Wow! From the urban centers to the rural communities of the USA, from capitals of the developed world to the small corners of poor countries, like no other, the American 2016 presidential campaign took the world by the jugular. The ups and downs, the exaggerations, boisterous pronouncements, the media impact (which for the most part was also caught off guard), the cable TV pundits and surrogates… We were thoroughly amazed at the unfolding of events. There was serious entertainment as one side of the campaign had promised us, for good or bad. There were unending turns and thistles until the very end. Institutions like the FBI once considered revered, if not sacred, were dragged into publicly defending their invisibility. Not to be left behind and as if the pulse of the campaign was not high pressure enough, then came the influence peddling by the Russian leadership and its willing accomplice, the London’s Ecuador-embassy holed Wikileaks.

Each one of the issues listed above is sufficient to provide book titles and I am sure political scientists and students will pursue that in earnest. 

My immediate conclusion is that, should Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, win tomorrow and becomes the first female President of the USA, it will be easy to see that although her victory was forseen and predicted long ago, her road to the oval office would be war-like. It was not going to be easy for a woman to become the first POTUS, except for the grace of God. When men run on both sides, it is always girating and suspenseful. But when a woman runs against a man who enjoys near 100% name recognition, it would be acrimonious and unravelling. At the end of the day, it may just mean that the acrimony and pain of the election was not deep-seated if indeed Mr. Donald J Trump loses. 

The talk about his supporters going up in arms if he lost won’t happen because they will realize the reality of their candidate’s insufficient and lackluster planning both before and during the campaign even when it was pointed out to him. Donald Trump mostly hinged his campaign on crowded rallies and filled up arenas. He relished being in front of the crowds thinking that this was a good measure of popularity and winning strategy. He didn’t buy the notion of doing the fundermentals appropriate for election into the office of the President.

On the other side, Mrs. Clinton got herself into enormous trouble which ordinarily should have knocked her out or at least down in a way that regular contesters would find difficult to recover from. Yet, with the state of her opponent, she suffered retribution which I consider appropriate for her “sins”. Hillary is by all means a complex woman who is very intelligent and calculating. She and her campaign, dubbed the “Clinton machine” knew when to attack and when to retreat. They operate within the margins of the law although their adversaries think they step into the gray areas of ethics and honesty. 

The deciding factors in the 2016 election were not the issues we have come to expect from the two leading political parties. They were not the traditional liberal versus conservative ideologies that we are used to. Pure and simple, 2016 was the year of the individual. The issues were supplanted by the qualities of the contestants. Both Trump and Clinton received high negative public opinions which are the worst between two candidates in the nation’s history. But at the end of the day, it will be the question of who has the temperament to serve as the President. It will be who can be an acceptable choice of two bad options. It will be who got better prepared and kept her cool when the going got rough versus one who was easily bated time after time. It will be one of who could be or not be trusted with the nuclear code. It won’t be whose tax plans and renewable energy ideas appeal to the electorate the most but who will be a better role model. 

If indeed Mrs. Clinton goes on to win, I duff my hat to her and her long-term approach, her dugged attitude and resilience. Congrats Madam President. (This post was written the day before the election and will be revised once we know who wins). 

There are countless reasons to be thankful on the occasion of America’s Thanksgiving Day, which is usually the last Thursday of November every year. Here are a few you may be able to identify with:

– A happy marriage

– Healthy lifestyle

– Resources that God lavishes on us

– Financial provisions

– Entrepreneurial Opportunities

– Thriving career or ministry with potential for further service, influence and relevance in your community.

One Reason: Family

I asked a young couple on a flight from Minneapolis to Washington DC sometime ago what one thing they would be grateful for as they looked forward to Thanksgiving. Without hesitation, they said it’s Family. Indeed they were going to DC to spend the weekend with their brother-in-law as part of their Thanksgiving schedule. Being Americans, I was expecting they would say it’s their beautiful house or great jobs. Or that they were in love as a young couple.  But none of these trumped their collective family. Two weeks to Thanksgiving Day, they took the weekend to travel about 1,000 miles to spend quality time with some of their relatives. I was inspired by their response and I began to ask myself what exactly I was grateful for this season.

