Time doesn't heal political wounds, Communication does.

"Am I ready to write this?" I keep asking myself.

You see, 11 days ago, a friend responded to my "Experiencing the Election Blues" article I wrote. Her message very lovingly admonished me for being "offensive" in the article and to consider the other side of the coin. She shared that friends have come to her in tears at the prospect of losing jobs or having family members deported. As well as for fear of the rise in hatred that has been expressed to them by those who feel it is now okay to do so.

I am not grieved that the election of Trump has exposed the hatred of those who are racist, but I am grieved that there exists such racism. I am grieved that such racism exists and am also grieved that racism is fought against with violence. I will grieve with those who grieve...but will not be violent towards those who are violent.

But if I only grieve with those who grieve and do not rejoice with those who rejoice, I will fail to see the other side of the coin as well, will I not?

I am not a Hillary fan. I am not a clone of Trump. Am I biased at times? Absolutely! Are you?

But I will seek here to give a response on why I can both grieve and carry-on. I will do this by lovingly responding to an article that my friend sent me from the other side. It's written by John Pavlovitz entitled, "Here's Why We Grieve".

• Diversity

John writes: Hillary spoke about a diverse America; one where religion or skin color or sexual orientation or place of birth aren’t liabilities or deficiencies or moral defects.

That is all great, I believe in a diverse America as well. America has been known as a "melting pot" and I think it's amazing that people from so many different cultures can come together and live under the freedom America has to offer. I am not against immigrants, I understand them, many of them are my friends. But if someone broke into your house and started living with you, using your food, your medicine, etc. Wouldn't you be a bit offended and ask the police to come kick them out? What if the person told you, "Well, that's not fair, because I also washed your dishes, mowed your lawn, and swept your floor?" Would you be okay with it then? Probably not, because they still were not invited into your house, you didn't ask them to do those things. However, if someone came to you and told you, "Hey, my name is Mario, I have been out of a job for 6 years, barely making it, there is no clean water where I live, my child is suffering from malnutrition, my wife's legs were chopped off because of our beliefs, could I please stay at your home for awhile until I can get my feet on the ground. I will help around the house, repair the roof, etc." I would like to think that in the latter scenario we would let the person in or at least help them out in some sort of way.

Even if in both cases the person had the same problems, one of them is approaching their situation in the wrong way and the other one is doing it the right way. I have no issue with immigrants coming in from Syria, Mexico, Central America, etc; the US is a rich country, I say "Come!" BUT, come the RIGHT way. Do not get me wrong, I do not approve mistreating other human beings, but I do believe in doing things legally. If you didn't come into the country legally, do not be upset when you are legally kicked out of the country.

But there is so much more to diversity than simply race. What about age? What about babies? If we claim to be all inclusive and diverse. Let's outlaw the killing of babies who are born in our country.

On the flip-side to Clinton's "diverse America", John says those who voted for Trump have endorsed a vision of America that is excluded and isolated. If that's what I was endorsing, I would not have voted for a man whose wife is not from America. I do endorse legal immigrants coming into America. If you voted for Hillary, does that mean you endorse abortions? I hope not.

• Freedom of Speech

Every horrible thing Donald Trump ever said about women or Muslims or people of color has now been validated.
Every profanity-laced press conference and every call to bully protestors and every ignorant diatribe has been endorsed.
Every piece of anti-LGBTQ legislation Mike Pence has championed has been signed-off on.

Half of our country has declared these things acceptable, noble,American. -John Pavlovitz

Robby Soave, whose article is published on Reason.com shares his view that the reason Trump won was because he convinced Americans that he would destroy "political correctness". He says:

There is a cost to depriving people of the freedom (in both the legal and social senses) to speak their mind. The presidency just went to the guy whose main qualification, according to his supporters, is that he isn't afraid to speak his.

