The challenges of the Presidency to come…

It was just a few months ago that America was engaged in an adult conversation with V.P. Elect Joe Biden concerning the testing of President Elect Obama’s leadership by terrorist. The media ridiculed him for his remarks. But the new President inherits a further problem which seem to begin now with the reactions to the incidents surely to happen after he is officially sworn in.

Question: Has any President in your lifetime been handed a bigger set of challenges than President elect Obama? Are you confident he will be successful in his approach to these issues?

Question: Why does America seem to have an aversion to forthright conversations concerning issues that affect us all?

President-Elect hard at work already…

President-elect Barak Obama has already been busy setting up his administration, with only a little over a month and a half to go before his inauguration.  What do you think your range of emotions will be when you witness the inauguration?  How do you feel about the recent appointments to key positions in the new administration under President-elect Obama?

Bailing out banks and automobiles?

There seems to be an alarming difference in the way we are evaluating the problems in the banking sector from those in the manufacturing sector.  The banking sectors problem finds it foundation in greed. Subpar loans and the hunger for profits collided with a poor economy and high interest rates which resulted in historically high  loan default levels.  The auto industry is accused of being slow to innovate and largely non-competing, offering a product that America supposedly does not want. Both industries are basically being accused of not doing a good job in their prospective fields.

And what about the workers?  There is fundamentally something wrong with a  bailout that addresses the problems of the wall street connected individual to the tune of $200 billion dollars but finds it incorrect to help the factory worker with a $25 billion loan connected to an industry that arguably is connected to approximately 4.5 million jobs.

Question: Do you see an inequity in the opportunity offered to the banking industry and the auto manufacturing industry?  Are you in favor or opposed to the economic bailout?

Perception and Perspective

How have the events of the recent weeks impacted your perception of your potential and possibilities and your perspective of the world around you?

In order to be successful perception and perspective must constantly be open to adjustment. Simply, perception is a matter of how you see yourself while perspective is the fruit of perception. How you see yourself effects how you see the world around you.

It is the biblical principle of the beam and the mote. You see others and your environment through the filter of your own identity.

Being teachable allows your perception of yourself to change. People who are reluctant to change often are hard to teach in their specific areas of challenge. They don’t adjust well.

That adjustment allows you to react appropriately to the shifting environment you must negotiate each day of your life. Those who do not react to the challenges of one’s environment will usually miss opportunities that are significant and related to your destiny.

If you are an individual who does not accept change well, you may not be reacting appropriately to the positive changes God allows to come your way. It is important to remember that most significant opportunities that introduce change are usually situations that will proceed without your participation. A train you are scheduled to ride upon will leave the station whether you are aboard or not. In other words divine opportunity is seasonal and those who miss them usually do so because they don’t react to change well.

Obama victory: Divinely orchestrated?

The recent political events should expand the platform for your thoughts and perception. It is absolutely valid to say most people who desired to see an Obama or McCain victory had to believe in their chosen candidate with an element of doubt or disbelief. For those who supported McCain, there was the reality that the ticket was lacking many of the strengths needed for victory. There was an element of disbelief. For those who supported Obama, there was the desperate nagging belief that produced an element of unbelief. Was it possible to elect a member of a part of society in a society that identified it largely as a problem?

There have been a lot of opinions about the Obama victory. I have heard of evangelicals that believe the world was coming to an end, African Americans who said Obama was being made an idol and God was going to judge us for electing him. All of these people were bible believing individuals. If so, the question is do they believe the biblical concept that God is ultimately responsible for people who are elected to positions like Kings and Presidents. If so that would imply they were having a problem with the will of God.

My question to you today is this. Do you believe Obama’s victory is divinely orchestrated?