You all thought the elections would end all the ugly politicking, didn’t you? Most of us got to the point that it didn’t matter if our candidate got elected or not; we just wanted it over. That first Tuesday in November couldn’t come early enough! I even considered not voting at all, I was so disgusted with it all. But as Marsha and I left the poll that morning and headed to Indianapolis for the surgery of a church member, I was pleased. At least for a little while it was over.

          Except that it wasn’t over.

          Things have flipped flopped now with the Russians. Before the election, Mr. Trump was calling for an investigation on Russian meddling on Mrs. Clinton’s behalf. Mr. Trump said the Russians would rather have her as president because she would be easier to manipulate. Mrs. Clinton’s camp told Mr.Trump he was being stupid. No foreign power could interfere with US elections. (Those were president Obama’s words.) When Mr. Trump won, Mrs. Clinton immediately said it was Russian interference. 

          They have been at it constantly ever since. This morning I read a headline on Yahoo News, ‘Jobs Report; 32,000 Jobs Lost, Employment Rate at 4.2 Percent.’ Just the headline, no article. Most people just read the headlines. That makes the economy look bad. If there had been an article it would have been disclosed that 4.2 percent unemployment rate was a drop, which is very good and that the 32,000 jobs lost were largely due to the hurricanes and are mostly temporary. On the other hand, early the next morning after the Las Vegas shooting, Fox News was trying to make it sound as though the shooter had converted to Islam and ISIS was to blame. Those of a liberal political persuasion were calling for gun control. And when Mrs. Trump wore high heels on her walked from the White House to the helicopter to take her and her husband to the airport to fly to Texas after hurricane Harvey, you would have thought the free world was about to die. Members of Congress have openly said it would be a good thing if the president died. A hack comedian had her picture taken holding the severed head of the president, saying later it was meant to be funny. The president, for his part, is embarrassing the office with his behavior and his social media rants. This was the 15^th presidential campaign and administration I can remember and I have never seen anything so altogether silly.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best,
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
Chorus: So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down,
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.

Oh, that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above,
To bear it to dark Calvary.
Chorus

In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine
Such a wonderful beauty I see
For 'twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died
To pardon and sanctify me.
Chorus

To the old rugged cross, I will ever be true,
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He'll call me someday to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I'll share.
Chorus

          We think we are in control. We think we have a handle on it all. We think old ideas and old understandings are quaint and no longer valid. Read the words of the old hymn. If they are quaint and out of date, if they are no longer valid, if the event those words tell about and the feeling that event gives us now is foolish, then I am quaint. I am out of date. My message is no longer valid. I am foolish. But, I can sleep at night. I can mourn not only for the victims and families for those shot in Las Vegas but I can also mourn the shooter and his family. I can marvel at the courage of those police officers who ran into gunfire to help. I am not driven by the news media. I am not told by political hacks what to believe. I am not impressed with the foolishness of man.   

          I will cherish the old rugged cross and I will cling to the truth and hope it represents. Unlike the author of the song, I have no trophies to lay down, but I do have a heart devoted to the Savior. The rest doesn’t matter.

          Blessings.