Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode we're asking the question, can we start with a resume? This is prompted by an interesting article I read the New York Times recently by Brett Stevens, asking if Gavin Newsom will be the Democrats next mistake. Gavin Newsom, Governor, of California. Political, aspiring presidential candidate, Political entity for sure, at least at this point, the front runner to be the Democratic nominee in 2028. What Stevens is arguing in his piece, and I think appropriately so, is that Gavin Newsom, is unquestionably a presidential candidate. He, he's out there on all the talk shows. He, he is clearly posturing himself. And he looks like a presidential candidate. He's tall, he's handsome. he was probably captain of whatever sports team he played on in high school. He just kind of got that vibe. To him, he is a presidential candidate. He is also or has been an awful governor of California. The stats are overwhelmingly negative. Let me just throw some of them by you. California ranks last in the United States on affordability. Median house prices in California are $755,000. the, the affordability rate is so high that in some counties in California, even if you make six figures, you are considered low income. That's how expensive it is to live there. It is tied for the highest poverty rate in the nation. And there's a $600,000 gap between the of earners and the bottom 20%. homelessness is an epidemic in California. One in every 200 Californians is homeless, one in every 200. And the state makes up for 44% of the country's homelessness rate. In fact, between 2020 and 2025, nearly 1.3 million residents left the state due to high taxes, unaffordable housing and sluggish job growth. He's also extremely lib how he tries to position himself, affirming policies like putting biological males in women's prisons and allowing state, the state and school boards to hide gender transitioning teenagers from their parents. And I guess this is what I'm just saying, forget politics for a second. Democrats, Republicans, because they all do this. Can we just start by saying, let me see your resume? I think we fall in love with handsome people, people who have money. We just wanna be around them. And so we want them to be our leaders. We're still kind of the kid who get picked last in kickball, wanting so badly to be friends with the kid who did the picking. But Jesus says this in Luke 16:10, whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much. In other words, what you've done in the past with what you've been entrusted with is what you will do in the future. I don't care how handsome news or how good he is at political maneuvering. If you can't run the state of California without running it into the ground, you can't run the country. And this doesn't go for the Democrats only. It goes for both political parties. But it mostly goes for us because we're so caught up in the 24 hour news cycle in the social media world that we want handsome, we want interesting, we want exciting, we want shocking over substance. I just wish that the first round of nominations went like this. We're going to give you a resume, but not a face. A resume, but not a name. We're going to show you this person's track record of actually being able to lead, of actually being able to manage with the idea that if they were really good at what they were doing, they're probably going to be really good at what they will do. I got to be honest with you, I don't care what they look like on camera. And, I don't even care if they can, quote, unquote, win a debate, which really results in being able to communicate out loud the angriest tweet that's going to get retweeted for the next 24 hours. I want someone who is qualified to lead. And according to Jesus, that's someone who has been faithful with the little that they have. Look, I can shake my fist at, the Democrats and Republicans all I want, but I know this. They just want to win. They just want to be in power. They are giving us the candidates they believe we want. If I want the restaurant to change their menu, I've got to stop ordering the bad food they're serving today. Can we please become voters who look for substance over sizzle? Jesus warned us, faithfulness, stewardship, that's what matters in a leader. Not looks and not the ability to sell on television. We're a couple of years away from a presidential election, which means the time is now to reorient our thinking so that we can find a way out of the mess our country is currently in. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And While you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC App app where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!