wooden spoon
i'm sure lots of us are praying for Mr Romney, as well as for President Obama. (i am not Mr Romney, i'm sure even today he has many better things to do than post notes about himself on this forum - like, he will be thanking the many loyal supporters who stuck with him until it was "all over bar the shouting", and those still loyal today, tomorrow...).
i did not vote, was not entitled to, so benefit from some "distance" from all the election proceedings in that way.
Election? what election? (more on that subject later).
Mr Romney has a lot of people to thank for a lot of support. I heard on TV his team spent $200billion this year. "$200bn? *!" some say. (* being some version of the Lord's name. when i hear worldly people say that, i try not to get uptight, to remember "those who call on the name of the Lord will be saved" so there is hope for them, future tense, present tense even, and how long since i was unsaved, saying things they say, doing stuff they do, there was hope for me, the Lord is the same hope waiting for them...only difference? maybe just that they don't know this YET. And regardless of their age & mine, i am "old enough to know better" in the sense of being "big (sibling) in the Lord" to newer/future believers" so i really have no excuse if i judge them).
Yes, it's not as irreverent as it appears to say "$200bn? *!" Because that reminds me, didn't He (JC not MR) have an interesting take on this matter of "bread" (daily or other sums): "what profit is it if a man gains the world and loses his soul" (this is NOT judging Mr Obama, only God knows his heart). So, if as a result of "the campaign" Mr Romney should come to a saving knowledge of the truth of The Gospel (in its pure & Biblical form, with the LDS accretions pared away), then that $200bn can be viewed as "money well spent" (and he may find the pure Gospel, and service arising from it, so fascinating & life-affirming in its own right, MR may actually be glad that he has the time & freedom to devote to it/Him, which would not have been available to MR in the same way had he become President of USA. If he finds himself in that happy position, MR may say "i won something far more important").
And the same would apply to anyone else on the MR team as much as to MR - (the whole spectrum of wealth, from the megabuck donors through the candidate to the humblest volunteer for whom no money changed hands, neither as wage nor donation). That humblest member of the team is as precious in God's sight as the team leader. As are all the other people somewhere in between on the spectrum. (We know God cares about the poor. He also cares about the rich too. That is "true egalitarianism". We all have spiritual needs. Some people know "the price of everything but the value of nothing". Not getting at either MR or BO, or you, or anyone else. Maybe we all have done that at times?).
$200bn may have bought the wages/advertising airtime/transport/paper/hall hire/catering/cleaning/banking/other resources to enable all those people to be there & working on a team they may not otherwise have been on. But whoever (singular or plural) may get saved as a result of meetings & conversations encountered on the way, no-one anywhere anytime would be saved without the precious blood of Jesus being given for us all. $200bn may have funded the "party machine" that brought (1 or more) into contact with the Gospel Of Salvation, if a Christian brought it to them. But the precious blood of Jesus bought the Salvation that the Gospel leads us to.
And what is $200bn compared to "the precious blood of Jesus"? Chickenfeed? Less, actually. None of us can take one red cent with us into heaven. There are no pockets in a shroud. If we take anything with us, maybe it is the people we have introduced to The Lord who have also been saved (but we can't take credit for that, again, the Precious Blood bought them, we did not. if we had "a piece of the action" we were privelledged, but we had the easy job and Jesus had the hard part, and JC was leader, strategist, buddy, unpaid volunteer, plus so much more & then some). But it is an amazing privelledge to have even the humblest part on "the Jesus campaign team" (for the only election where The King of Kings elects us, for unspecified positions in his "Kingdom which is not of this world"!!! man, that's something else! out of this world!). It is a privelledge (and being on the JC team we are on the side we know is gonna win).
And if one Christian on the MR team brings a saving knowledge of the Gospel to one non-christian on the MR team (or among voters encountered on the stump/doorknocking), (the non-Christian may be mormon, muslim, jewish, buddhist, hindu, confucian, communist, wiccan, atheist, agnostic, etc, whatever, maybe even one of the "nominal christian" folks who dont realise that if they have not decided to give their "life to Jesus in repentance making Jesus Lord" then they have not really understood Christianity yet), then that newly-saved person is more precious in God's sight than all the power conferred by the seal of office in the White House. You know what, (a person/people) joining "The Elect Of God" is something even more amazing than anyone winning any other election (maybe for a job that lasts maybe 8 years... then what?). And you know what? when 1 sinner gets saved, there is a party in heaven, among the angels, with "the main man" Himself there owning the seat of honor, top table, and what a party that must be!). And if one person finds salvation by being "part of the machine" of a worldly political party, they can introduce it (and the Lord who bought that salvation) to another, and them to another (et ainsie de suite..).
