?  
  

I live in the Colorado mountains above 7500 feet. That altitude and its accompanying brief summer season limits the kinds and amount of flowers and plants I can grow.

Shasta daisies thrive, however. The first year we lived here, I planted small containers of these hardy plants, and they immediately spread to clumps I could barely circle my arms around. For about half the warm months, gorgeous white and yellow flowers have decorated our property every season. Even now, while it's nearly Thanksgiving, our unusually warm temperatures have kept a few hanger-on-ers still blooming. But with a cold front coming in at the end of the week, I decided it was time to cut back this years dead foliage.

So I did that this morning. I went to work with clippers, trimming off the brown, brittle leaves and stalks. It wasn't long before I noticed a pattern, however. A whole new batch of green leaves blanketed the ground underneath the dead growth. It was as if they were placed there to offer me hope, a harbinger of good things to come. I know that below those leaves are roots that run deep and <em>will </em>come back. Next spring, the moisture will soak into the ground, wake up those dormant roots, and they'll get busy sending new foliage and blooms that will once again defy description.

What was really weird about this experience is that just before I headed out the door to begin my project, a friend called to tell me what life was like after she'd joined many others in a huge job layoff in our town. Her work of nearly 20 years was no more, and she didn't know what lay ahead.

Perhaps I was also still thinking about the funeral I attended last night for the 37-year-old youth pastor named Steven who died of a spleen aneurysm. I can't forget the vision of the many people who will be impacted by that loss--his children, family, youth group, and friends.

And yet, this man knew Christ. So did the woman who lost her job. And <em>because</em> they did, there is hope--hope for the woman and hope for the people who lost their loved one. There's a clump of new growth and opportunity just beneath the sad and ugly and incomprehensible situations at this time. Because of the strong root structure that has provided foundation for them, life will return here while Steven has found real life there. Things <em>will </em>be good again, even beautiful. 

This same truth can apply to the state of our country. Political, social, and economic circumstances threaten to obliterate life as we have known it. Some tell us that conservatism is dead, godly standards for right and wrong are gone, and financial prosperity is a thing of the past.

But those individuals haven't taken time to notice the new foliage just beneath the surface. God made human beings to find and hold onto hope. And as long as we keep the roots of our existence healthy, nourished and intact, we <em>will </em>come back. Good <em>will </em>triumph. Beauty <em>will </em>return.

And in the process, we can remember what is most important. We can return to our roots. And we can grow back stronger than before, both indivually and corporately.

So today, do what you can to find harbingers in your life--predecessors, heralds, precursors, "daisy leaves" that precede and indicate the approach of something that lies ahead. If you take the time to see them, you'll also find hope there, regardless of what you're going through. And this is the kind of hope that nothing can destroy and is meant to be shared.

Go ahead. Find yours, then pass it on. 

I feel like a mom trying to remember everything she needs to tell her young children before she leaves them with someone else in charge.  Over the past couple of days, I have tried to buck you up. I've tried to remind you that all is not lost. These are hard times, indeed. I look around me and see trouble, heartache, and uncertainty. Tomorrow night, I will go to the funeral of a youth pastor in his thirties who dropped dead of an aneurism leaving two young children behind. I know of more than 200 people who lost their jobs last Friday at my former employer, Focus on the Family. I know of multiple other crises in many lives and bodies that look hopeless unless God intervenes. And these are just the personal problems, which are often so massive that it's hard to give attention to what's going on in the world around them.

Yet, when things get better financially, we don't tend to look to God for His sufficiency. When things look good politically, we tend to trust the other authorities and not keep our eyes on the real One in power. When we have no complaints emotionally or relationally, we often have nothing to seek after spiritually.

The Bible tells us not to trust in horses (Ps 20:7) and instructed one king not to number how big his army was (1 Samuel 24:1-10). Why? Because no man at any time in any situation is to trust in anything or anyOne other than God. You could insert additional words in place of the horses and army and get the meaning: "Don't trust in your job/house/relationships/government, etc. They will all let you down at some point. Only trust in God."

I once heard my dad say that if God's people trusted Him when things were going well, then when things got hard, He'd be right there and the relationship would be intact.

It's better that you would have established this kind of relationship with God twenty years ago, but the second best time is right now. Take this point in your life to surrender all to Him and commit to trusting Him and only Him for the rest of your days. Then start training your eyes and heart to look to Him for your suffiency and nothing else whether the sun is shining or it rains. Whether the news is good or bad.

