RALLY ROUND THE FLAG

Can you count the folks who went to Washington, D.C. on 8/28 for the Restoring Honor rally? It was a big ole bunch of tiny specks.

There have been a lot of words written about the rally. Pundits can't figure out how to assess such a turnout. They think it is Beck. Maybe.

His influence was the impetus that "turned em out". And people were grateful to him for putting it together.

The media think he's a nutcase. So what does that make his audience? No wonder they're having trouble figuring it out.

(Note: this is Glenn and Dr. Alveda King praying before the rally. She is Martin Luther King's niece; Dr. King also spoke at the rally.)

Here's what the experts aren't "getting"...

These people watch Glenn Beck's tv show. They "went to school" on his knowledge and zeal for our country's founding. It affirmed in their innermost being some things:

1. America is and has been greatly blessed. No other country on earth affords the liberty and promise that can be found here. God's people have always known that, but as Beck opened the history books and showed providence after providence...a fountain of gratitude to God was opened.

2. Our unique founding is a blessing with a responsibility. People realize that our gift of liberty is being chipped away daily. Americans are regular people with jobs and carpools and deadlines and meetings. It takes quite a bit to turn regular people with daytimers out into the streets. But they've hit the pavement now.

At the rally the participants were surrounded by examples of courageous stewardship in the presence of Lincoln and Washington and the memorials to the war dead. Whether they died in their bed or at the theatre or on foreign soil, these heroes gave their lives for their country.

The reason for the rally attendance may be that one day believers will look the Lord full in the face, and they will be sheepish about they handled their stewardship of His awesome gift of liberty.

3. America's uniqueness is a phenomenon that calls for an explanation. We know that God guided the men as they put their thoughts on paper as to how this great experiment might be accomplished.

Since then, the legislative/judicial/executive branches have been pulled and tugged on, manipulated and bloated and perverted. It doesn't work as well as it used to, but we think (in decorator terms) "the bones are there".

The people who went to the rally prayed. The wannabes who wanted to go to the rally but couldn't...prayed. So there must have been some great prayer cover over the event. I wonder what that scene looked like from heaven's side. ElRoi, the God who sees, likes it when we ask. So we've asked. Now we await His answer...

Meantime, the question of whether Beck is the "svengali of shtick" that spooks the media...remains unanswered.

Perhaps Glenn Beck is just the cohesive flame, the willing spark that ignited the populace.

I'm sure wishing that an evangelical had stepped forward to carry the banner. That's not the way things worked. A Mormon is the messenger and I don't know what to do with that.

Glenn Beck and I stand on equal ground as being made in God's image. He and I are equally given the free will to respond to God. And we've made differing choices that put us in different places.

I'm puzzled about all this. I love to listen to him because of his humor. He has that "ah shucks" boyish charm that just tickles me. I love how he stood up front at the rally and called people back to God. I love that he actually called for God's people to step up to the tithe in their local church. (THAT doesn't happen everyday.) I love that he loves his country so unabashedly. I love how he talks about his wife and children...how honestly he deals with who he "has been"...and how quickly he is moved to tears. It's easy to see the change in his life and I hear him give God credit for that change. I want VERY MUCH to think we are on the same page. I'm glad I'm not in charge of figuring out the sheep/goats thing.

So I'll hover and wait...with my antennae up for red flags. But I love ya, Glenn Beck! I'll continue to watch your program because I can learn so much about history and government.

If the Beckmeister turns a 180 and begins to run for President, I'll have to reconsider the svengali charge. Meantime, I take him at his word that he has no interest in that office.

And I'll be grateful for two collections. I like it that the rally raised $5.5 million for the Special Operations Wounded Warriors Project to send hero's kids to college. And I'm very grateful for the way Beck has collected our national thoughts and directed them toward God.

The Lord bless you, Glenn Beck.