You See, bin Laden, There is a Right Way

By Bob Slosser
CBN.com Columnist

CBN.com – Watching a PBS rerun of the Day of Prayer Service at the Washington Cathedral, I was struck by a revelation, hopefully inspired: Its people are the glory of America. And not believing that God (He is the only source of Glory actually) is offended, I say, "Glory to God." And I say, "Thank you for grace." Furthermore, I unashamedly say, "Hallelujah."

You remember that on the starry night of Jesus’ birth, a great company of the heavenly host drew close to earth and said (I prefer "sang"):

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men on

whom his favor rests.

Luke 2:14, NIV

And as the wags like to add, "Praise God that He’s not finished with me yet."

The American people, as shown at that service, are so much more than a great bunch of folks. They are men and women, Native Americans, African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, and White Americans. Some are tall (very tall), some are short (very short), some are fat (ver. . . never mind), and some are thin (one or two), even skinny. A lot are in military uniform. A few are expensively dressed and adorned. Most are clad ordinarily. Some are pretty, some are not – all are beautiful. Dark hair, blond hair, no hair. Softly smiling, sober-faced, frowning. Glorious.

The parallel isn’t exact, but they’re the way the founding fathers hoped as they argued, quarreled, shouted, and fought, and hammered out a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution in Philadelphia in the mid-1770’s. John Adams reported to his wife that "this assembly is like no other that ever existed (just like America)."

"Every man in it is a great man – an orator, a critic, a statesman, and therefore every man upon every question must show his oratory, his criticism, and his political abilities (just like America). "The consequence of this is that business is drawn and spun out to immeasurable length (just like America). "I believe if it was moved and seconded that we should come to a resolution that three and two make five, we should be entertained with logic and rhetoric, law, history, politics, and mathematics concerning the subject for two whole days, and then we should pass the resolution unanimously in the afternoon...(that man knew the America for which he fought and was prepared to die).

Things haven’t changed much, although the issues in the 19^th, 20^th, and 21^st centuries have exceeded that of three and five – civil rights, equal opportunity, prohibition, isolationism, immigration, justice for all, missile defense, social security, decency -- and sometimes they take years and decades to resolve, maybe a century. But this wild and wooly nation does finally resolve the hardest issues a country has resolved, and progress results. I saw and heard it on TV Sunday afternoon. Yes, I muttered to myself, we haven’t resolved everything, and we haven’t even grappled with everything, but we will. Indeed, we will defeat terrorism with the world or alone.

We will talk, and we will shout, and we will literally fight, and we will riot – we may even burn cities – but the issue will stay on the table, and one day we "will pass the resolution in the afternoon." That’s the way a democratic republic seems to function. Guys with short tempers like me must learn to wait and to talk and to grow until that "afternoon." What is required, beloved, is that we should strive with all our might and God’s grace to avoid "fighting words."

You see, good people, that’s what that mysterious word "providence" means in all our textbooks. Not everything is easy, but all things are possible.