Better times will return, but oddly enough, that's often when things get hardest--to trust that is. When things are easier and brighter, we get forgetful of the One Who brought us out in the first place. We omit the fact that He's the One to be worshipped and looked to for everything that lies ahead. He and only He.

That is the bottom line of all of life: that God be praised and receive all glory and that man receive the gift of eternal life through Him. If you learn that now? Then when harder times come, You and God will breeze right on through.     

A downside of not knowing what to do about something is that we often lose sight of the things we <em>do</em> know. Things get so fuzzy and unsure in our steps ahead that we forget to stand confidently right where we are.  Personally we may not know if our job situation will remain secure, our marriage will get better, or if the doctor will return with good news. Corporately, we don't know what the next four years in our country will look like politically, we don't know what harm could be headed our way physically, and we don't know spiritually how to make things better. We just don't know.

It's times like this in my personal life that I try to proceed from the "knowns." What do I know that I know that I know?

I know that I have trusted God with my life. As a result, I know that everything <em>about </em>me is in His hands. I know He will take care of all my concerns--as long as I keep my life in His hands.

These are times to not concentrate on the things we <em>don't </em>know, but focus, instead, on the things we do.  May I challenge you, today, to write down two lists: one of the knowns in your life and the other of the unknowns. Without viewing your lists, I'm going to guess that the positive side is longer than the negative. And if you'll allow them, these unchangeable, longer-than-the-unknown knowns can become an anchor for your life, a  foundation on which to rebuild, and a window from which to view a brighter future. These timeless and unshakeable knowns can return a spring to your step, a smile to your face, and confidence to your voice.

It was a man named Paul in the Bible who proceeded from the knowns. He wrote of His experience:
<em>"I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to HIm until that Day"</em> (2 Timothy 1:12).

You and I can be confident, encouraged, and hopeful and not ashamed, discouraged, or in despair. We can do this by remembering what we know--and that is that we believe, we're persuaded, and He is able.

And that makes all the difference. 
    

Call me desperate, but I keep thinking of one bright side in the '08 election: I'm no longer glued to daily news and polls. Perhaps it's my hopeful, optimistic, and maybe even my co-dependent nature, but I was amazingly hooked. Day and night in the weeks leading up to the election, I waited in front of theTV, computer, and radio hoping one would give me better news than the other. 

But suddenly I was cured on November 5. No 12-step program needed here. As a matter of fact, when I go back and start to dabble in the previous culprits of my addictions, they make me sick. Now I can hardly stomach listening to or watching the news. And the polls? What are they?

I'm aware that some would call me a sore loser and others insist I'm in denial.  But this no-longer-addicted person is not kicking the freedom horse in the mouth. It's kinda' nice not to depend on news sources for my happiness. And it's really nice to devote time and attention once again to writing, cleaning my house, and returning messages. 

Yeah! I think I'm on the upswing, and that's a good thing. Life is coming back into focus, and I'm starting to remember that no matter what happens, God is still in charge, things are going to be okay, and I gotta get the clothes in the dryer.     

I read a book recently called <em>Transformation,</em> by Ed Silvoso.  In that book, he wrote about going to Argentina to speak before a congregation of several thousand pastors. He had his message prepared, but the night before he was to speak, God began to deal with him about changing his focus.

You see, Argentina found itself in much the same place we found ourselves in on post-election Wednesday: a liberal, ungodly man had been elected to run our country. Silvoso stood before the pastors and preached from 2 Timothy 2:1-2 (which I mentioned in a recent blog):

<em>"Therefore I exhort first of all that suppications, prayers, intercessions, and giving thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverance."</em>

Silvoso issued a challenge to the thousands of pastors that day to repent if they had harbored hatred or anger toward their new president. Every one of the pastors responded. Not only did they repent, but they wrote letters of apology to their president and committed to praying for him. What happened as a result?  The president and his family as well as the succeeding president came to Christ.

I have often thought throughout the election season about this event in Argentina, and now that someone has been elected whom I did not support, I am <em>really</em> thinking about what happened through those pastors. 

Just think. If each one of us as believers in the United States accepts the fact that we have a new president Obama, ask for forgiveness for anger and bitterness toward him, and then commit to praying for him every day--what great things could happen here, too? We could do the same in our Congress, because here is the rest of that 1 Timothy 2 passage:

<em>"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knoweldge of the truth."</em>

Our president's soul, as well as those of our Congressmen, are far more important to God than who gets in power. It should become more important to us, too.