The title to this blog is taken from an October 10, 2016 piece written by Eric Ericson. Eric
Ericson worked for Red State and is a radio voice for conservative politics . Maybe most importantly Ericson is a devout follower of Jesus Christ. During the last several months he has decided, on moral and spiritual grounds, along with people such as John Piper and Max Lucado, to come out against the candidacy of Donald Trump for President. As a result of his vocal opposition angry Trump supporters showed up at his home and at his office harassing and threatening. Angry people also harassed his advertisers and radio station, his wife and his young children.
The violent response to his personal political positions has taken a professional toll but more importantly a personal toll which he continues to deal with. In April he went into the hospital and has been back into the hospital multiple times due to blood clots forming in his lungs. His wife has been diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer that only affects non-smoking women. The diseases cannot be blamed in their entirety on Donald Trump but the never ending harassment and threats of the last several months has contributed significantly to the worsening of his health. Someone who threatens to throw political opponents into jail without a trial before a judge and jury scares children and their parents!
For the first time he has had to deal with the possibility that he and his wife will not live to see their children grow to adulthood. So Ericson wrote down what he wanted his children to know when he and his wife are gone from this earth.
Because his children have been harassed at school he wants his children to first know he has always loved them and always wanted to keep them safe. He wants them to know that on many nights he and his wife stood in the shadows of their children’s bedrooms and watched their children sleep. This was true even when he could not protect his seven year old from verbal taunts at school.
He wants his children to know that God is real and should something happen to their parents his children should never blame God. He wants his children to love Jesus more than they love their Dad or Mom.
He wants them to be bolder than their Dad. He apologizes to his children for not opposing Trump earlier than he did. He admits that business considerations affected him. What about book sales? What about losing my job and what about my family and home? The collective freak out of friends and church people weighed heavily on him. But He declares he should have done it earlier. He should have trusted the Lord.
He wants his children to know that not only is winning not everything, it is not even close to being the most important thing. Pressure will always be brought to bear but integrity always matters more.
His last word to his children declares that when faith grows strong, it conflicts more and more with politics and polite society. Into the hands of the greatest, most disciplined military force the Christ was delivered only to see that discipline break down. They mocked him and tortured him. On the cross, the religious order also broke down. The priests and rabbis mocked him. Yet somehow the sins of the whole world, including those of the 2016 election cycle, were piled on Jesus and he atoned for us all. Astonishing us all, this same Jesus conquered death and now rules as the ascended Lord of the world. When we collapse and we do, Christ still rules and reigns forevermore.
He says, “I want my children to know this. Because as they go through this fallen world there will be so much pressure on them, as there is on their parents, to conform to the world. And they must not be afraid to stand for the collapse of all things so that the one thing that truly matters stands tall.”
Finally, he describes to his children a fallen world and a nation turning in upon itself. His children must know there is no escape from this world and its decay. Yet he wants his children to see another day coming-no tears, no sickness, no cancer, no death, no false accusations. He points his children to the other side.
So I too declare, “If I die before you wake, I want my children and my grandchildren to know these things.”