"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same." - Romans 13:1-3 (NKJV)

"It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times."  And so the classic Charles Dickens novel begins.  These words, when I'm applied to our times, seem to resemble the disparity of political views in America as well.  From "all hail King Obama" and "bring us Barack", to "Osama, Obama, let's call the whole thing off", America is at a pivotal point in history.

As President Obama encouraged Americas to gird up their loins, roll up their sleeves and renew their hope in the American dream, the call to personal responsibility and embracing change is what will unite us.  As Christians, we must be sober-minded and recognize the challenge God is calling us to.  We must be discerning.  We must be faithful.  We must be compassionate.  We must be merciful.  We must be convicting.  We must be diligent.  We must be disciplined.  We must exude the fruits of the Spirit and minister to those in need.  But we must not be complacent, for that's what we've become as a group.  Perhaps it is the comfort of our freedoms and affluence of our culture that coddles our minds and hearts, making us soft.

I embrace the challenge, knowing that God is still in control of all things.  My prayer is that God works through Barack Obama to bring about a revival of our churches, our nation and yes - world peace.   I'm feeling like a Christian beauty pageant or something.

Two big things jumped out to me during the inauguration.  The first one was in the presidential oath itself when chief justice Reinquist messed it up.  He left out "faithfully" where it says, "I will faithfully execute."  Obama recited, "I will execute."  Then he paused because he knew it wasn't right.  My first thought, with my overly hyperactive critical thinking brain, was that it was an intentional warning to his critics that if they got out of line, "I will execute."  I thought to myself, "wow, he's already issued his first executive order, putting those who might assassinate him on notice."  Turns out it was a simple matter of constitutional integrity relating to the presidential vow.  In his first full day in office, he had a do-over on the vow to make sure the integrity of his presidency is upheld.

The other things to jump out to me was the benediction of the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a United Methodist considered the dean of the civil rights movement.  His benediction rhymed and made use of the various colors of people's skin.  In the song, Jesus loves the little children of the world, the chorus sings "red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight."  Yet, Rev. Lowery rhymed right with white - which didn't go over well with a lot of people I talked to.  Then there's the riddle of colors to help remember which snakes are venomous and which ones are not.  "Red on yellow, kill a fellow.  Red on black, venom lack."  How fitting that the benediction would cause me to call a riddle of snakes?  They say Washington D.C. is full of them.