By: J Robert Giles
I’ve tried as hard as I can to put into words the emotions and feelings I had on the night of November 6th. It’s been exactly a month and to be honest, I still don’t really understand what happened. For the most part, I think the emotions I have are very similar to every other conservative American…..I’m relieved.
I know that sounds funny coming from someone who, for over a year, has written nothing but anti-Obama rhetoric. I understand that many of you who have read my articles faithfully are probably sitting there right now, adding my name to the list of people whose suffering you hope to witness.
Make no mistake; I am and always will be 100% anti-Obama. The man is a trainwreck of a President but he’s stolen enough of my energy. He’s stolen enough of my thoughts, my focus, my time, and my attention. To comprehend the emotions of relief that I am feeling, I have to explain the circumstances of my personal life in the days leading up to the election and the days since.
I was in Hawaii for the election. Anyone who has ever made that long flight to paradise can certainly relate to the fact that misery is hard to come by. As I watched the words “President Obama Wins Re-Election…..” scroll across the bottom of the FoxNews screen the anger that I had prepared myself to feel simply didn’t materialize. I simply turned off the TV and enjoyed the rest of my trip.
That’s a horribly simplified version of the details. My mood was enhanced by several other pieces of circumstance that may literally have prevented a psychological meltdown. As I’m sure was the case in many homes and minds across the country in the weeks and months leading up to the election, I prayed. I prayed almost daily. I prayed on the plane on the way to Hawaii. I prayed feverishly.
What was I really praying for? Was I really praying for the Dick Morris projected, landslide victory for Mitt Romney? Was I praying for a catastrophic defeat of liberalism? Well, okay….maybe a little but that certainly wasn’t the central message of my chats with the Big Man.
The thing about unanswered prayers is that they don’t truly exist. People assume that a loved one dying is God turning His back on them. People assume that a loss for their favorite sports team is God ignoring their prayers which as we all know, is only true when it comes to Chicago Cubs fans. People assume that Mitt Romney’s loss in the 2012 Presidential Election is a sign that God has abandoned America but that is simply not true.
God answers all prayers, but he does it in His time, not ours. If God intends for America to fail, she will fail no matter who’s living in the White House. That’s the thought that carried me through to the prayers I prayed on that long flight over the Pacific.
See…..my trip to Hawaii was with my lovely, beautiful, and terribly excited fiancé, Jackie. We were headed to the island of Oahu, where we would be married on November 1st, at sunset. The prayers I prayed were that my mind would be focused on Jackie and not Barack Obama or Mitt Romney. Jackie had never been to Hawaii and she deserved the excitement and awe of the experience. She deserved not only the sunset beach wedding of her dreams, but also the “twinkle” in my eye she loves so much. Barack Obama has, on many occasions, turned that twinkle into fiery rage. God answered my prayers.
Prior to the trip, I had been working on two articles…..one to release in the event of a Romney win, and another to release in the event of our current reality. Shortly after landing in Honolulu, I retrieved my laptop from my backpack, only to discover that the mother-board had blown and replacement was simply not an option. I was without a computer from the very start. (Not the way I prayed it, but it was an answered prayer.)
It took about 36 hours for my mind to wrap itself around the fact that I was heading into the election without any way to share my opinions, thoughts, or reactions. At least not electronically. Instead, I was “forced” to share those moments with the one person God truly intended me to share them with. The time difference prevented conversation with anyone back home. The lack of computer meant I was limited to text messages, Tweets, and Facebook postings from my phone, which after a while gets kind of old. I shared the experience with Jackie, as God intended.
By the time our wedding rolled around on November 1st, my focus was right where it should have been. The twinkle was in my eyes and to be honest…..if Mitt Romney and Barack Obama had skipped past us, holding hands on the beach that night, I wouldn’t have recognized them. God had answered my prayers.
When the election finally rolled around, I was disappointed, but I was not crushed the way I had anticipated. It was the same kind of defeat I feel when the Cowboys lose, or when the Cardinals blow a 3-1 Series lead in the NLCS…..it sucks but it couldn’t defeat the joy I was feeling in my personal life.
Barack Obama couldn’t take away the week I had experienced with Jackie all over the island. His Barackness can’t tax away the beauty of our sunset wedding. Liberalism, no matter how hard it screams, can never erase God’s presence from that sunset ceremony. (CLICK HERE for photographs)
I think many Americans are feeling similar emotions to the ones I experienced in Hawaii. Perhaps not as “tropical” but similar. Obama’s win did not end life as we know it. It certainly didn’t defeat us. Perhaps we put too much faith in Mitt Romney to do the job we needed to do ourselves, or perhaps we just got our butt’s kicked but one thing’s for sure…..America survived.
The sun came up on November 7th and has done so each and every morning since. The campaign ads are gone. The fear and the baseless predictions of polls no longer clog our psyches. Christmas is upon us and to be honest, the election seems like a distant memory. There is work to be done, but in the spirit and meaning of this season, I beg of you….. do not lose your faith.
Don’t lose your faith in America. Don’t lose your faith in yourselves. Don’t lose your faith in our brilliant system of government. Don’t lose your faith in your family. Don’t lose your faith in your goals. America is greater than its President the same as the world is greater than any one of its countries. America is an idea, not just a place. Fuel the fires of patriotic ambition that spread so wildly amid hopes of a new president. Don’t surrender your ambition so easily. Work. Have faith in yourself where government is failing and work. Create. Start. Fight. Think. WIN!!
There is no better time of year than Christmas to refuel your faith. God will answer those prayers that are prayed from a position of sincerity. He really will. It may not be in the fashion you envision as the prayer flows from your mind, but it will be answered. America will survive if it’s what we sincerely pray for.
Christmas means gifts and I can think of no better gift than our suffering through another four years of His Barackness so that my children can inherit a better America than the one they’re being raised in.
As always, thanks for playing!
J Robert Giles
