Three names are doing an unusual dance in my brain right now, towering names that go back a long way with me. The first of those three names that I became acquainted with was Kennedy, as in former President John F. Kennedy. My grandfather, a university history professor, was obsessed with that name; he never bought the official story of Kennedy’s assassination — at all. I remember the white Styrofoam head he kept in his office showing bullet paths, and I remember the many arguments he was often embroiled in over what actually happened on that fateful November day in 1963.
Reagan was the next of the three names. My mother, ever the avid political watcher, prayed for weeks that he would win and kept me up late to watch the results in 1980, once again in November. His landslide win of 489 to 49 electoral votes, carrying 44 of 50 states, sent her to bed confident in the immediate future of America. And when he won in an even bigger landslide of 525-13 four years later, carrying 40 states, she was positively thrilled. I became a huge fan, even drawing a portrait of President Reagan and sending it to him.
Trump was the next, though my introduction to him was odder than to the others. I was in high school, somewhere around 1986 or 1987. We had spirit week, and one of the days was Dress Like Your Hero Day. A classmate whom I had only ever seen in jeans and a T-shirt came dressed to the nines that day, and when we asked him who he was portraying, he said, “Donald Trump.” I responded that I did not know who he was, and he answered, “You will; he is going to be the president someday.”
I largely forgot about that exchange, and even about Trump himself, until he actually did run for president. How that kid knew what he knew 30 or so years ahead of time, I have no idea; he was clearly way more in tune with consequential things than I was.
But I doubt that even he ever conceived of the idea that there would be something of a Kennedy/Reagan/Trump coalition. And yet, last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nephew of JFK, endorsed Donald Trump for president in the party of Reagan. To quote the bemused Agamemnon from the 2014 film “Mr. Peabody & Sherman, “I did *not* see that coming!”
And that is the interesting thing about both politics and life in general. There is just so much that we never see coming, both good and bad. We look for certainty, think we have found it, and then a week later, many of our best guesses are out the window. On this endorsement, my best guess is that it will be a help to former President Trump, as people hungry for unity see this as a good step in that direction. But I could wake up next week to find that everybody in the universe detests the idea; I have no certainty.
But there are some things of which I am certain, some spiritual and some not, some consequential and some trivial, things that I like to focus on whenever things in my mind and my world start to swirl.
I am certain that the Bible is the Word of God and that when I read it, I am reading his words not just to the world in general but also to me in particular. I am certain that Jesus was born of a virgin, was God in the flesh, lived a perfect life, died for the sins of absolutely everyone, rose again the third day and will save anyone who repents of their sin and trusts Christ as their risen Lord and Savior. I am certain that no one has sinned too badly to be eligible for that and that the blood of Christ still cleanses from all sin.
I am certain that the nuclear family is the most precious thing on Earth and the thing that brings more joy and stability and prosperity to a nation and to people than anything else. I am certain that anything done to weaken it or make it seem out of date is wicked and destructive. I am certain that the local church was started by Christ himself as he promised he would do, and that God’s command for us never to forsake it (Hebrews 10:25) is one of the most vital commands in all of Scripture. I am certain that churches all around the world do more to love and comfort and help and encourage people in their communities than anything or anyone else and that they largely do so quietly and humbly without seeking any glory or fanfare.
I am certain that I got the better end of the deal in my marriage, though for some reason, my bride seems to think otherwise. I am certain that my three children have grown up to be hard-working, generous, kind, amazing people. I am certain that my mother deserves an award of some kind for not killing me when I was the most smart-mouthed teenager in the history of the world.
I am certain that America has been a blessing to the world like no other. I am certain that she has liberated countless millions, asking for nothing in return. I am certain that her founding fathers were geniuses and built something that became both the envy and the goal of the entire world.
I am certain that people, in general, could be far healthier than they are if they would simply eat right and exercise. I am certain that Michael Jordan is the GOAT and that it is not particularly close. I am certain that “The Far Side” and “Calvin and Hobbes” are still national treasures. I am certain that mankind has a free will, and that anyone arguing otherwise has difficulty with logic, otherwise they would not try to argue people out of a position that, by their own position, they have no choice in.
And I am certain that I am out of room in the column, but not out of things of which I am certain.
Bo Wagner is pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, North Carolina, a widely traveled evangelist and the author of several books available on Amazon and at wordofhismouth.com. Email him at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.