If you are "on the losing side" politically, take heart, you have a network of contacts, can show them (or even just one - that guy Cornelius who brought the Gospel to Apostle Paul may not have seen anyone else saved during that guy's lifetime, but The Gospel was not chained and was propogated & flourished all the same) show them that God loves us when we lose as well as when we win in worldly endeavors. Hold your head high, show that the Lord is not a fair-weather friend, but a friend for life (i imagine here 2 native american lads becoming "blood brothers" by piercing their own index digits and touching each others fingers to mingle their blood - amigos para siempre). JC cannot be bought (He bought us, and with his precious blood, so valuable it would be an insult to try & put a price on it, that just can't be done by us - it can only truly be done by The Father In Heaven. We can't count the number of souls it has bought so far/will buy either (and that ratio probably changes daily, maybe even by the minute), we just can't do the math, its beyond us, it goes over my head).
And apart from the fact that Barack Obama won the election, the above "valuation" applies to the Obama team too: same network of contact & opportunity, to introduce the same salvation & infinitely precious blood that alone buys that salvation.
I don't envy Mr Romney, i never was good at being humiliated at school, i know what "getting the wooden spoon" (coming last) is like, as well as what winning a prize is like. I cannot imagine what it feels like to be "getting the wooden spoon" in such a public international way. But sometimes the Lord humbles those he wants to lift up. I get my self-respect from finding Jesus loved me, Jesus died for me, Jesus forgave me when i could not forgive myself. And the prizes i have won are "mere garbage" if compared with the amazing privelledge of Salvation, when Paul says that comparison applied in his life, i know what he means.
If Mr R can say "well, i lost the election but found true salvation in the Lord. I consider that huge profit. I won long term, something no-one can take away in 8 years or 8 million. Well i did'nt win, Jesus won me, fair play to Him. But it's more profit than any deal i've ever done or can even imagine. So it's win-win. And i can thank my supporters now with something better than any amount of $ can buy - i can thank them by introducing as many of them as i can to The Lord. So then it's win-win-win-win, (et ainsie de suite, have mercy!), how many times over. God, it's amazing. I mean, He is amazing..." or can say something similar to that in his own words, then if (a/some) campaign team follower(s) can say something like that their way(s) too, they have all "won in life".
Then they will lay their victor(s)'s crown(s) at the feet of Jesus in heaven one day. What a party that will be, and no mistake! It will be a privelledge to even be one of the caterers (one of the servants) at that party....Just to be there.... But this King JC dines with the servants. He owns the top table. But he does not stay aloof. He mingles, even with the hoi polloi, even with the rich, even with the whoevers! "He has prepared a table for us" (psalm 23). It will be a privelledge just to be there bearing the wooden spoon. If it is Him we are serving.
Bless you if you are reading this. He loves you, and then some.
I have to say also, it has been election season in Zimbabwe too. Zimbabwe has a special place in my heart (can't say why here, this isnt about me, but Zimbabwe has). Please pray for all the Zimbabweans. The country was once called "the breadbasket of Africa" and now so brought down to poverty and humbled and suffering. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Israel (city whose name means "house of bread" interestingly). Some Christians have stayed on in Zimbabwe at cost and despite dangers, despite their being able to escape. Some others leave to a quite uncertain future "in the Zimbabwean diaspora abroad" as their own form of self-sacrifice, earning less than they are worth, simply to be able to send money home. Poor among the host nations they arrive in, what the diaspora donors give to relatives back home is sacrificial indeed sometimes. Please pray for the leaders, for the activists, for the voters, for the disenfranchised & powerless, in Zimbabwe. Please pray for "the Zimbabwean diaspora" outside who probably give more per head in remittances home than governments outside Zimbabwe give in Foreign Aid.
To show how the value of money can change (so it is such a completely inadequate "false god" for any of us to have), at one point during the last 6 years, there was such hyper-inflation in Zimbabwe that Zim$million bills were not uncommon, 1 egg cost $10000 (can't remember if US or Zim $ but that's a bit academic, it was hard for some people to find any eggs in shops at any price anyway then), eventually some smaller-multiple Zim$ notes were were so de-valued that they were more useful as toilet-paper than currency. (Hyper-inflation comparable with the Ein Million Mark notes carried by the wheelbarrow-load in 1930s Germany). There have been some changes in Zimbabwe since 6 years ago. But it's still not an easy place to be. And i not been there but have been told it is absolutely beautiful. Pray for the people and for the land not being used according to its potential, please. Pray for people there subsisting only on what they can grow. Not a cent changing hands. Who would like to be able to afford a wooden spoon. To cook eggs bought for an extortionate number of $, or daily bread, or something else home grown. Christians in Zimbabwe sharing what little they have with someone else worse off, and doing it joyfully, saying "this meal is to serve Jesus, it's "feeding his sheep", it's because he has provided so much for me/us. It's a privelledge to wield the wooden spoon on his behalf. Thank you Lord. Thank you. Thank you".
Thank you for your time reading this. Bless you.
Created 6 months ago
