{"id":1239,"date":"2017-01-22T23:25:49","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T04:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/?p=1239"},"modified":"2017-01-22T23:25:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T04:25:49","slug":"of-fear-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/?p=1239","title":{"rendered":"Of Fear and Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Zoo<\/a>Quite a weekend, huh?<\/p>\n

I was a little thankful for a surprisingly busy day at work on Friday. I had to put out a couple of fires I didn’t see coming. It all turned out fine, and the upshot was that I didn’t have much time to think about the inauguration. Which helped, I think, get through a pretty dark day. When I stopped to think about what was happening, however, I couldn’t get past the fact that more than 60 million Americans voted for a man who bragged about sexual assaulting women<\/a>. And that this man, who has spent the last year (and more) fanning the flames of racism and sexism and xenophobia, will be president for the next four years.<\/p>\n

It was a dark day. I’m thankful for a peaceful transition of power. I’m thankful for an outgoing president who brought to the office dignity and respect and a compassion for others. I’m thankful for Republicans all over Washington who bring those same qualities to their public service. I’m thankful for a lot. But it was a dark day.<\/p>\n

The 13-year-old needed to debrief. She and her friends, all of whom seem to read the news and think critically about what they see there, are still shaken that this man would be elected president. She and I talked a lot, on the way home from school, around the dinner table, that night before bed. Some of it was venting, of the “Can you believe he says this kind of thing?” variety. Some of it was worry, about what the next four years would bring, what kind of effect this man would have on our culture, what that would mean for our family. Some of it was civics, including a brief discussion of the American system’s checks and balances. But by the end of the night, I shifted our focus to faith.<\/p>\n

I’ve been listening to a new podcast, The Road Back to You<\/a>, and two things I heard on that podcast came to mind Friday night as I talked with my daughters. One was this statement by co-host Ian Morgan Cron<\/a>: “The answer to fear is not courage. It’s faith.” I shared that with my daughters, and I reminded them that God was sovereign, that He has a plan, and that He will provide and protect.<\/p>\n

The other was a comment by guest Michael Wear<\/a>, who worked on faith-based initiatives for President Obama. I don’t have a quote, but the message was clear: We shouldn’t look to politics or government for our salvation or security. We should only look to God for those things. I shared that with my daughters, too.<\/p>\n

The are some red letters in John 14 that I’ve been meditating on this year. “Peace I leave with you,” said Jesus. “My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

And this, from Psalm 94: “When I said, ‘My foot is slipping,’ your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

And an old favorite, from Jeremiah 29: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”<\/strong><\/p>\n

God’s got this. The world didn’t get extra fallen on Friday. It’s always been fallen. But God didn’t get more distant on Friday, either. He’s always been near. And it’s to Him we should look for our salvation and security.<\/p>\n

So Friday night, we prayed for our country, for our leaders, for all those who are scared and worried. We prayed for God’s peace to come and surround us, for the faith to trust Him in dark times.<\/p>\n

And then, on Saturday, we watched the marches unfold all across the news and social media. In city after city, country after country, millions of people (mostly, but not all women, and including a lot of my friends and family) stood up and spoke out against that culture of racism and sexism and xenophobia that seemed to triumph on Friday. Millions of people gathered to call for dignity and respect and a compassion for others, regardless of sex or race or religion. It was inspiring, and it gave me hope.<\/p>\n

We didn’t march, although if the 13-year-old hadn’t been scheduled to take the SAT that morning, we might have. But we watched, and we talked, and we hoped. And I was thankful that my daughter lives in a country where she can take the SAT on a Saturday morning, where she can go to school and go to college, where she can dream big dreams for herself. (Film school in California is the current one.) And I was thrilled to run alongside the 9-year-old that afternoon in the Nashville Zoo Run Run. She killed it, knocking six minutes off her 5K time from last year, and smiling the whole time. And I’m proud to be dating a woman who took her kids camping this weekend all by herself, showing her daughter that girls can set up tents, start fires, and hike all over the woods.<\/p>\n

I’m doing my best to raise these girls to know that being a woman doesn’t mean you can’t follow your dreams. Being a woman doesn’t make you a second class citizen. Being a woman doesn’t mean you should be treated as an object. No, being a woman means you’re a child of God, created with a purpose and a power and a personality and a potential.<\/p>\n

I still have to trust God in all this. Trust that He will protect my girls as they enter this world. Trust that He will teach them and grow them and guide them. Trust that they will look to Him for salvation and security. I’m doing my part as their father, and I’m grateful for fellow travelers and a community of faith who help and teach them and who help and teach me. But it’s faith that gets me through and leads me forward.<\/p>\n

It was quite a weekend, huh?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quite a weekend, huh? I was a little thankful for a surprisingly busy day at work on Friday. I had to put out a couple of fires I didn’t see coming. It all turned out fine, and the upshot was that I didn’t have much time to think about the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,158,92,128],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-faith","tag-fear","tag-politics","tag-running","column","twocol","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1241,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions\/1241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derekbruff.org\/blogs\/disfordad\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}