The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Opinion

Discussion

June 18, 2012

Rick Nichols, guest columnist: Virtuous is as virtuous does

By Rick Nichols Special to The Globe

AIRPORT DRIVE, Mo. — Three years later I’m still “feeling Minnesota” (i.e., coping with the lingering aftereffects of my disappointing experience at the 2009 Great American Think-Off in New York Mills, Minn.). Just the same, I’m hardly feeling defeated, even though my faith-based approach to decision making obviously wasn’t well received in a state that had already elected a former wrestler to be the governor and a former comedian to be a U.S. senator.

Minnesota, I might add, has also elected a Muslim to be a U.S. representative, and while this undoubtedly doesn’t sit well with professing Christians who maintain that God never intended for America to be anything other than a Christian nation, I can’t let it bother me.

By the same token, it doesn’t particularly thrill me to know that Missouri legislators who were largely raised on Judeo-Christian values want to see Sharia law outlawed in the Show-Me State. Because while I firmly believe in the accuracy of Psalm 33:12: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance,” I also realize that ultimately I will be judged not on the basis of my country’s faith but rather on the extent to which I was faithful to the Lord.

So three years ago when I was asked this question: “Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?” I had to say “no.” And my answer would be “no” today. Why? Because I’ve been commanded to do the right thing in any situation, regardless of the circumstances, leaving it up to God to deal with the potential consequences of my actions.

Having somehow survived the Joplin tornado, then, I can’t allow my personal preferences to interfere with my desire to help with the task at hand: rebuilding a city with bricks and mortar, hugs and handshakes, love and prayers. Do I refuse to work on a house just because the future occupants are of another faith, practice an alternative lifestyle, speak a different language, or hold extreme views politically? Of course not.

Because as I labor in the trenches, so to speak, on behalf of the Lord, I’m continually reminded of the apostle Paul’s charge to the church at Galatia: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Being at once a believer and a temporary citizen of a secular state, I always find myself at that proverbial fork in the road with an all-important decision to make. I can either choose to be dismayed by the fact that there are those who want the phrase “under God” to be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, curse this present darkness and do nothing, or choose to roll up my sleeves, grab a hammer and drive some nails, counting the cost in time and energy as a gain and giving hope to others in the process.

For me, the correct choice is crystal clear. I’m the “hero” someone else is waiting for.



Rick Nichols now lives in Leavenworth, Kan.

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