I want to begin to chronicle, for posterity, the seismic shift that has been taking place in my heart and life over the last couple of years.  All of this is a work in progress.  I do not know where all of this is going or how it will all work out, but I am not the same person that I once was.

If any of my statements in this series seems incomplete to you, understand this: I am incomplete.  God is still refining me into His image.

If any of this runs counter to your beliefs, I ask you one favor: see this through with me to the end.  Give me your feedback and comments but understand that this is a work in progress.

Back in the early 90′s I was chairman of the Wilson Country (TN) Young Republicans.  I remember in the aftermath of the Clinton election receiving phone calls from members of the GOP in the area, asking if I had considered running for any local office.

I had subscriptions to National Review, The Conservative Chronicle, The American Spectator and The Limbaugh Letter.

I had Rush Limbaugh’s TV show programmed on my VCR and the EIB tuned in each afternoon.

I had my bumper sticker that read “I did not vote for the dope from Hope.”

I had an understanding of who our enemies were: those who might try to restore communism, Middle-Eastern Nations, Democrats, Tree-Huggers, Feminazis and Ivy-league educated liberal snobs.

I had an intense desire to protect our “rights” as Christians lest we find our faith outlawed.

I had stringent views on immigration and affirmative action to ward against middle-class white men becoming the true minority in this country.

I had condescension toward “tree-hugger’s” and “environmentalist wacko’s” who valued the earth too much.

I had a healthy dose of indignation toward homosexuals, criminals, and other members of the detritus of life.

I had moral outrage in the capacity of this nation to elect a morally-bankrupt president.

I had an understanding that America was God’s means of achieving His purposes in a lost and dying world.  Our military dominance was imperative to maintaining the cause of Christ.

Yes, I had all of this.

I had it all figured out.

But I had not love.

Little did I fully realize how central love was to becoming like Christ.

(Coming up: How a White House Sex Scandal provoked an unexpected response)