This morning was the annual Iowa Prayer Breakfast.  I was invited by a friend of mine this year, and having never attended before I was interested in seeing what really transpired there.

It turned out to be a good opportunity to reconnect with a few people, wonderful music provide by Faith Baptist Bible College Chorale, excellent food and a decent, though somewhat tempered agenda including some prayer, a couple of brief speeches, and an interesting keynote by David Noebel.

I suspect that attendance in general, and specifically by some more prominent Iowans who were conspicuous by their absence, including Goveror Chet Culver, and the entire Iowa Delegation to the US Congress with the exception of Leonard Boswell.  I may not agree with Boswell’s politics, but I appreciate the fact he could make the time for this event.

But I don’t really condemn the others that were not in attendance.  It is, you realize, Spring Break.  Apparently a case of poor planning.

Noebel’s speech was titled “What’s Right With America”.  It was an encouraging montage of information and stories about the things that we are, as a nation, doing well.  I was rapt in the compelling assessment of our nation’s role in the world, providing more charitable support than any other country, doing the unthinkable by rebuilding the countries we defeated in World War II, having the highest rates of women, Jews, and people of African ancestry attending colleges and having strong roles in business in the world  And most importantly, that people of faith have led the way in ensuring these successes.

I suspect that Noebel would have been able to speak for much longer.  He is President of Summit Ministries and is recognized as an expert on worldview analysis and the decline of morality and spirituality in Western Civilization.  His background information goes on for quite a ways, and I won’t dig into all of that.

However, he brings a valuable perspective to the discussion of the faith in our country, and our country’s role in the world, with an extensive understanding of various world views and how they relate to each other.  His book “Understanding The Times: The Collision of Today’s Competing Worldviews” was recently revised and I’m planning to read it soon.  This book provides a side-by-side analysis of Christian, Islamic, Secular Humanist, Marxist-Leninist, Cosmic Humanist and Postmodern world views on a variety of topics including Ethics, Psychology, History, Economics and Politics.

I suspect there is a LOT more we could say about what’s right with America.   What do you think?  We’re have a page setup here that will allow you to voice your own thoughts about what is right with our country.