Love him or hate him, he’s not a figure you can dismiss. In fact, today – January 20, 2025 – your attention will be directed toward him, wherever you go and whatever you’re doing. “Normal” will be put on hold today; mail will be curtailed; Wall Street will be silent; schools will be closed; banks will be locked. Personal opinions will be non-grata; today, he’s a big deal, for everyone…

I mean, come on: he came up through the ranks to become an intensely polarizing person who was out to disrupt society’s norms. You’d think that felony arrests and booking photos would bring him down, but they only made him more compelling for people who agreed with his underlying message.

Sports teams aspire to have the drawing power that he demonstrated whenever he scheduled a rally. Entertainers – a la Taylor Swift or Bono – are presumed to be among the few who can sell out a stadium. But… a guy giving a speech, playing to a standing-room-only audience? No chance in Hades… except, the crowds came, waited, stood and listened.

He’s hard to characterize into a category. Political? Unquestionably. Religious? Not to everyone, but to many, for sure. Undeniably ostrasizing, but for those who loved him, he could do no wrong. For those who wanted to dethrone him, the dirt about his behind-the-scenes life gave them lots of ammunition. Scandalous affairs and proof of infidelity would normally be sufficient to cancel a leader’s ascent, but he managed to rise above those provable provocations while expanding reach and influence.

In a free society, the lunatic fringe is always lurking just out of peripheral view. Put a guy with a gun into proximity with a prominent figure, and bullets will fly. The assumption that an assassination can end a movement is not supported by the facts of history. Some leaders can create momentum whose force becomes a firestorm.

Today, our American attention is pointed toward just such a person. January 20^th is not just-another Monday. It’s the Inauguration Day for Donald J. Trump… and it’s the federal holiday in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. The prior descriptors – the text above this paragraph – are attached to both of these famous Americans.

History has delt kindly with King; time will tell how history will treat the President. No one can accurately write the chronicle of lasting impact until the grass has grown over their gravesite.

By the way: the same characterizations can be made about another great hero of history. Most of the aforementioned headlines – parked over the accounts of MLK’s or DJT’s rise – are embedded in the Gospel accounts of another notable name. Not King or President; He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Love Him or hate Him, He’s not a figure you can dismiss:

“Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” — Philippians 2:9-11

For half of the American electorate, today is a day of celebration. In their view, America’s best years are just ahead. For the other half of our citizenry, their lament will be – by their self-prediction – the soundtrack for four years that they believe will give rise to their greatest fears.

Here’s the ultimate reality, for both of those political persuasions: there is an inauguration in our common future that will have even more potential for lasting impact:

“For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done” — Matthew 16:27

You’ve been invited to that event; it will introduce your eternal future. Are you ready to be on the right side of that epic, historic event?

Bob Shank

___
Discover the locations of our new cohort launches! CLICK HERE