Is Civil War Upon Us?

With a houseful of cowpokes it feels like there is always a civil war erupting – there are guns going off, military pursuits, friendly fire and an array of combat situations.

"Mama, he hit me on the head!"

"Mooooom, he just whacked my nose."

"Moooooaaaahhhhhm, he just ________." Fill in the blank. It doesn't really matter what you put there because they have all happened in my home.

These are the same brothers that can pick up the baby and snuggle him and give him peace. These are the same brothers that can wipe the toddler's tears and go find him a band-aid. These are the same brothers that will pray for one another when things get tough.

My cowpokes and I are studying the Civil War and the question I ask the boys after each battle is, "How many Americans died?" The question is not how many Union or Confederates died, but EVERY SINGLE PERSON THAT DIED WAS AMERICAN. Let that rest in your spirit for a moment.

As I am watching the United States of America roll like a freight train toward a civil war, I am pondering so many things. How did we become a nation that can no longer have a decent conversation about hard things, disagree and still remain cordial? I think there are two main causes of this. 1) We have turned our hearts away from the Lord and 2) freedom of speech is being trampled so severely that when people can no longer listen to one another the end result is physical violence.

Abraham Lincoln in his Proclamation of a Day of Fasting said, "When our own beloved Country, once, by the blessing of God, united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is particularly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him, and to pray for His mercy, - to pray that we may be spared further punishment, though most justly deserved; that our arms may be blessed and made effectual for the re-establishment of law, order and peace."

Here the 16th President of the United States recognized that the Lord blessed this great nation. There was no gray in where his faith stood. This is one of the absolute beauties of the freedom granted to us in our First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

Some of the things I love most about this statement is he encouraged the American people to recognize our own faults as individuals. It is time for us to repent. Marriages and families are broken and creating broken generations. Churches and schools are broken and are propagating false teaching. Government systems and politicians are broken.

BUT... there is still hope. There is hope because there are also healthy families and healthy marriages raising healthy generations. There are also healthy churches and healthy education options that are teaching truths. There are also politicians that really are trying to fight the good fight.

Everything in me is ready to bear arms and defend my family, my community, my state and my nation, but I would deeply desire to see the American people stop the chaos. Stop the hate. Stop the lies. Simply just pause, take a deep breath, and look at the human being on the other side of the battle and see that every single one of us was created for a purpose.

I would love to see, just as Honest Abe said, the re-establishment of law, order and peace.