Change we can believe in...

My roommate's family was here this weekend to celebrate her birthday. We talked a good bit about politics, because two of her family members are still undecided voters. At one point her dad made a comment that really stuck out to me. We were talking about the policy differences between the two candidates and all of the areas of society that Obama is pledging to make changes in (education, health care, poverty, etc.) and he said, "It doesn't matter what kind of program it is, the government will find a way to screw it up." I immediately thought about all of the well intentioned programs I knew of that were government initiatives gone bad....welfare....No child left behind are two that came to mind. Welfare was supposed to help people for a short time until they could get back on their feet and instead it has spoon-fed many to the point of crippling them. No child left behind was originally supposed to make sure that no kids were slipping through the cracks in the education system and that schools and teachers who were slacking and not doing their job had some accountability and standards and instead the program has refocused teacher's energy into teaching to a test so that their schools don't "look bad" and lose funding. I spoke with a teacher at my school about this just Friday. She was so frustrated with all the extra stuff she has to do and how she can't teach her kids how to read because she spends all her time teaching them how to pass a reading test. She said, "The way No child left behind was designed to work, is not how it actually functions." And socialism and communism, hasn't it been said over and over that they, "Look good on paper." But in the end they turn into corrupt systems? So what is the problem? They are run by man and man is corrupt. So, what is the solution? Do we forget about poor people and do nothing? My mind was swirling with this question today. And then it hit me. What Melanie's dad said is true. It is not possible for the government of a nation this large, to hand down some fool-proof policy that works to fix a specific problem across the board. No child left behind didn't work because it can't work. The only thing that can fix education is people, individuals working together in grassroots efforts to change things. Who can change education? Individual school districts, school superintendents, school teachers and last but not least parents. If the leaders of a school do not find the drive and desire within themselves to work together and change an individual school for the better the government can hand down any kind of program it wants, but nothing is going to change. Change is like a throwing a small pebble into a pool of water; the ripple starts small and circles out....it never starts out and circles back in.
This is the same for poverty. If we want to help people out of poverty the government can't pass down a program that effectively fixes the problem. Individuals have to make changes.

Obama can campaign under the banner of change and maybe he can do some good things as the President, but there is no government program for changing individuals. The country is ready for a change. The media is rallying for a the next President to work his magic and fix this all and the moment they realize he can't they will hate him for it. We will point our finger and rally, with just as much vigor as we did when we were cheering our candidate to victory, and blame him for not changing anything. We will blame the democrats and we will blame the republicans and we will blame the ex-President George Bush, but we would never place the blame where it belongs......ME. If we want this country to change we have to change.

The Lord sends Jeremiah to writer a letter to the Exiles of Jerusalem in Babylon. He knows they are depressed about where they are and that they are wanting God to change their situation and instead God tells them:

"Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to men in marriage so taht they may bear sons and daughters. Muliply THERE; do no decrease. Seek the welfare of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it has prosperity, you will prosper." Jeremiah 29:4-7

The Lord says, I have placed you here for a purpose and you will plant roots here and you will seek out the welfare of this place andn bring my name there and push back what is dark and effect change in this city.
On Tuesday, when our country elects a new President, let us not forget that the earth is the Lord's and everything in it.