On the eve of Thanksgiving Day, I heard Pastor Reggie Hannah of New Wine Church, Minneapolis ask at Bible Study what people were grateful for. Quite interesting, each person had a unique reason of their own. Someone was thankful for the Pilgrims that came to New England and gave us Thanksgiving Day to celebrate. I thought that was quite thoughtful. Another participant was grateful that America is a land of immigrants which provided her and her family a country they can safely live in, make a living and raise their children. Another member was thankful for the salvation that Jesus Christ procured for us thus freeing us from the power of sin and eternal condemnation. I believe I heard a person say they were grateful to be alive and be a witness for Christ because the past life they lived could have put them away in the grave. That was quite deep.

Permit me to share my own very reason among many, for being thankful this particular Thanksgiving. I could think of many things, my family, at home and abroad, my wonderful, God-sent wife, our children who bring us joy every day, the life of kingdom service which we consider a matter of privilege and grace of God, good life and the opportunity to pursue happiness with contentment. The list goes on. But after a deep consideration, I came to one conclusion, in the light of scriptures, that a compelling reason to be thankful today, is Answer to Prayer. (See http://www.mybookofprayers.org/ for my attempt to present prayer in the way God answers)

If there’s one thing I will like to thank God for this season it’s for answered prayers. I don’t consider myself a prayer juggernaut, not at all. But I know that God hears when I pray. I have seen many simple ways God answers prayers. I hope a few I share here strengthens your faith in the Lord. But let’s see first of all how Jesus our Lord and Savior portrayed God in the area of answering prayers.

At the Grave of Lazarus  

You know the story of the sickness to death of Lazarus in John 11. He was the one brother of two sisters, Mary and Martha, a family that Jesus loved. I believe the love grew out of conversion to becoming students of His teaching in their home. But in the course of time, Lazarus became seriously sick and the sisters sent a message to Jesus to come and heal him. It was supposed to be a slam dunk, a small show of affection they expected, for Jesus to come right away, after all He loved the family. Alas, the Great Friend “disappointingly” didn’t show up. Elsewhere, Jesus told His disciples, “The sickness is not to death but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it”, John 11:4. And so, Lazarus died and his sisters wondered what manner of friend they had. Many people would think the same. When we don’t receive what we are hoping for, we tend to ask if God is still upstairs, never mind that you received a miracle just the day before.

By the fourth day of Lazarus’s death, Jesus arrived, finally, at Bethany the city of His friends. He made His way to the grave of the dead man. Everyone thought, with his sisters going along, it was another time to go and mourn the dead. But one of the greatest miracles in the Bible was about to happen. Lazarus would provide us a reason for courage in our Christian faith that death isn’t the end, miracles can still occur even in the grave of life.

And so Jesus, Mary, Martha and all the people, including hired mourners, arrived at the graveside. They implored Him to let the dead rest in his grave. Buy Jesus had a Word for the hour. He didn’t have to recite many verses of scriptures or some whole Psalms.

John 11:41-44:

Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 And I knew that you hear me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that you have sent me. 43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.” 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” 

“Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I knew that you hear me always”. Nothing can be farther than the truth. God hears our prayers.  

Even as I was working on this blog, I was alarmed at the way God sometimes answers us when we pray. A female employee tendered her resignation from her job. She gave a very plausible reason, bordering on honest behavior and integrity from an external source. We could not fault her. But we knew how important it was to keep her on the job. So, we went to God in prayer for a reconsideration of heart. Just as we drove to our office, we met her waiting. She asked to know if she could withdraw the letter. She said she had a conversation with the other party involved and they were able to work things out amicably. I said, God, You’re too much! We prayed and the answer  came within the hour.

I have shared the following testimony a few times whenever I had the honor to speak on a topic like thanksgiving and showing of gratitude. Many years ago, we were looking to rent a bigger apartment. My wife and I sat down to agree on exactly (or so we thought) what we wanted. And so the search started. We traveled in every direction of about 50 miles radius looking for this elusive apartment. Many times we would find one but someone else would beat us to signing the lease. Finally we prayed that if God wanted us to get a bigger apartment, He should provide it. Lo and behold, the next Sunday afternoon as we returned home from church, the very house opposite us had a sign outside, Apartment To Let. It was like a dream. We had been all over the map and now it’s right by our nose. We quickly parked our car, crossed to the other house and believe me, everything we wanted with a couple extras, was there. God answers prayers.

