Monday, October 11, 2004

NORTH STATE ROAD TRIP

I got up early today for the 5-hour drive to the Queen City. I live on the NC coast but spend two weeks each month at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte. There's no good way to do this. I basically have three options: (1) The South Route: 24 to 41 to 74 to 485; (2) The Northern Route: 24 to 58 to 70 to 40 to 85 to 485; (3) The Central Route: 24 to 258 to 40 to 64 to 49 to 485. I'm sure there are short cuts I don't know about so please if you know a better way PLEASE let me know.

I usually windup taking the Southern Route just because I hate fighting through the Triangle traffic jams. I obviously spend a lot of time alone in my truck and I don't really mind. My life has been so crazy lately that the trip gives me time to sort through all the mental notes I've had to file during the previous week. I listen to a LOT of talk radio as well (for some reason music makes me sleepy.)

Today I was able to catch portions of a whole lot of local talk radio between the miles of static. I heard a great interview with Richard Burr on the Fayetteville talk station as I was working my way around Lumberton. He definitely shares my priority and I sure hope he can beat Erskine.

Around Rockingham I was able to pick up WBT-AM and cruised the rest of the to Charlotte listening to host Keith Larson congratulating Park Gillespie, a school teacher from Stanley, NC, for winning the American Candidate competition on Showtime. I've never seen Showtime but it was encouraging to learn that Park is a conservative Christian who ran on a traditional values platform (national security, economic security, and protection of the family) against a bunch of lefties. And won!

I thank God for the privilege of living in this great country. I have lived in over 30 other nations on three continents in my lifetime. Many nations rival our natural beauty and many have remarkable cultures and societies. However, I have never seen another land that has our most precious blessing. As a people we generally have an upbeat and optomistic perspective on life, even in the tought times, because the vast majority of Americans over the generations have believe in God's grace upon this land. Tragically, that consensus has been under attack a long time and our nation is in now at risk. The dreams of freedom, liberty and fidelity of our forefathers is in danger of being lost on our watch. The signs of the time are too obvious to deny any longer. Now is the time for action. Now is the time to take a stand. Before its too late. Pray, church, pray...