You've been Obamaed

Yes, yes I have.

Yesterday was pretty cool, from the folks crowding around my computer screen at work to watch the inauguration to the journey home, which I kept on thinking "Yes we can" to the fact that his name is Obama, not Smith or Johnson.

I've written before that I would think hard about voting for him; I aim for my life to be Christocentric, not ethnocentric, and the liberal policies he will bring in make me wonder.

But how amazing it was to watch someone who has coffee coloured skin take a seat in a prominent position as that, giving hope to many.

A couple of thoughts though, on the morning after the night before.

• The hope that the inauguration of Barack Obama brings is really great. It means that anyone can be President, anyone who works hard can rule the world. It's nice to spend one day thinking about hope, looking forward to the things that lie ahead and dreaming that maybe I could be as successful.
  
• The hope that Christ gives is better though. I have to remember that devoting my life to chasing after career aspirations or personal life goals is chasing after something that is fleeting and perishable. In a decade Mr Obama will no longer be president of America. The hope of heaven is longer lasting than these worldly hopes.
• All Christ calls us to do is believe. To 'trust and obey'. I'm not finding it that easy. But in the light of his radical forgiveness, what can you do? Take up your cross and follow.
  

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

Thoughts on the Obama hype.

I was emotional on the morning of 5th November this year. I was thankful that a man who classed himself as African-American would lead the largest economy in the world, a powerful force in world politics. But I also had reservations. I wondered if I would have voted for the new President-elect if I were an American citizen.

This post here by Eric C Raymond helps me make up my mind.

A snippet

"If a person would allow himself to be pigeonholed into becoming a person of a nationalistic or ethno-centric thought out of the fear of being viewed as an Oreo or Uncle Tom, then Reformed Theology is not for that person. But neither is the Gospel, for the Gospel calls each of us to stand against an ethnic-centered philosophy of one's own race, for such a philosophy is naturally conformed to this present world and is in need of redemption. If you cannot stand against your own culture where it does not square with the Scriptures, you are the one who is ashamed of Christ, and such shame has nothing to with philosophical or ontological Blackness; it only has to do with your view of the majesty of the God who calls you to deny yourself in order to follow Christ. "

("Sovereign in a Sweet Home, Schooling, and Solace," in Glory Road: Our Journey Into Reformed Christianity, ed. Anthony Carter [Wheaton, IL: Crossway, Wheaton, forthcoming])