All of us as supporters of traditional marriage, have been watching the aftermath of Governor Sanford's affair with an Argentinian woman.  I am not here to condemn him.  I am here to remind him and all of us what marriage is about.  It starts with the proper perspective on marriage and investing time in the most important of all earthly relationships.

If you married in a court, then it is a civil contract, and perhaps the traditional ideas will hold the marriage together.  But if you marry in a church in the presence of God, marriage is for keeps.  We understand that some situations like abuse and unrepentant infidelity give pause in a marriage. 

Governor Sanford has mistaken his new "soul mate" as his new love.  She is not.  He married his soul mate many years ago and his home and family have settled in and now the "wow" factor has been replaced by the mundane.  Being a soul mate is not dependent on feelings but rather on how God has put you together to care for each others' soul.  As with faith in God,  in marriage we should not put our feelings ahead of our trust in or in the meaning of permanence in marriage.

 Infatuation is not love.  Love is a choice and a commitment.  All those wonderful feelings we experience when we first date are misleading.  I was against arranged marriage when I was younger, but now I think in some ways, when we marry for love, we delude ourselves into thinking that life should be one continual date.  Neither am I saying that there shouldn't be happiness and joy in marriage.  Love should consist of respect, admiration and deep trust; not whim and infatuation. That fades with maturity and time. If you don't prepare for marriage with that in mind you will be disappointed.

Marriage is till death do us part.  It means you stay there beside your husband or wife whether you like them or not on any given day. It is for better or for worse, when the jobs come and go, when your spouse puts on the pounds and isn't as attractive as they once were.  When they are sick and lying in a hospital bed, you don't tell them to fend for themselves. It means you stay when every cell in your body wants to leave.  It is not for the faint of heart. There usually is as much or a whole lot worse than there is for the better in marriage.  Marriage is not glamorous or a happy fairy tale.  It is about struggling beside each other through situations and sometimes because of each other.  You may be happy or unhappy in marriage but you commit to stay no matter what happens.  Situations are good and bad, they are not always a reflection of your marriage.

Being married is not about you and your happiness, it is about your spouse and their welfare and how you can be that support in their life.  If you are unhappy, get happy, even if it's partly due to your spouse, stay there and don't leave.  Marriage is about living alongside another person and going through all its ups and downs and experiencing it with that person.  It is not about candlelight dinners every night, it is hard work loving another sinful person.   It means allowing God to teach you about himself through your spouse.  It is about bringing that person to the sunset of their life no matter the personal sacrifice, knowing that God has divinely placed you in each others' lives for that express purpose. Marriage teaches us forgiveness, patience, perseverance and most of all unconditional love.

In a Christian marriage we marry not only for love but also to mirror the love God has for us through creating a family and sharing our faith with others.  One of the main functions of marriage is to create a family. Sometimes biology does not allow that.  Marriage is also for the purpose of fellowship with each other, your children and God.  As a Christian if we ignore the spiritual or relational aspect of marriage, we do not experience all that it was intended to be. 

Governor Sanford please don't tell the public you have found your soul mate in an Argentinian woman, do not dishonor your wife in that way.  Don't tell us you intend to fall in love with your wife again. Marriage is not about falling in love, it's about keeping your vows.  There are many people in this world, but you made a commitment to your wife, till death do you part. Stay with her and keep your Christian commitment by honoring her and God.

Tonight at South Lakes High School in Reston, VA,  I couldn't help but feel as though I was at one of those ACORN rallies they had last fall.  There were vigorous chanters shouting, "Yes, we can!"  Community organizers held their nicely mass produced pro-health care signs proudly.  Their signs didn't meet the 8.5 x 11 size for floor seating, so they even made a special exception for them. How nice!  We angry mobs were told we couldn't hold up our signs on the center floor.  But I did hold my sign up after these ACORN revivalists continued to hold up their blue signs and even bigger green ones on the main floor. 

   In order to get inside the school, you had to fill out a paper with your contact info. If you weren't a resident in VA's 8th district then you weren't going to be allowed inside.  I wrote down an 8th district address with a fake name and then stopped to take a picture with a burly SEIU member before I was whisked into the building and allowed in.   They happened to accept people from Arlington too. Huh. So much for the "rule."

