Dear America, I am writing to you today because I want you to know that I love you. I have had the privilege of seeing how you have overcome enormous obstacles throughout your history. I am encouraged by your perseverance. You have suffered the loss of countless lives of your sons and daughters as they fought for your continued liberty. You struggle against difficult days amid strong opposition to you. Now, with just days before the upcoming Presidential election, I commit to continue to pray for you. Because of the biblical mandate found in I Timothy 2:1-3, I declare that I will pray for whoever becomes your leader. I do this because of my love for you and also because I know that it is pleasing to God. I realize that you, America, are sharply divided. I, along with my fellow Americans, can see the grand challenge that awaits our next President. For the soon to be elected president, I pray for wisdom, discernment, strength, protection, and most of all that you might beckon and draw the next leader into a close and intimate walk with Jesus. I pray that you, my dear Country, might experience better days. I pray that trusted public servants would serve and be trustworthy, that neighbors would be neighborly, and that our commonality might far outweigh our differences. I pray that genuine, albeit old-fashioned, kindness might inundate our communities. May we pay the same respect to the lowest paid as we might the highest office. I will pray that families might know the joy of reconnecting with one another, that they have face to face conversations, and that they might know the simplest pleasures of eating dinner together. I pray that a sweeping swell of pride might flood American citizens when the American flag is waving and The StarSpangled Banner is being sung. May we learn that patriotism and a love of God and Country, along with personal responsibility are some of the most magnanimous tasks that God has charged parents to impart to our children. Most of all, America, I am praying that you will find the way that Almighty God has laid out for you. For I know that your motto, "In God we trust" is far more than a slogan. It is a proclamation of our need for the guiding presence of the sweet Lord Jesus. Sincerely, Jon Haimes
Jon Haimes is the pastor of Glendale Baptist Church, which is located in Alcorn County, Mississippi.