This is a serious question that I don’t have an answer for.  Are we looking to puff our chest to show just how serious we are?  Are we the world’s police force?  Are we being provoked?  Are we trying to put Kim Jong Un in his place?  What place is that?

What do we gain from this little adventure?  Is the point to raise the polls at home?  A war usually has a good effect for that – time to rally round the flag and president.  Will that work if we end up in war this time?  Who knows?

Lots of questions.  I just don’t get it.  But then again, I’m not into seeking power.  I’m not into telling people what they “have to” do or “must do.”

Of course, I’m finishing up seminary and hope to be a pastor soon, but really, being a pastor isn’t about going around and telling people what they “have to” do.  I don’t/won’t have that kind of authority – ever.  Plus as a Lutheran, our focus is on what God is doing anyway.  We can’t do anything to bring about our own salvation.  We can’t even go and decide to accept Jesus.  We can respond to what God is doing in our lives, but we can’t initiate the relationship.

So what about international relations.  What would be Lutheran way of looking at these things?  I’m not sure actually.  Maybe it would be a different approach.  It probably wouldn’t sit well with people who think “America first!” Maybe it would involve grace and mercy.  Maybe it would involve wiping the dust off our shoes in relation to them.  Maybe it would be confrontational.

I don’t know.  I do know that our actions are raising a level of anxiety around the world when it comes to North Korea.  What they do seems to be predictable.  Tyrants have a way of being predictable – they do what keeps them in power.

Raising anxiety is not a good solution to the challenge.  Raising anxiety probably means we are trying too hard, that we are looking to save something.  Are we looking to be the savior of the planet?  Sorry, the job has already been taken.