America has reached ‘emergency’ status and there is an unexpected solution to our woes

OPINION:

The problem with America isn’t Kamala Harris. Nor is it Donald Trump. The problem with America isn’t Congress or the Deep State or the FBI or even DEI.

The problem with America is the direction we’re looking, which is usually, almost always — down. You have two options: you can look down, gathering your actionable intel from social media — or you can look up, gathering your wisdom from God.

Subscribe to have The Washington Times’ Higher Ground delivered to your inbox every Sunday.

The country is destined to go in the direction of your eyes. If your attention is down, reacting to the situation on the ground, we’ll lose. But if you look up to consider who you are in the grander cosmic order, and what God could be doing with our nation, then my friends, we can win. God is bigger than any of our problems.

Americans just need to look up.

I spent 11 years flying advanced fighter jets like the F-18, so what I am about to tell you may come as a surprise. Flying a fighter jet is not that hard.

Really. Sure, there are some complicated systems, and sure, you’re going the speed of sound, and yeah, people are shooting at you. But the basics are pretty simple. There are only two main things to remember while flying:

1. When you push the control stick forward, the houses get bigger.
2. When you pull the stick back, the houses get smaller.

That’s pretty much it.

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. Why all the flight training if you only need to learn two things? Why all those years in flight school? Why the endless flight checks, tests, and evaluations? What do they have to do with anything?

Quite a lot, it turns out, because while flying a faster-than-the-speed-of-sound airplane is surprisingly simple, complicated circumstances show up from time to time.

Pilots call these circumstances “emergencies.”

During my tenure as a Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot, I faced a number of life-threatening moments. One time, I once lost an engine 800 miles away from land over the shark-infested waters of the Pacific. A few years later, I almost died when my plane went out of control (also over sharks). The only reason I made it home each day was the sheer power of focus. I didn’t have time to check my social media status while plunging toward the ground. I had one thing on my mind: I wanted to live!

Now, I think it’s safe to say that the situation in America has reached “emergency” status. I travel the country and speak with hundreds of thousands of people. The overall confidence in our leaders (and in our system) is nearing zero. The situation on the ground looks bleak, and it’s getting worse.

But then again, I have been in extreme situations before. Heck, I’ve been shot at. And I know from experience that it’s always darkest before the dawn. Like every great movie, victory comes at the last minute, in the most unexpected way.

Ronald Reagan was right: There aren’t easy answers, but there are simple ones. If Americans focused on living out God’s ways, things would right themselves. Want to cure the environment? Delight in God and take good care of His things. Want crime to plummet? Love your neighbor, care for the poor, and don’t seek revenge. Want to cure the healthcare crisis? Take care of your body.

The politicians talk about how big our problems are. But they are not as big as the God we serve.

This means now is the perfect time to “look up” and have a simple conversation with God. It’s time to get his opinion on things. Everything will change if your first move (every day) is an easy dialogue with God. And it won’t be just you who changes. Can you imagine how quickly our nation would change if we just turned to our Creator (instead of social media) for our answers?

Listen: ever since I wrote my book “God Talks,” I have taught tens of thousands of people how to have a daily, two-way conversation with God. (I’ve even taught atheists to hear from God — yes, that really happens.) Talking to God is so simple. So accessible. And I know this might sound crazy, but there is a historical precedent to “looking up.”

After the embargo on Boston in 1774, national leaders called a day of prayer.

They did the same thing in 1776 — which, as it turned out, was kind of an important year.

President John Adams called a day of fasting and prayer on the eve of war with France in 1798.

President James Madison did it again in 1812.

On three separate occasions, President Abraham Lincoln called for national days of fasting and prayer.

Now I know the election is important. But hear me out: you can have the “right” president, Congress, and Supreme Court justices and still get it all wrong. (Been there — done that.) But if only America would turn its attention to God, everything would change. And those issues we’ve been battling about so fiercely. Those will disappear overnight when hearts change.

I know it sounds easy. That’s because it is easy.

I want all Americans to vote. But why don’t we try praying first? Ask God what work we need to do on ourselves. See what happens. Give it a shot. Have a two-way conversation with God. And while you’re there, ask him about your country. You’ll discover a good chat with someone who cares about you (and America) a lot.

You can do this.

–

Ed Rush is a fighter pilot and a card-carrying member of the Million Mistake Club. Despite failing kindergarten, Ed graduated from Top Gun. Despite typing like a chicken on amphetamines, Ed wrote several best-selling books.

Ed’s hobbies include hiking, golf, fly fishing, and writing his own bio in the third person. He lives in San Diego with his wife, four offspring, and a bearded dragon named Smaug.

His book God Talks: How to Have a Friendship with God (Even if You’ve Made a Million Mistakes) is changing the world, so get one now before they are all gone. You can get it all at: https://GodTalks.com