The election was last night. I have been praying God's will over our nation, I've been praying God's protection over the voting process; I have been fervently praying that God would give America one more chance to turn back to Him before giving us over to our selfish desires, potentially permanently.
The disappointment in my gut last night was greater than I can describe. The tears were waiting to be loosed and if I stared at my children too long they would have come. I kept swallowing hard, knowing God has a plan, His plan is good, and trusting that the future is in His sovereign hands. But my children. These babies of mine who I am afraid will see a world that I could never even imagine when I was young. These babies who may face persecution of a type I have never actually dreamt about in my own life. My sweet daughter who will be barraged with images and messages about who she is and what she should become that are so contrary to what she was actually created for. My sweet daughter who will find it harder and harder to believe simple truths, because they are being so twisted and distorted. What about her?
My sons...oh, my sons, who are living in a world that is increasingly anti-male. Anti-strong male, anyway. They will be attacked spiritually, physically, mentally, and bullied for the simple fact that they are boys. They will not be welcome to stand for truth, to stand as men who value women and who value God. They will be introduced to concepts, to realities in our country, messages and images that war against their very nature as boys. What about them?
These thoughts and more were flooding my heart last night and I was crying out to God; that He would give John & I wisdom as we raise these children. How do we raise them to stand for truth, to hold fast to the right, to fear not the consequences of being Christ-followers in a country that is becoming so hostile to the values that we hold dear? How do we do that when, in all honesty, I've never had to face that sort of a world?
Bedtime had come and gone and Bryant was putting up a fight; more of a wimper/whine/no-I-will-not-go-to-sleep battle. I was getting frustrated. I wanted to debrief with Johnny, I wanted to talk strategy with him about how we are going to go about living in faith with a purpose in this changing country. But I took a deep breath and went into Bryant's bedroom. "Why are you so sad, Buds?"
"I think I am wrong about Batman's mask."
"Why are you wrong about his mask?"
"I think it's not a mask; it's just his face."
"Why does that make you sad?"
"He is a little scary."
Me, in my head, "We have never seen a Batman anything, you are 3 years old, I need to really rack my brain to think about whatever I know about Batman right now...dear Lord, please give me wisdom to soothe Bryant's heart..."
"Well, let me think about this, because actually, it is a mask. It's been awhile so I need to try to remember his 'real' name...Bruce Wayne. His name is really Bruce Wayne."
Bryant smiles.
"And he lives in a big house and works in an office, I can't remember what he does but he works at a desk kind of like Daddy..."
Bryant's eyes get a little brighter.
"When people need help they go up on this big rooftop and shine a big light into the sky that looks like Batman. That's their way of asking for help. Bruce Wayne sees the light in the sky and says, 'Okay, someone needs my help,' and he goes into an elevator in his big house, down to what he calls the 'Batcave.' That is where the secret Batman suit is and he can put it on without anyone seeing him. Then he drives out of the Batcave in his Batmobile, which is a really fast car. He puts on his mask so that no one knows he is Bruce Wayne, they just see him as Batman. Does that make sense?"
"Like Spiderman?"
"Yes. Just like Spiderman."
"Spiderman is Peter Parker?"
"Yes, and Batman is Bruce Wayne."
"We should go to their houses someday."
"That would be fun, Bubs."
Bryant rolls over, closes his eyes, and is seriously asleep in about 2 minutes.
My heart had settled as I realized God had given me yet another reminder to just go to Him. He gave me the words to say over something as silly as Batman; a concept and a story that quite frankly has never really interested me. But I had asked for wisdom and God gave it.
Will he not do the same when the stakes are higher than a restless night of sleep? See, I'm learning. I'm slow, but I'm learning. God may need to turn His back on our nation for a while; but He never turns His back on those who love and trust Him.
