Lucy, you did it again.
Charlie Brown is on his back and it’s time to get up and dust ourselves off. But this is getting old.
I’ve used this analogy a few times over the years for my city of birth and our attempts of late to bring some balance to the governing bodies of Alaska’s “largest village.”
Anchorage, only an hour or so from Alaska according to those who know and believe such things, got its behind shellacked again yesterday at the polls. Aaugh!
Despite more efforts being employed by more groups than well…pretty much ever, the Anchorage Assembly and the Anchorage School Board will likely remain as radically liberal as they have been in recent memory. Alaska Family Action was privileged to stand alongside Americans For Prosperity, the Republican Women’s Club, the Alaska Republican Party and directly with the many fine candidates who poured their hearts into these races.
Thank you, Bruce, Cody, Dave, Brian, Justin and Donald. Hold your heads high. You ran well.
Dave Donley, the gentle, consummate statesman who has served our state so well on multiple fronts, is holding a razor thin lead in his midtown Assembly seat but his departure from the School Board, and our inability to replace him with a conservative, means that body is now 100% beholden to the NEA and their agenda which, as you might have heard, hasn’t fared so well for our public school students and families.
Assembly candidate Donald Handeland looks to have claimed a victory for the lone suburb of Anchorage, Eagle River/Chugiak, that still embraces a traditional view but even that once very reliable community is now close to equally split. As of now, he’s got 55% of the vote.
It would be easy to ramble on, as my mind did at 11 p.m. last night when I first looked at the numbers, about the standard fare – horribly low voter turnout, very few faith leaders reminding their flock how to or even to vote, more great candidates with great campaigns but the same result, and on and on.
After a night’s rest, though, I’m taking another tack, based on a 26-year-old sermon I watched this morning from Dr. Charles Stanley on dealing with disappointment. He centers his preaching on John 11 that describes the death of Lazarus and how Mary and Martha deal with it.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
You might say to yourself, Minnery, this is only an election. Nobody died. Well, that’s true but there is a lot of true pain in our city right now based on what we thought was happening and would happen and what actually happened. It’s palpable.
Here are Dr. Stanley’s very relevant points –
— We can’t disappoint God. We can disappoint ourselves, we can be disappointed by others and we can let others down, but God is never disappointed. In order to be disappointed, you have to have expectations. God is outside of time, so He isn’t expecting anything. Our disappointments are emotional responses to us not meeting certain goals, but the King of the Universe remains reliably on the throne.
— God has a purpose for allowing the disappointments of our life. Jesus could have healed Lazarus but he wanted it riveted in the minds of his followers that when he was later to be laid in a tomb …His disciples would remember what Jesus had done with Lazarus.
— God is more interested in our spiritual growth than in relieving us of our disappointments. We all may believe the fundamentals of our faith but it’s something else to live by them, through disappointment. We vacillate between reason (Lazarus has been dead four days, he’s starting to smell Jesus) and faith. We do not grow through ease, comfort and pleasure…we grow through hardships.
— Disappointments, of every kind, are opportunities God uses to stretch our faith. Letdowns of every variety are not an indication that God doesn’t love us. He does not move. We might. Our community might. But he doesn’t.
— God wants the best for us regardless of our ability to understand His ways.
Two final thoughts.
Anchorage, a tiny little dot in his universe, is something God cares about. Because it’s occupied by his image bearers.
And … he calls us to look out for its welfare and to be salt and light…again and again.
Lucy, tee that football up.
The views expressed here are those of the author.
13 Comments
Anchorage is now beholden to two groups that will reliable vote for the worst candidates. There are the rich folks who vote “progressive” to virtue signal to all of their friends, knowing that they are rich enough to never feel the pain of the horrible policies for which they vote. Then there are the crushed poor and the working poor, who reliably vote for “free stuff.” And lest we forget, there are the ones who count the votes, who are not at all reliable and manage to move the vote exactly as the please. Anchorage is a lost cause, and nothing like the city where I grew up and prospered.
When people call Anchorage, the next Portland, it’s so true. Disgusting
Anchorage is the annex of the San Francisco-Portland-Seattle metro complex. It’s been “colonized”.
We have found that Christians do not vote as a block. Christian leaders do not emphasize the importance of our civic duty to vote. Unions continue to vote in a block and that is paramount. Ministry leaders need to understand the need to emphasize the importance of morality in all things including voting. Christians need to understand what is happening that we are being taken over by not trying to vote as a block. All of us can agree on certain the Biblical world view but how does that translate into other choices being put in front of us like “no right, No wrong.” No, we cannot get along with the Moslems and Allah is an idol and an evil force growing that aims to destroy Western Civilization and Israel. Modern Marxism is taking over the colleges and younger, K-12. Karl Marx hated God and that is another force at work in our communities and government. The power of prayer is still the solution but needs to be emphasized within the Biblical worldview. Also, covering ourselves with the full armor of God is another action for Jesus followers. Prayerfully voters will see a usefulness to praying, covering with the full armor of God and voting as our privilege.
Looks like Anchorage voters don’t like the Alaska Family Action, Americans For Prosperity, the Republican Women’s Club, and the Alaska Republican Party. Bummer. Sucks to be you. Maybe time for a Big Dark Teatime of the Soul reflection event.
You seem nice.
You have Really been reading your bible!
We also have to recognize our generations may not have twenty five or fifty years to see the fruit of our more fiscal restrained group’s labor to turning Anchorage or even Alaska around. Our works. we do them while we occupy the land that we live in. What is more important is how many neighbors do we know are knowing the real Jesus not a Jesus that their church congregations are teaching because there are a lot of churches teaching false messiahs/or false gospels. There is a good chance Jesus will be returning in our generations lifetime (the signs are pointing our LORD is just around the corner) and that makes any works we do in government look vain and foolish IF we aren’t teaching and sharing Jesus with those around us making them into disciples so they can share and effectively teach Jesus to their family, friends, and neighbors in their life. The goal isn’t so much to being a tool God used to change a state’s political direction which the kingdoms of this world won’t exist one day. The ultimate goal is “to make Heaven crowded” by our faith, prayers, and discipling family, friends, and neighbors so they are known by Christ and filled by His Spirit whenever Christ returns.
Does Anchorage use Dominion tabulation machines? If so, I’d investigate their security.
Anchorage resident 50+ years, I smell rotten fish?!?
Thank you, Jim. I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes from Saint Augustine of Hippo:
“Bad times, hard times, this is what people keep saying; but let us live well, and times shall be good. We are the times: Such as we are, such are the times.”
Thanks for the excellent prose, Jim. You’re right on yet again.
You can grieve the Holy Spirit. Eph 4:30
Los Anchorage is a sad tale of a town which has lost its way. Divide and conquer works just as well now as it did a thousand years ago. We must be the slowest learning species on Terra. Politicians and their handlers just love that.