IT'S THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER! AND THIS COUNTRY (AND THE REST OF THE WORLD) NEEDS PRAYER!!!

At Arlington Avenue Baptist Church, Indianapolis. On the left of the bouquet on the Communion Table is the American flag, and the Christian flag on the right.

First blog in over two weeks, and I get inspiration on the National Day of Prayer!

I'm sure you've been reminded how divided our country is. Are you, like me, sick of all the negative political ads going on, making you wish the election is over? Not unusual for me to feel that way early November, but early May? After the primaries?

For those who aren't in the area, we have an open Governor's race (like many states, we have a term limit on governors, and the current one is finishing his second term), and an open U.S. Senate seat (the incumbent announced two years ago he would be leaving the Senate to run for Governor), as well as all the congressional seats.

Now, I find the Senate race peaceful. Basically because all the Republican candidates except one dropped out, and the two Democrats have been very quiet.  In fact, I haven't heard or seen any ads by Democrats. 

Unfortunately, the Republicans aren't so quiet. There are six candidates for Governor, and some of them have hit the airwaves on how bad the other candidates OF THEIR OWN PARTY are. The one that grieves me is the current Senator is paying for attack ads on a challenger, though he also is running positive ads promoting himself. One of the U.S. Congressional races is no better.

Of course, I'm chuckling. A couple of candidates are using the support of Former President Trump as a reason to elect them. Five months from now, the Democrats may quote those ads as a reason to oppose the same candidate.

I used to like primary elections, though I felt the purpose was to weed out the good candidates. I had seen some Primary fighting - years ago the Marion County GOP leader would send out flyers tearing apart one Republican candidate, but this takes the cake. 

Yes, I'm discouraged. No, I don't think the country's going in the right direction, and the in-fighting of the Republicans is, I believe, hurting their chances of having an influence.

But the solution is to pray! I'm weekly praying for the people currently in office, whether Democrat (which most of them currently are) or Republican. 1 Timothy 2:1-4 encourages us to pray for our kings and those in authority, and to give thanks for all people. 1 Peter 2:17 tells us to honor all people and to honor the King. (You want to hear a bad joke? It's those who say that we have a President, not a King, so we're not obligated to honor and pray for them.)