Saturday, July 27, 2019
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Carol Bauer
As you know, my wife, Carol, prepares a monthly prayer alert. I hope you will share Carol's thoughts with your friends and fellow worshipers. Thank you for taking an interest in her monthly devotion. --Gary
When you live in the bubble that is the political life of Washington it is easy to think that the rest of the country is as immersed as we are in the details of what happens here. Thankfully, that is not the case!
Washington politics sometimes feels like an old school pin ball machine where the story focus pings from one hot topic to another and the lifespan of a crisis is just days. Then, it is on to the next hot potato issue with no resolution or in-depth look at last week's crises. It is exhausting, and no way to run a country.
To continue the analogy, the Mueller investigation and report has been a pinball machine unto itself. The focus pinged from collusion to obstruction to "Bob Mueller is the perfect man for Special Counsel" to "wait for the report" and from one breathlessly awaited congressional hearing to another.
Each was set up in the media to be the definitive step that would destroy the Trump presidency. And as each step came and went we were told to just wait for the next one, it would make the case! This week's highly anticipated congressional hearings were to be the climax of this two and a half year effort.
Steered by the majority party in two committees of the House of Representatives with the star witness, the author of the report, in front of them for over 5 hours, the facts and background would be revealed in a way that would surely lead to the impeachment of President Trump. Or so we were led to believe.
As I watched the proceedings, my reactions bounced around like that pinball machine. There was anger that it had taken so long to get to this point and yet the scope of the report was so narrow.
There was frustration that basic questions relating to what facts precipitated the need for a special counsel in the first place were never answered. There was a sense of betrayal that too many of those elected to serve us were in it for their own five minutes of fame in the spotlight.
There was sorrow for the spectacle of this man with an impressive resume who was clearly neither up to the job of leading the investigation nor of testifying in what was supposed to be a "just stick to the facts" appearance.
And then there was the more sinister analysis: If this man who was clearly past his leadership prime was not in charge, who really drove the investigation and chose its parameters to ensnare some and leave other critical questions unasked?
Finally, there was pure exasperation at the cloud of suspicion that hung over the president and the administration for two and a half years. You cannot help but ask the question: What if things had been different? How much better off would the country be?
Pray for the country as Americans digest what they learned and did not learn from the news of the past couple days. Ask God to open our collective eyes to both the strength of our system of government and its fragility when tested.
Pray that transparency would prevail so that judgments are based on full knowledge and not pre-conceived ideas based on limited information. Ask God to use this moment as a time for us to take stock and be thankful for the protections our system affords each of us.
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