Well, our daughter got married two years ago. She had moved out to New York City after college at the University of Minnesota. We were worried stiff that she could take such a plunge into the big city. But we never gave up on praying that God would be with her and as she grew older, even provide her a husband who together, they would grow in the Lord and raise Godly children. I remember how elated I felt on the day my wife broke the news that we were embarking on a journey that finally materialized in a glorifying and edifying wedding ceremony. But it didn’t end there. A few months after the wedding, I began to hear rumblings that our daughter was yet to conceive of a child and worries were being expressed. Finally, our son-in-law called and said, and I didn’t know if he meant it as a joke, that “Maybe the reason my wife isn’t pregnant is because you have not prayed about it.” I felt challenged and immediately assured him we, my wife and I had been praying. And I declared to him that, “Henceforth, the God who answers prayers will open your wife’s womb”. In exactly nine months after that, we became joyful grandparents of a beautiful baby girl. God answers when we pray.

“Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17, KJV)

I could give a million and one examples more of God’s faithfulness in answering our prayers. Maybe I should give two more. I recall in my post graduate class, I was voted by my classmates as the Class Governor. Sometimes I wonder if I should have gone into politics and go ahead to become the governor of my state, who knows. But truly, as the class governor, I had the responsibility to ensure my classmates received a monthly schedule from our lecturers, when to prepare for tests, when there may be unannounced quizzes, see to it that everyone was up to date with homework and get involved in study groups; as well as prepare for the final stage of project thesis and all that. In my position I got really close to quite a few individuals among my classmates including a lady who I had watched as sort of withdrawn, if not disoriented. So, one day, I summoned the courage to speak to her asking what were the challenges that mitigated against her freely associating with everyone else and just been generally lukewarm. She told me how she had been abused as a teenager and was practically isolated. Her abuser denied her and his parents pushed her back. She was devastated and as a result, could not trust any man for ever, at least up to then. She was now in her mid-thirties and time seemed to be running out. She lived in fear of and prejudice against men. I asked her if I could pray with her. She agreed and we prayed with Isaiah 34:16 (NIV):

“Look in the scroll of the LORD and read: None of these will be missing, not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order, and his Spirit will gather them together.” 

I didn’t know if I was confident of the prayer but we joined our faith together. In less than a year, the sister became attractive to a guy who had known her for over three years and attending house fellowship together all along. The stigma on her and the scales on his eyes fell off. They suddenly found each other attractive. They talked, he proposed and in a few months they got married. I had the honor of attending the naming of their first child. God answers when we pray.

God also hears our cry…

King David was right on point when he said in Psalm 34:4-6,

“I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.” 

Recently our a young man I knew really close lost his job. I was visibly shaken when I saw him cry. This was a job he so much loved and the reason for his losing the job was seriously negligible. I called a lawyer for advice on his behalf and was told he was better off finding a job elsewhere. The lawyer said employers can come up with several reasons to terminate an employee  and we didn’t want to go into unnecessary expenditure fighting a battle we’re not guaranteed to win. I thought, the guy was young anyways, freshly out of college, should be able to learn from the incident and become a better corporate player afterwards. What touched me most was that he actually cried in the church hugging me. So, my prayer partner (my wife) and I beckoned to God: “You will arise and have mercy on Zion; For the time to favor her, Yes, the set time, has come. 14 For Your servants take pleasure in her stones, And show favor to her dust. 15 So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, And all the kings of the earth Your glory. 16 For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory. 17 He shall regard the prayer of the destitute, And shall not despise their prayer. (Psalm 102:13-17).

We are  glad to say that as the proverbial saying, “When a king’s palace burns down, it always brings more beauty”; the young man found a far better position in a more diversity friendly organization with a better pay and wider opportunities for growth and advancement.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving that God answers us when we pray. The Psalmist said, “1Praise waits for You, O God, in Zion; And unto You shall the vow be performed. 2. You that hear prayer, Unto You shall all flesh come.” (Psalm 65:1-2)

All flesh will come to God because He answers when we pray. May this Thanksgiving be a true occasion for you to worship and praise the Lord from your heart. I pray that your turkey and all the accompaniments on your dinner table will be nourishing and you will remember who made it all possible. Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you and all yours. Amen.

2016 Thanksgiving is on November 24.