Before we can change a nation we must change our homes.

The election, which divided the country in the preceding months, has left a gouge across the nation in its post-election outcome. Verbal protests and physical violence are being reported every day.

Now, I am just one little citizen who cast one little vote. As I went to the polls I saw my choices as voting for a Crook or a Crazy. Yes, I could have voted for a third party or even used the write-in slot and I debated that back and forth throughout the long months leading up to the election; but I realized voting that way wasn’t going to help. If I wanted to protect what I valued I needed to vote for one of the Two.

At some point my vote leaned toward each of the candidates in turn—in fact, I was constantly back and forth between the two until Election Morning. Finally, in the end, I did vote for one of them—not because I wanted that person in office but because I realized I did not want the other person there. This election, for the first time ever, I cast my vote—not to put someone into office but to try and keep the other person out.

Who got my one, tiny vote doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I’m not protesting nor acting like a spoiled child in the store who was just told they couldn’t have the toy they wanted; nor taunting another child because their toy was taken away. (Personally, I didn’t want either toy but that is not my direction here.)

Why am I not protesting? Because I realize two things.

One--in the big picture, the President of the United States is simply a figurehead. He or She wields no real power except in the Executive sense. In other words, the President is the biggest “Yes-Man” or “Yes-Woman” in the world. The real power in this Nation is held by our Legislative Branch—our elected Representatives and Senators. (The term “Congress” is a blanket term used to describe the collective powers of the House and Senate. A Congressman is either a Representative or a Senator.)

Sure, the President can sign or veto laws presented by the “Congress”. However, if the law is vetoed, it is sent back to the House and the Senate and can still be brought to law no matter what the President said by a “Simple Majority” vote or by a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate.

As for committing our soldiers to war, the President technically has that power but, again, it is limited and can be rejected by Congress.

The only real power the President holds is the power to appoint; and most of those appointments will change when the Presidency does. The only appointment that has any lasting effect on the nation is the Presidential power to appoint a judge to the Supreme Court.

That said, the real power in this nation is NOT held by the President…disappointing as it may be to every protester and naysayer out there. It is held by our elected officials in the House and the Senate. In our Nation, the President always functions with one hand tied behind his or her back and our Representatives and Senators hold that rope.

Two—and here is the bigger view I have. Whenever there is a swing in political power it is GOOD. Power swings mean that that groups who were not the pet-projects of the previous power will now get their time of needed attention. It means that no one special interest group will dominate for decades.

Yes, in our country, ALL the wheels squeak ALL the time. Every group needs and wants political attention. Every power swing mean that a new and different wheel will now get their much needed oiling…and we should be glad for the members of those groups. Glad because we know how much we benefited when our causes were oiled.

And when a power shift means OUR groups won’t be getting enough oil we can remember that it is very difficult for a new President to rescind any previous laws or protections. We will still be protected because the advances made under a previous president are not easily cast aside. They will remain while a new President—only with the approval and support of Congress—focuses on helping other groups make new advancements. The democratic process of our nation is a win-win process. We just have to wait awhile for our turn sometimes, and allow others to have their turns.

Now here is something else I know. And this is the hardest admission of all. The Presidential office does not have a “trickle down” effect. The President will not ruin our national core and fiber. Only we will do that. And if we don't like the direction our nation is headed we do NOT need to look to the President. We need to look in the mirror.

Because “individuals” vote in each President, the Presidential Office is an upward reflection of our individual values! Each President--who is a product of the homes in this nation--shows what we are, or are not, teaching in the home. (Schools cannot override the influence of the home, so don’t even try to pin that responsibility on the school system.)

If we do not like who is voted into office, rather than ransack and scream and show our hatred, we should go back to our homes and start there to teach and MODEL values of tolerance, kindness, and forgiveness. Then, maybe in 20 years we will elect a President who truly reflects those values. Before we can change a nation we must change our homes.

And that change won’t happen if we are out on the streets. It will happen only as we quietly and consistently gather our children and family members around us in love and tolerance, and teach them that the worth of all souls is great—even those souls who will be helped by a President we may or may not have voted for.

Did Judah sin with Tamar?

"Hollywood doesn’t need a script, they just need the Bible," someone joked in Sunday School.

