Let's Uplift Barack Obama In Prayer

President Barack Obama has been re-elected as the leader of this nation for the next four years. Okay, take a moment of silence to react to this.

You good? Good. Now that we've all taken a moment, I have a few things on my mind regarding this issue.

I have seen posts on the wonderful social networking site, affectionately known as facebook, that span the spectrum of "God placed Obama in office!" to "The anti-Christ has come." Such comments demonstrate the fact that we are a country divided-- one that cannot function holistically. A presidency has turned into four years of blind faith by one group of people and four years (okay, probably more than four) of unabashed criticism by another.

I voted for Mitt Romney. Am I disappointed that he didn't win? Obviously. Any of you who remember me as the pigheaded tenth grader who wore a t-shirt to school that read "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Kerry" in 2004 aren't shocked. I didn't think Romney was an ideal candidate. I didn't agree with him in every regard. However, all things considered, I thought he was hands down the better man for the job. I don't like what Obama has done with America in the past four years. I have seen no financial improvement, I clearly disagree with him in a moral sense, and, I'm sorry (I'm not sorry), but he didn't kill Osama Bin Laden.

That being said, I do not think that Barack Obama is an evil man. I fear for our country, as I did when he took office four years ago, but I can't get behind people who are honestly marking him as the end all and be all of not only this nation, but the world at large. I can't get behind people who will hold a personal and far reaching grudge for the next four years. I'm going to roll my eyes at the folks who cry "lazy! get back to work!" when he takes ten minutes to present his March Madness bracket on ESPN this spring.

President Obama is our leader, and though we are not called to agree with him, we are called to pray for him. To my friends who are hoping for a further decline of our nation over the next four years, simply so you can point a finger and exclaim "must've been all that March Madness getting in the way," shame on you. What a proud, stubborn attitude that is. It was our duty as Americans to vote yesterday, and it our charge as Christ followers to uplift our president in prayer today. You can't honestly pray for somebody you're too busy hating.

On the other hand, I have also seen a ridiculous amount of posts from people who are going as far as saying "Obama wouldn't be in office if God didn't want him there." Preposterous. If that notion held true, Adam and Eve wouldn't have eaten of the tree of life, people wouldn't be dying of cancer, and Nickelback would have stopped making music already. Yes, God is sovereign, but that is not to say, by any means, that everything that happens here is because He willed it. I think there are an inordinate amount of people, particularly of my generation, who herald Obama as what this country needs simply because it's trendy. That makes me really mad-- not because we differ in opinion, but because the former is an uninformed opinion.

Does that mean I think everyone who voted for Obama was not informed? Of course not. I have many friends who were completely informed and voted him in anyway. To that I say, let's agree to disagree. Not, "we'll see who's right in four years," or "you're going to be sorry!"Those are proud and, frankly, anti-American sentiments. I don't hope for the fall of this country merely for the opportunity to say "Told you so."

I hope you don't either.