I am not endorsing racism or being anti-LGBTQ. However, their is amounted frustration in not being able to speak our opinion. Leftists want all the freedom to do and be whatever they want, but when a conservative voices their opinion on a matter, we are often immediately called "racist uneducated bigots". Our freedoms, not just as conservatives but as Americans, have been gradually disappearing. Our government has been brain-washing our kids into a "me" mentality. "What do I want? What do I feel? What are my rights?" So now we have a generation of people who think that whatever they want they should get, without having to work for it. We have people who are so focused on their feelings, they do not stop to consider whether what they are doing is right or wrong (partly why we have serial killers). People who are so focused on their "rights" that they do not see how their "rights" are affecting the RIGHTS of other people (abortion, for example).

While sadly, there are Trump supporters who are racist and all those terrible things, there is a great majority who voted for him because they decided to stand up for our freedom as Americans (not just their own, I might add, but yours too).

So when John says,

We’re angry because our candidate’s losing means this country will be less safe, less kind, and less available to a huge segment of its population, and that’s just the truth.

What he is not seeing, is that the majority of people who voted for Trump, did not just vote against Clinton for themselves, but for your freedom as well. The book of Proverbs, from the Bible, quite often says, "Listen, my child". Us young people, really struggle with that, do we not? We are like teenagers who think we know everything and will not listen to our parents. America, right now has lots of young people, who are not listening to wisdom. I struggle to listen, my first reaction when I hear something I do not like, is to SPEAK UP AGAINST IT. That's why writing this article has been such a challenge, because it has been 11 days of listening to both sides as well as turning to the Scriptures for guidance.

When God created us, He created us with freedom of choice. We can choose to believe what we believe; we can choose to be lesbian, gay, or bisexual; we can choose whatever we want. But there are consequences, and we can also choose to listen to wisdom and to turn away from those consequences by turning away from our sin.

I choose to go against "political correctness" because "political correctness" is not always "biblical correctness". Because I choose to have the choice of listening to wisdom. With a president that has a liberal agenda, wisdom will be taken out of the country just as Bibles were taken out of schools. We will only hear what they want us to hear (we are already receiving this through mainstream media). But I CHOOSE to be able to listen to wisdom and other people's opinions. Which is why I have not shut Liberals out, but have weighed their reasons with God's wisdom.

• Love

John goes on to say in his article:

And it is not only that these things have been ratified by our nation that grieve us; all this hatred, fear, racism, bigotry, and intolerance—it’s knowing that these things have been amen-ed by our neighbors, our families, our friends, those we work with and worship alongside. That is the most horrific thing of all.

I have been trying to think of one person that I know who voted for Trump who is full of "hatred, fear, racism, bigotry, and intolerance." In fact, all the people, I know, who voted for Trump are just the opposite of that. They are lights in their communities, they help their neighbors, they go on missions trips, they love learning about other cultures, they are missionaries to African and Latino countries, they have family and friends who hate them for their point of view but they patiently pray for them. They sympathize lovingly with the difficulties of the gay community even though they do not agree with their lifestyle. And I can say exactly the same things about my friends who voted for Clinton, they also love and embrace people of different cultures and lifestyles.

Do not go around saying that we "Amen" hatred, bigotry, racism, and intolerance. I do not believe all those who voted for Clinton "Amen" her sending private confidential e-mails to "enemy" countries, I do not believe my friends who voted for Clinton, said "Amen", to abortions, I do not believe women who voted for Clinton endorsed men to rape women just as I don't believe women who voted for Clinton endorsed their wives to cover up the rape.

So what do I endorse? I endorse love. Not the kind that the world describes, not self-love. Love that lays down its life for others. Love that speaks the truth, even when it hurts. Love that approaches a brother or sister in sin and encourages them to turn around. Love that does not tolerate sin but grieves over it. Love that puts God and His Word first and says, "Is this the President you have given us? Ok, we will be the church, we will love and pray for those who persecute us. We will submit to our authorities when it's not the popular thing to do, because we love our God first and foremost."

On behalf of all like-minded citizens, we sympathize with the pain and fear you are going through. But know that we stand with you. Know that we did not vote for ourselves but for you as well. Know that we do not glorify Trump and all that he says. Know that when we are given a chance to speak for you, we will. But know also that as true followers of Christ we will not join in the violence, know that if we are slapped on one cheek we will offer you our other cheek, know that we love you and in that love we will also reprimand you, and we ask the same of you.