Maybe it’s my age.  Maybe it’s not being able to turn my mind away from all the things I must do before leaving for Ecuador.  Whatever it is – I hate when it shows up!  Insomnia!   I commanded my body to sleep.  I claimed sleep.  I rebuked lack of sleep.  I even rebuked my husband who dared to sleep!

Alas, I got up and went to the living room, and dropped on the sofa.  Sleep still stayed as far away as possible, so I decided to turn on the television to see if it would put me to sleep.  (Yes, I know I could pray and read, but I wanted to veg out!)

There is little that I care to watch, but I saw “The Match Game” was an option.  I remember as a child watching the “The Match Game,” so I thought I would check it out.   Let me speak in the Amplified Version:  I was shocked, appalled, disturbed, astonished, and stunned!

This one-hour game show would have been “R” rated when I was a child.  The filth that was so funny and acceptable to everyone, was distressing to me.   At first, as a nation, we slowly walked to  the edge, and now it seems we are in full-blown free fall in accepting the unacceptable.

Am I here to bash the USA?  NEVER!  I love this country.  I lead a daily prayer group of about two hundred and fifty people, and our sole purpose is to pray for the United States of America.  I still get tears in my eyes when I see Olympians from the USA win a medal, and stand on a podium while The Star Spangled Banner is played.  I cry when I see vets come home to reunite with their loved ones.   I love this country.

It is also true that, as a nation, we have gone in directions that God never intended, and we are paying the price.  Let’s not beat the obvious problem to death.  What is the answer?

God’s people are the answer.

When Our Lord, Jesus Christ, came to this earth, He didn’t start  a club.  He started the Church.  Oh, I know, it technically was birthed on the day of Pentecost, but without Jesus, there would be no Church.  Jesus began changing people, who began changing their world.

Jesus said it this way, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18).   Jesus declared that He was building a Church, strong enough to have victory over death, hell and the grave.

If you have accepted Christ as Savior, you are part of the Church, the called out ones. Jesus, in essence, said, “I am going to change the lives of people, and build my Church (the called out) with them, and they will be called out and different from the culture.   It will be a Church that can stand against all that hell represents.”

What if the Church became the Church that Jesus described?  What if I became the Christian Jesus described?  If we stopped blending in with the culture, and become those Christians, what difference would it make in the Church?  And, if the Church began to walk closely with God, what difference would it make in the city … the state … the nation?

God said this is how a nation is healed: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV).

If we want to see our land healed, God says that it starts with His people.  The hope for America is God, and God works through His Church.