Okay, I have to admit straight away...I didn't vote this year! We tried to set up our absentee voting ballots back in February and ever since then there has been issues. To make a long story shorter - we never got our ballots.
We have heard several times from friends here, "When America sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold." Meaning that, when America's financial infrastructure crumbles, so does the rest of the world's. When America makes policies on gay marriages, the rest of the world votes on them too. When America elects a new president, it impacts many things in other countries around the world.
In church on Sunday a guest pastor from Uganda preached and their country is really going to suffer because of the financial crunch in the states. They receive a great deal of foreign aid from 5 Western wealthy countries and without it, people won't get seeds to plant, they won't receive subsidy for education, no food suppliments, and things generally will just be harder.
It has been interesting to observe how our continent feels about the American Presidential elections. I never met one person in the last year who wanted McCain to win. EVERYONE wanted a black president and it didn't matter at all what his views or opinions are. Before the elections, someone told us that if Obama didn't win, it would prove that racism was indeed alive and well still in America. (What??) Since Apartheid (racism was the law) was only discontinued in 1994 in South Africa, here there is still a strong sense that someone's race (or tribe) still is the biggest factor in whether or not to vote for someone. If you don't think this is true - just you watch and see what the South African Presidential election results will be next year!
On the radio yesterday when people were calling in to discuss the results - people were actually crying with joy and dreaming about all the things Obama will do to help the continent of Africa. Kenya actually proclaimed a National Holiday in Obama's honor. Wow.
Dan and I are of the opinion that Obamba will have his hands completely full with trying to save the USA economy and will likely not be able to assist in solving the African problems as well.
We definitely do not agree with many of the things that Obama stands for, but we are excited that America does have a black president and we will pray for him like we do many other world leaders.
Randy Alcorn (I enjoy his books tremendously!) wrote a great blog today: http://www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com/ Definitely check it out!
1 comment:
I almost did not read Randy's post but I am sooo glad I did! It really touched me...he was able to wonderfully articulate in so many ways all the mixed emotions and heart tugs I've been dealing with the past 48 hours (except the Alan Keyes portion...hee).
Def. worth the read!!
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