  Somehow I missed the table on the way into the gymnasium where questions could be submitted on index cards.  No big advertisement there.  Moran said during the introduction that questions from both sides were selected and going to be asked after he and Dean had a chance to coddle the masses, the dumb ones who didn't read the 1,017 pages of the bill.  Moran said that he had taken four hours to read and discuss the bill with his staff.  He must have taken a speed reading course.   Moran also had the nerve to say that the spending deficit was a result of the war in Iraq not the current stiff-all-of-us Obama and Congress passed. 

The auditorium had reached capacity at 3,000 and there were still more people outside. Inside community organizers were fawning over their socialist leaders.  They were so happy to know that Dean was a doctor that served as governor for 3 terms in VT.  If he's a doctor and wants the government option well then he must know what he is talking about.  Why wasn't it last week when Obama sounded like he was backing down that Screamin' Howie said, " Yeeeeeaaaaah! We need that government option Obama, don't ruin it now, hold steady and I'll make sure that there's a good crowd at that silly little town hall in Reston."  ACORN must have emailed all their pre-election lists for a good turn out tonight because there was a sea of blue Obama signs tonight.  Maybe they were confused, the election was last November.

Moran imparted 11 myths that the "angry mob" had shoved down the throats of those beautiful ACORN community organizers who wanted to change the world.  How dare we tell them the truth?  After all they just want to take down those bad, rich people whose companies employed them. 

They didn't mention the fact that Lois Capps of CA had pushed through a House Committee government funded abortions as a necessary medical procedure. That's why they had to throw out Randall Terry, Pro-Life Advocate to make sure he was silenced along with the babies.  Nor did they mention the Cadillac health care that congressmen have. August is quickly coming to an end.  Perhaps there will be a few more town halls and then Congress comes back into session.  Will they ram government run health care through as a tribute to the late Ted Kennedy?  I am uninsured currently and I don't want Obama's antidote for healthcare.  It is a poison that will kill us all slowly. Just ask the Canadians and the Europeans that now want to rid themselves of it.

With the surprising announcement and resignation of Governor Sarah Palin, I think what annoys the MSM and the liberals is that they have no good reason, no foul play to attach to her decision.  There are no unrepentant stories of philandering like Mark Sanford. Nor are there dark conspiracies of exploitation, greed and murder woven in like a fine mystery novel, co-authored by Blagojevich and Burris of Illinois. Nothing, nada, zip. The leftists have only 15 or so false allegations of impropriety that were all disproved and thrown out. 

Opponents really tried hard in Alaska to frame her and accuse her of liberties taken while in office. They even resorted to the big "D" word over a quiet weekend after they had all but shredded the reputation of the two older Palin daughters.  Palin took the imposed shroud of divorce and flung it right back.  Sarah Palin will not tolerate the liberal double standard even for a minute.

President Bush will be remembered by his legacy of humanity, deep faith and conviction for fighting the war on terror despite his compassionate overspending.  But the libs will not let it go. Instead they will find a puppet like Eric Holder to begin prosecution on the War on Terror.  Bush began to defend himself after he finished his term.  Was it because he was a gentleman or had he learned to be the kicking dog of the Left? President Obama still pontificates on the failures of Bush supposedly resulting in his inability to get the country back on course quickly.  But after almost 9 months he can no longer point the finger at George Bush.  He must now start to look at himself and his administration for core problems of catastrophic proportion.

President Bush took the punches but Sarah Palin is fighting back.  Her strong stand seems almost like a scorned wife to some.  But she knows how to play the game and win.  In life, if you are the brunt of accusation, you will have to make a choice; to fight back or give up. Even if you are innocent, people choose to believe their version of the story, blinded by their own lies and distortion of reality. Instead of pleading innocence till the moose come home, give those bullies a run for their money and shock them.  Being nice or telling the truth doesn't work with them, whether with a world dictator or the average pesky liberal.  You have to be on the offense and not give them what they expect.  Give them a surprise just like Sarah did.