My predictions for Super Tuesday: Living in our tri-polar world

I am writing these words on the morning of Super Tuesday as
voting is beginning.

As Americans in fourteen states cast ballots for presidential
candidates, I predict that Bernie Sanders will sweep California and go on to a
resounding victory across the country, making his nomination all but
inevitable.

Or, I predict that Joe Biden will win enough delegates in
Texas and the South to make himself a genuine second candidate if not the
frontrunner.

Or, I predict that Elizabeth Warren wins enough delegates in
Massachusetts and elsewhere to continue in the race as a liberal alternative to
Sanders.

Or, I predict that Michael Bloomberg’s national campaign
structure and massive spending will make him a viable candidate alongside the
others.

Or, I predict that none of the above will happen.

We will know more tomorrow, obviously. That’s the way life
works in our tri-polar world: we remember the past, prepare for the future, and
live in the present.

God’s word encourages all three.

Living in our tri-polar world

Moses wrote Deuteronomy in large part to remind the Jewish
people of their past so they could choose to serve and follow God in the
present. The book of Revelation was given in large part to encourage God’s
people that the future would bring deliverance from persecution and the
glorious reign of Jesus.

But Jesus, while urging us to learn from the past and
prepare for the future, consistently calls us to serve him in the present. Luke
9:23 is his word to us: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (my emphasis).

This is because today is the only day there is. We live our
lives as if they were a movie reel composed of frames. This moment is the
present frame. The previous frames led to this moment, which leads to the next.
But this is the only day there is. “Yesterday” is a memory;
“tomorrow” is a hope; but “today” is a reality.

Helen…