Homeschooling so far this year has been fun and…um…educational! (go figure!) First up on our schedule was reading a book about William Wilberforce. I love homeschooling because I get to learn new things, too!

Wilberforce was a politician in Britain in the late 1700s and early 1800s. When he first began his political career, he was one of only three active Christians in parliament. By the end of his career, there were well over 100 men serving who actively sought to follow Christ in their lives by their actions, not just by their words.

Wilberforce wrote a book full of practical advice on how to live out faith in Christ in the everyday life. His book quickly became popular in Britain and in America and was printed in five other languages. One of the reasons he wrote his book is because he was afraid that it would soon become ‘fashionable’ to disown Christ.

Wilberforce said he was afraid the time was fast approaching when it would be socially fashionable to disbelieve and the person who believed would be thought to have a feeble mind or to be uneducated.
–God’s Politician, by John Holtzmann, pg 64

Two hundred years later, what Wilberforce feared is now here. In today’s American society, it is decidedly unfashionable to be an “evangelical Christian.” There is a segment of the population that believes that those of us who follow Christ are somehow uneducated, backwards, even dumb. We have somehow been denied the enlightenment that they have received, and we are dead wrong on all the issues that matter: a woman’s right to choose, gay rights, etc.

Today the Dallas Morning News reported on McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his VP. I was tickled at the quote from the president of the North Dallas Texas Democratic Women.

The thinking woman is going to look at this (McCain’s selection of Palin) as just a political ploy,” said Lenna Webb, president of the North Dallas Texas Democratic Women. “Those women that were Hillary supporters, that still needed to be wooed to Obama’s side — I believe this actually will push them further behind Obama.”

Hmm. It seems that Ms. Webb believes that only Democrat women are ‘thinking’ women. I beg to differ! Oh, wait, was that a thought I just had?

McCain’s choice of Palin was exactly what he needed to do to woo not the Hillary supporters, but women like me. I have heard from many friends and relatives who are pumped up about McCain’s choice. If you read my earlier blogs about McCain, you’ll see that I have never been an enthusiastic supporter because I have had my doubts about what the man truly believes. Yet his selection of Palin wins me over to his side.

Why? It’s not just that she’s a woman. It’s because she has taken on corruption head-on. Yes, she’s only been governor for two years, but in her entire career she has gone head to head with corruption. I have no doubt that if there is corruption in McCain, she’ll call him on it. The Democratic Party keeps talking about change, but I have not seen either of the people on that ticket who have a record of kicking butt and taking names. Washington needs some serious cleaning.

I have a good feeling that many things that lurk in the darkness are about to be exposed to the light.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for^[a] the sins of the whole world.

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love^[b] is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him^[c] to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
1 John 2:1-9

By the way, this thinking woman, the target of McCain’s ‘political ploy,’ thinks that his strategy works!

Checkmate.