{"id":7819,"date":"2025-02-02T18:31:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T22:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/?p=7819"},"modified":"2025-02-02T18:31:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-02T22:31:34","slug":"an-inauguration-report-storms-winds-of-change-and-sunny-horizons-a-report-from-the-inauguration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/02\/an-inauguration-report-storms-winds-of-change-and-sunny-horizons-a-report-from-the-inauguration\/","title":{"rendered":"An Inauguration Report.Storms, Winds of Change, and Sunny Horizons. A Report From the Inauguration."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

02\/03\/2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World whispers, “You cannot withstand the storm.”
You respond, “I AM the storm.”
There are storms of life, a metaphor so common \u2013 unfortunately \u2013 as to be almost banal. Yes, we expect them, but too often we accept them with an attitude of resignation. We should reply with a \u201cFight! Fight!\u201d spirit, not inviting challenges and problems and crises, but prepared to assert ourselves defiantly.
Not only do storms come, but, we should remind ourselves, they come and go. Storms pass by\u2026 typically, they refresh the air and allow for new beginnings… and, as dark as skies may be, and violent the elements, above those storm-clouds the sun shines. Brightly and always.
I have not intended to traffic in cliches today, but these were natural thoughts during and after the Inauguration last week, which I attended with my fiancee Mickey. My thoughts went to weather and storms while we were in Washington because Inaugural plans were shifted and changed due to bitterly cold winds and precipitation. New thoughts return to those very locations as I write this: 10 days later the magnificence of the District and the memories of the impressive ceremonies have been marred by the horrific aircraft collision over the Potomac. We had taken photos from that very vantage-point; and my son, a TV news producer, lives within earshot of the fatal crash.
Storms come. Sometimes suddenly. But we need assurance that they pass too. I will share some thoughts and photos of Inauguration weekend, as I planned to do, with what I took away as larger implications.
Wanting to experience the citizens\u2019 points of view, we declined to attend the fancy Inaugural balls. Besides, we did not have tickets nor invitations. But I had secured tickets for the Citizens\u2019 Rally at the Cap One Arena scheduled for the eve of the swearing-in. One problem, known in advance, was that the organizers issued more tickets than (20,000) seats; that obliged us, and perhaps a hundred thousand others, to arrive in advance.
We return to the subject of storms. Inauguration weekend was predicted to be icy-cold, windy, with hints of snow. As we gathered in lines on the afternoon before the Inauguration, we quickly realized how wrong the forecasts were: they did not specifically predict freezing rain and sleet. Here is your humble correspondent (me) during a break in the storm.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Yes, it got worse. There were at least 100,000 people in that line. We stood and shuffled for four and a half hours. The line snaked around blocks and those Washington alleys that pretend to be streets. I had gone to college in DC, and for a while was head of a foundation that brought me there two days every week, yet on this day I walked through and past streets I had never seen before. Maybe Ben Franklin did when he invented snowmen. Anyway, it was chilly; I reckoned (through brain-freeze) the third-coldest I ever have felt.
We made friends with people on line. Our \u201cneighbors\u201d included a pastor from the very same small town in Texas where I lived for awhile, years ago, working on a book. In fact he lived in the same condo units; he was a friend of the pastor of the church I attended back then, and is a pastor himself. \u201cSmall world,\u201d to coin a phrase. And we made other friends the next day too.
In fact, something \u201cdawned\u201d on us (almost literally) as we shuffled and sloshed and shivered. After the chill would pass, we would not remember the chattering teeth, but other things about Inauguration Day. I am warming up to my point \u2013 On that long line, on that long day, in those brutal conditions, four and a half hours on our feet, no Porta-Johns nor warm oasis\u2026 that this was the best-natured crowd we had ever met.
These walking icebergs laughed and chatted, as we did. People prayed; people sang hymns. Vendors along the sidewalk (except for one poor guy trying to sell \u201chot\u201d pretzels) handed out tracts and Bibles. Many people, like our new friends from Texas, or, actually, we Michiganders, had saved and spent and taken time and made hotel reservations, all hoping to be in the crowd on the Mall and see Donald Trump take the oath of office.
Such expenses and plans went up in smoke \u2013 or the sub-zero equivalents \u2013 yet these thousands of people were patient, satisfied, understanding, accepting, loyal, fraternal, faithful, and patriotic.
Yes, there was a storm. Were there miserable aspects to the weekend? Yes. Were there comic aspects too? (Travel tip \u2013 don\u2019t listen to your tired legs and wet feet, and succumb to the temptation to hire a \u201cPedi-Cab\u201d to get to your parking garage\u2026 anyway, not with an African immigrant whose wardrobe was on the seat, who needed directions shouted to him through the soundproof plastic bubble into which we were zipped and could scarcely see through\u2026 and who tried to charge $165 for the four-block bicycle ride.)
I am sure there were some grouchy folks and even some who returned to their heartland homes with coughs. And certainly not everyone in line was a Christian (although I am sure that some became Christ-followers that day). But most people exhibited that spirit to which I referred above \u2013 they sensed that the storms, of all sorts, will be passing. That there are new sun-lit days ahead. That above the awful elements that have been pummeling us that day, and as a nation\u2026 the sun shines.
The Son shines after all.
You have seen videos and photos of the Inauguration. Here are other photos of our nation\u2019s Capital, before the storms, before the plane crashes, and afterwards, once again, we pray:<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Washington Monument, seen from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Visiting Mr Lincoln in his Memorial always is impressive at night<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Directly across the Potomac from where the air crash happened 10 days later<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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A sad commentary\u00a0on America, 2025? Not anti-riot squads, but counter-terror units outside the Supreme Court,\u00a0days before the Inauguration<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Also before Inauguration Day, the calm before the (snow)storm. But fences and anti-terror precautions.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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I think we saw more \u201cJesus\u201d signs than MAGA; more joyful people than angry. Even after this time of day (merely cold and damp) when it turned to cold rain, sleet, and snow. Make America Warm Again!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

+ + + <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click: Til<\/strong><\/a>l<\/strong><\/a> the Storm Passes By<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

02\/03\/2025 The World whispers, “You cannot withstand the storm.”You respond, “I AM the storm.”There are storms of life, a metaphor so common \u2013 unfortunately \u2013 as to be almost banal. Yes, we expect them, but too often we accept them with an attitude of resignation. We should reply with a \u201cFight! Fight!\u201d spirit, not inviting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[53,9,63],"tags":[1889,4014,4013,4015,3825,2593],"class_list":["post-7819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-government","category-hope-2","tag-donald-trump","tag-keaton-family","tag-kent-smith","tag-kim-collingsworth","tag-mickey-donders","tag-mosie-lister"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1bRYz-227","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7819"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7839,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7819\/revisions\/7839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}