The entire class laughed. After all, we were going through the lesson of Joseph--who was sold into Egypt by his own brothers--and our 21st century Anglo-Saxon tour bus was taking some interesting side-trips into the lives of those siblings.

But to judge the people of the Bible by our own society is unfair…to them and us.

Take, for example, the story of Judah. Judah married a Canaanite woman. The Canaanites were descended from Canaan, who was the son of Ham, Noah’s son. Remember, Noah said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren…Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant” (Gen. 9:25-26) That was not just a statement but a divine promise and prophecy! Through Shem would come the blessed lineage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and eventually, Jesus.

So why did Judah marry a Canaanite? Jewish scripture records that Judah’s brothers were angry with Judah for influencing them to sell Joseph. "You told us to sell him. Had you told us to return him to our father we also would have listened to you." (Exodus Raba, 42,3)

So, Judah sought refuge with his friend, Hirah, in Adullam and--as the Jewish sages point out--the sale of Joseph resulted in the loss of two brothers not just one. And “Judah went down from his brothers and turned away towards an Adullamite man whose name was Hirah.” (Genesis 38:1) (Later King David would also flee to Adullam and hide from his own enemies in the protective hills and caves there.)

While there, Judah married the Canaanite woman. Maybe, after what he did to Joseph, he felt he had lost the right of fathering the promised line, we don’t know--but we do know this…the Lord grants forgiveness and you can’t run from the Lord. The story of Judah and Tamar is a story of forgiveness and returning to the Lord's path.

Still trying to avoid that divine path himself, Judah married his son to a righteous woman, Tamar. In fact, the Jews tell us she had been prophetically told she would be the one to fulfill the promise and bear great kings and leaders through Judah's family. She married into the correct family yet, with Canaanite blood flowing through their veins, Judah’s sons could not produce that blessed lineage!

After Er and Onan were taken out of the picture, Judah told Tamar to wait for his youngest son to grow old enough to marry her. But we know those prophesied kings and leaders could not come from Judah’s Canaanite sons, no matter how hard Judah tried to change or avoid that calling! The responsibility lay with Judah, himself!

Tamar knew that, too.

Ancient marriages were not unions of couples but unions of family! If a husband died, another man from the same family was expected to complete any unfulfilled marriage promises made to the bride and her family--including the producing of heirs. (Later it was designated that an unwed brother would fulfill that calling but, at the time of Judah, any male in the family could accept the responsiblity.)

So the Lord made Judah a widower, hoping to nudge him toward providing the completion of marriage vows for Tamar and produce the promised heirs through the promised lineage. Still Judah tried to avoid the call and left the area.

His plan didn't work. (Our own plans, separate from the Lord's, rarely do.)

When Judah saw a veiled Tamar, not knowing her true identity and living beneath his own worth, he asked to sleep with her and promised to pay her a goat, giving her his signet, bracelets and staff as tokens of that promise. She, knowing her legal right and legal and divine claim on Judah, agreed and conceived.

Later, when Judah discovered that Tamar was pregnant, he grew furious. Afterall, he had not married her to his youngest son! Believing she had been unfaithful he sent for her, ordering her legal execution. (He had to send for her because he had still been avoiding her. We often do that. We avoid people when we try to avoid the Lord.)

When she arrived she spoke to Judah and showed him the signet, bracelets and staff. At that moment Judah realized two things: he was the legal father and Tamar did not sin! Despite the fact that Tamar had been veiled, no marriage laws had been broken. That is why he halted her execution and said “She hath been more righteous than I.”

As the patriarch of the family Judah was legally bound to provide the blessings of marriage to Tamar, either through his sons or himself. As the man of promised lineage, Judah, never his sons, was the one divinely established by the Lord to provide her with the promised heirs. And so it was that through their son, Pharez, came the prophesied royal lineage of King David and, later, the Messiah.

It is interesting to note that this event seemed to be an awakening for Judah. He understood he could no longer run from his responsibilities or his divine worth and he returned to his family. Still later, Judah offered himself as surety for Benjamin in order to save the entire family from famine. Judah, once cast out, now understood the importance of his family. Now, as a strong protector of that family, he stood forth to take the blame and face the consequences personally if anything happened to his younger brother.

So the story is about repentance and real change and restitution and it has lessons for us all.

Maybe Hollywood really does need the Bible.

To learn more about this story, see More on Tamar