I feel like I'm on an airline flight, and the flight attendant is on the intercom saying, "This is no drill-assume the crash position!"

If you haven't looked at your retirement account in the last week, don't-unless you do so under close medical supervision. You'll want the guy with the paddles standing by when you read the bottom line on your account.

These are truly interesting times for America. The economic meltdown and Wally's freefall is changing the landscape of America, and the resulting panic is affecting everyone. Home foreclosures, job layoffs, and retirement uncertainties-the rain is falling on the just and the unjust. And the headlines are dotted with examples of crazy reactions to our looming financial crisis.

*One unemployed accounting industry worker, living in an upscale gated community in SoCal, took out his despondency on his family. Faced with debt pressures and house foreclosure, he killed his wife, mother-in-law, and three children before killing himself, explaining in a suicide note that it was more "honorable" to kill his family and not just himself.

*Big-whigs from AIG, after being bailed out by the government to the tune of $85 billion, celebrated by going on a week-long retreat to a luxury resort in California, spending $440,000 in taxpayer money on manicures and spa time.

And through it all, we have two-pardon the term-bozos who are yelling taunts at each other because each wants to sit in the White House.

At this stage, I think either one would say what he wants in order to get elected-and they do. Both play loose with the facts in debates and on the campaign trail.

Sometimes I think the response of the Christian community is to shout "Give us a Christian President! Give us a man (or a woman) with character, integrity, and God in his life, and the rest will take care of itself."

Sounds almost like the nation of Israel in Samuel's day, "Give us a King!" Or even more like the followers of Jesus who wanted to see him come in power and help them overthrow Rome.

What makes your blood boil more-the fact that you are going to have to pay higher taxes, or the fact that millions are all around us having to pay for their own sin by spending eternity in hell? See, we're like the guy in LA who killed his family-more concerned about ourselves than the others around us. He needed a whole lot more than a job and lower taxes-he needed a fundamental change of heart, to see the value of life and his relationship to his Creator. If he had encountered Christ, he and his children might still be alive today. But he could only see with his eyes, not his heart. And his eyes told him that the kingdom he had worked so hard for was going up in smoke.

I'm all for voting for integrity. I don't want a repeat of the White House moral dalliances from the 90's. I'm just not looking to vote for the "pastor" of America, as some seem to want to do.

I guess my point is, I've never felt like the folks in Washington were the ultimate answer. My hope is not in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it's in the Courts of Heaven.

I'm not interested in trying to help sweep the Kingdom of Obama or McCain into power. Neither can or will provide the changes our nation needs. Oh, I'll vote-for what I consider to be the lesser of two evils. But my expectations of what will happen with a new administration are rather low.

Edmund Burke was right when he said "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." We need Christians involved in government-we need more Josephs in Egypt and Daniels in Babylon, and more Christ-followers in Washington.

But D.C. can't produce laws that will change a man's heart, because they aren't in the heart-changing business. That's God's work. That comes with spiritual awakening, a real renewal of the things of God in our land, something we haven't seen in quite awhile.

Jesus didn't come to sweep anybody into power. He came to usher in the Kingdom of God. He knew it would take a heart change for the world to change. His disciples were greatly disappointed (even frustrated at times?) that he didn't charge into Rome, the very seat of power, and perform a few miracles to get the Roman government off the backs of the Jews. But He was resolute-"My kingdom is not of this world," he said in John 18:36. Interestingly enough, the apostle Paul wanted to go to Rome too, but with the heart of the gospel, not the sword. Who knows but that he might have had an audience with Caesar himself before he died?

So vote on the first Tuesday in November. And of course, we should stay politically involved all the way from the Dog Catcher to the White House. Write the letters, the emails. Make the phone calls. As Patrick Morley says, "We can't legislate the heart, but we can restrain it for the common good."

Just understand that if you are a Christian, you have an even higher calling. For you are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. That means we don't panic when times get tough. It also means we recognize that God is still on His throne and in control of this world. "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases." (Prov. 21:1)

No matter who wins the election-God is still in control. Even when it seems like you're about to crash.