Unsettled land; unsettled issues

"What is my point this morning? To fix our land, to fix our culture, to settle the unsettled, we first need to fix ourselves. We do all of us, have a moral compass. We know right from wrong. We must listen to our better angels and ignore the dark voices. We know how to be a better people. We know how to live better. Godlier." 

Good morning. Today I am reporting from the dystopian state of Minnesota. But wait - Minnesota is not the only dystopian state I could be in right now. But while doing some deep think, this one haunting thought kept coming to mind. We are an unsettled people, living in unsettled land, having many unsettled issues. We have gone from being tribal and insular to united in purpose, and now back to tribal and insular once again. Why? As the old saying goes, that is the $64,000 question.

In our church right now, we are in a study about the enemy behind the enemy. What does that mean? Spiritual warfare. Plain and simple. The unseen, yet real force who tempts good people to do evil things. And when the Father of Lies shows us lies, he will shine those lies up so they look like truth. And if we don't have our spiritual bearing down pat, we will fall for those lies just about every time.

Yesterday, it was announced that Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales would resign from Congress. Both accused of conduct unbecoming. I have always thought that Swalwell was a bit slimy, and maybe strayed way beyond where he should have, but Tony Gonzales is a different story to me. Why? Representative Gonzales came out of the same group that I did. 

Let me explain. Tony Gonzales is (was) a very high achiever. He served in the United States Navy for 20 years, as a CTI (Cryptologic Technician Interpretive). First off, that is a very tough rate to do well in. Very difficult. But Tony Gonzales not only did well, but he also went all the way up the ranks to retire as CRICM - the highest you can go in the enlisted world. Just a whisper that he was acting unbecoming while in the Navy, and his career would have been over. In other words, Tony looked rock solid to me. A great choice to serve Texas in the Congress. But then Tony fell and fell hard.

What is my point this morning? To fix our land, to fix our culture, to settle the unsettled, we first need to fix ourselves. We do all of us, have a moral compass. We know right from wrong. We must listen to our better angels and ignore the dark voices. We know how to be a better people. We know how to live better. Godlier. 

Or - we can continue to spin out of control. Satisfy our carnal urges. Hate on each other. If we can't turn this around, America may make its 250th, but not a chance to make 300. Ben Franklin said we have a republic if we can keep it. Maybe we can't. Maybe we no longer deserve it.