Hope

You look around and you see things that just make your heart sink. Thanks to the press, most Americans think the war is unwinable and want to pull our troops out. Hollywood is manufacturing filth like never before, and the church and morality are revered only for their use as a punch-line. You see thousands of dissatisfied people marching in the streets.

That's what 1969 was like. I'd just started high school and I saw nothing that made me think there was a bright future ahead. And things got worse.

I traveled 500 miles to college in Tennessee just in time for gas lines. There was the impeachment of the first man I voted for. Then I remember his successor holding up a "win" button... Whip Inflation Now! Inflation was so bad that many retirees' nest eggs were made sorely insufficient for their needs.

We elected Jimmy Carter and things got worse again. Unemployment was high. Interest rates were so high that first-time home buyers faced budget-crippling mortgage payments. In Iran our embassy was stormed, hostages were taken, and it seemed we were powerless to do anything... about anything. Jimmy Carter spoke to the nation about a "malaise" we were suffering from, and that perhaps America's best days were behind us. Why have hope? When would things ever get better?

Then we somehow elected Ronald Reagan, and America's attitude changed. Inflation, interest rates, and unemployment plummeted. He lowered taxes, and though the press attacked him at every turn, I noticed they stopped using the derisive "Reaganomics" when the economy miraculously improved. After years of foreign policy back-peddling, Reagan stood his ground, rebuilt the military, negotiated from strength, and said, "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall." For the first time in my adult life I was hopeful for the future. After over a decade of depressing decline, America was back.

Sometimes I look around today and I wonder how we will survive our troubles. It's hard to be hopeful when problems simmer for years and the nation's resolve wander's from its roots. We look at our leaders and we see no Washingtons, or Roosevelts, or Reagans.

But we have things going for us that few nations do. First and foremost, we are a nation that prays. Maybe not in the percentages of the last century, but God is in the hearts of so many and we are no longer silent. Secondly, we have been free for a long, long time, and freedom is a hard habit to break. We may wait awhile for our next Reagan, but when he arrives the seeds of success will be there waiting. This nation has faced many daunting challenges in 200+ years and I believe our prayers have brought a leader for every challenge... a leader who remembers who we are and what this nation is about.

I picked up little Miss Em, my great-niece, in my arms last Saturday. I know Emily will be raised to be a woman that prays. And that gives me hope.