In Obama We Trust

In Obama We Trust.

As I walked into our mall this morning to do a return and scout out some more clothes for Mason, the kid grows like a weed on steroids, this is what I read on a bumper sticker. As it caught my eye, I read it, stood in shock for a nano-second and then read it again. It was as if my brain didn't register the meaning, or perhaps it did and I had lost my breath. "In Obama We Trust." Those words have haunted me all day.

Now before this gets political, it's NOT. All politics aside, no Republicans, Independents or Democrats. Think about the words for a moment. "In Obama We Trust." Take the politics aside, and think about the meaning, the emotion, the implication.

When I first read it, I felt disgusted. As I thought about it, I felt sympathy. And as I write about it I feel a sense of hope. Let me explain the process.

Seeing those words brought about a day of serious thinking on the state of human relationships one with another. For so many years people have been trying to take God out of everything, especially the founding phrase of this nation, "In GOD we trust." So to begin with, the changing of the statement felt blasphemous. How can you equate the status of God with that of a man? Then as I thought about it I remembered that there are so many millions of people out there that do just that. At God brought to my mind, that there have been times in my life that I have been guilty of such behavior. They have no concept of the life changing power of the Almighty and live their entire lives with their hope bestowed in another human like themselves. So I began to feel sorrow for people out there who are in such a place where they place their hope in imperfect people. As the day went on and I tried to go to bed, the words lingered in my head and God brought such a sense of hope into my heart.

For, as humans, we all long to place our hope into something or someone. We want to feel validated, completed, and connected as humans. We want our hopes, dreams and aspirations to be shared and validated by another. Therefore we seek to entrust people or objects with our most scared possessions, our trust. We enter into relationships, marriages, friendships, partnerships, etc. with one another in order to find a greater sense of hope in this world than found in just our own being. We entrust our sense of power and control, our trust, into others in the hope that they will in turn make us feel connected and satisfied as individuals.

It was in considering all of this that God gave me hope. Because for my life, I have learned that to trust in another man, no matter how great or charismatic or honest or kind or attractive or anything else is simply foolish. Because no matter who I choose to trust, they are no more and no less than what I myself am, human. And in that humanity comes so many failures and shortcomings. But it is when I place my trust and confidence in the Lord that I am satisfied, completed, accepted, encouraged, strengthened, and feel as if my life is truly being witnessed by an audience that cares about my growth, happiness, well being and so much more. Humans long deeply to trust in someone. The bumper sticker this morning proved it. The question simply lies in, what are you willing to put your trust in? A man, or God.

When I trust others, I am certain of finding them lacking because no one is perfect. But when I trust God, who is Himself the very root of Trust, then I am sure to find trustworthiness and faithfulness. So "In God I Trust."