The rain is pouring down. Then comes the arctic temperatures. I took some video of the Giant City Creek and it was more boisterous than I have ever seen it. 

From my youth, I have loved to study the Presidents. JFK captured my imagination and since those early days, I have been somewhat acquainted with those who have held the highest office in our land. Having been born during the Draft I fully expected to be drafted when I finished high school as my family knew little of college. I watched with some dismay as President Johnson seemed irrevocably committed to the Vietnam War although we were losing and ultimately lost the conflict. 

Through the years I have noticed how popularity in individual Presidents seems to reach its zenith and then for little reason its basement. President George H.W. Bush after the War in Iraq was at an extremely high popularity and yet lost to a newcomer President Clinton. President Carter entered office with the excitement of Evangelicals and yet left barely able to win the Democratic Primary and President Reagan became President. President Biden has accomplished more positive legislation that has affected more people for good than any President since Johnson and perhaps President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet his approval rating is abysmally low. 

President Trump is indicted in four separate felony crimes and yet is at a very high level of popularity for the Republican Primaries. 

During my 56 years as a Christian, I have had the good fortune to work with several pastors. I have observed firsthand that being a pastor is a hard and often thankless job. Even as a manager/administrator, I had the best intentions for my colleagues and yet was often criticized by those whom I had endeavored to help.

Leadership is a big job that is not for the faint at heart. Your friends and members of your community bring their own individual expectations for how you should perform your job. They have their bias and inherent prejudice regarding the boss the pastor or the President. Their hope is that you will fulfill their individual concerns often at the expense of the larger group.

Misunderstood is a bit of a pervasive malady. Christ came to preach to those who had no voice and were forgotten by the religious elite and the political powers of his time. Yet today many tell us that to be a Christian is to be rich. They assure us that love for America and love for Christ is the same thing. They are assured there is God’s

Chosen…and then there are the Others…