I had to stop myself sometimes-- especially if the subject was important-- at least to consider, "Wait. What if they're right?"

Sometimes I was ready to say no before they even opened their mouth, ready to joke with my enlightened friends about whatever it was.

No matter what, as Christians we have to be committed to a radical valuing of others. Sometimes that leads to mercy. Sometimes it leads to discipline -- but always from the standpoint of valuing others.

May God guide our consciences on the details.

Now, going beyond the class, we humans are people of extremes. We also are good at deceiving ourselves. We sometimes overreact to one extreme and go to the other.

How we play out basic human value can get complicated. For example, Christians can legitimately disagree on issues like capital punishment. How should a society handle unauthorized immigration -- Christians can disagree.

Then let God decide which is which. He is the One who knows everything we do not know.

Might I ask anyone who is concerned -- whether you believe in God or not -- to pray tomorrow for the good of the nation? I ask you to pray generically and let God fill in the details. "Lord, may righteousness prevail in the nation. May wickedness be defeated."

But we might be martyred in the meantime. We might face great pain and suffering on the earth. We are not promised that things will always get better down here.

Those who are in Christ will be glorified in eternity. We will be conformed to the image of Christ in resurrection when our bodies are redeemed. This is the sense in which all things are destined for good to those who love God and are called to this eternal purpose.

Most say it plays into some greater good we cannot always see. In the end, we just have to believe that God is in control and will act justly.

What makes America a great society is that we have created systems so that no one is supposed to fall through the cracks because people like me don't see them. It does cost a lot of money. But, just maybe, that's exactly the way Jesus would want it.

For what it's worth...

It's easy for me to ignore those who aren't or to blame them for having problems I don't have.