Election Day

In honor of Election Day I decided to share a post written on January 20, 2009. I hope that you will read my thoughts from nearly four years ago and remember how you felt that day. Remember the amazement, remember the cohesion, remember the pride. 

I also hope that you will think of your own path and consider your inaugural moment. Your successes are not the result of a few monumental occurrences, but a collection of calculated, purposeful, and intentional decisions, made day after day. When making your choices today, whether at the polls, on your job, or in your relationships, make decisions with progression in mind. Elect to move your life in a positive direction. Elect to grow intellectually, emotionally, and professionally. Elect to surround yourself with positive, supportive, loving people. Elect to focus on your purpose.

Like most I have been thinking about the significance of today’s events. I watched a man place his hand on a bible and take an oath, but even more important than that, I felt a shift in the way the world operates. I saw a country that has historically been divided come together and celebrate as one.

There are so many reasons why this election is important. There are so many explanations of why January 20, 2009 is one of the most momentous days in history, but I will forever remember today as the perfect example of what is possible. God gave a man with so many reasons not to succeed and elevated him to one of the highest positions in the world. He took a man who didn’t have a close relationship with his father and called him to lead a nation. He took a man who wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in his mouth and placed a powerful inclination of service on his heart. He took a man with an unpopular name, a name that had become increasingly misunderstood, and gave him a name only 43 others have had the distinction of being called. He took a man with seemingly every excuse to lose, every excuse to be unsuccessful, and possibly every reason not to be taken seriously and He chose him.

No matter who has not supported you, no matter what your past might suggest about your future, no matter what names you’ve been called, no matter where you are today—none of that has to be an indicator of where you are going. Sometimes what seems like the perfect storm for failure can be the perfect storm to encourage, uplift, and illustrate the power of destiny. It could only take a storm to bring our country together and make the world hope and believe in goodness again. That storm is named Barack Obama and he is the perfect example that anything is possible.

--January 20, 2009