My sincere hope is that anyone who read yesterday's blog will also read today's. I need to make a retraction.

The Lord wouldn't let me go to sleep last night until he dealt with me on a few things. Not the least of which was calling the Senate majority leader a blithering idiot. At the point in my day when I blogged yesterday, I wasn't feeling very charitable towards my fellow man, and I wish that I hadn't posted my immediate thoughts.

While I am still amazed that Senator Reid made such an error in judgement, I realize that he was trying to save face, and that apparently seemed like the best way to go about it. I still think it was a huge mistake, but I need to apologize for treating him with such disrespect. He still is an elected official of this country, and deserves to have me praying for him rather than disparaging him. It was the radical teaching of Christ to love our enemies, and I don't think our perception of their intelligence allows for an exception to that rule. If anything, I should extend him even more grace.

Last night I watched the last part of "God's Christian Warriors," that I had recorded off of CNN several weeks ago. I haven't yet watched "God's Jewish Warriors" and "God's Muslim Warriors." But I wanted to see what they had to see about Christians first. It is a fascinating look at Christianity in America today, and I must admit that some of it made me really uncomfortable.

The question about how involved in politics the church should be is becoming a pretty divisive one. There are some who say that it is the duty of a Christian to work the system as hard as they can and encourage everyone to vote to try and change the moral stance of our country through the ballot box. Jerry Falwell's legacy is a university and law school dedicated to educating young adults and sending them out on the front lines of the Christian Right to try and legislate morality. It really struck me that this is no different than the other side trying to impose their values on me through the courts. I don't think that this is necessarily the best choice.

The current trend of legislating behavior is really disturbing to me. Tennessee just passed a law banning smoking in all restaurants. Most people I know were pretty pleased with this because we don't like to sit next to smokers while we eat. However, now there is an attempt to ban smoking, a legal behavior, from outside parks. There are places in California that have banned it from private homes and vehicles. That is extremely troublesome to me.

Smoking happens to be the first target because it was a behavior many people find distasteful. But what about behaviors that seem detestable by some but perfectly normal to others, particularly when religious beliefs are in play? This is an extremely slippery slope, and any time we invite the Courts to determine our freedom, we are moving closer and closer to a Big Brother society. It really makes me nervous.

So, I have truly digressed, but my original point is that I'm feeling convicted that my political nature may not bring out my best characteristics. I am the most judgmental when I am thinking in political mode. So perhaps I should step back for a while and pay less attention to what battles are being fought in the capital, and work more on a local level to try and further the cause of Christ by helping those in need. He saved souls one person at a time. He didn't try to work the political system. And I don't remember him calling Pontius Pilate a blithering idiot.

In my quest to be more like Christ, I'm going to have to re-examine my priorities a little bit, and attempt to pray for those I disagree with rather than call them names. At least, I think, it's a good place to start.