I went to bed last night thinking Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota, would become the vice presidental pick for John McCain. Instead, we woke up to Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska.

At first I was jittery as I envisioned her debating Joe Bidden. But as I learned more about Sarah and heard her accept the nomination, my opinion changed. On Wednesday in Denver during our intercession and the Democratic National Convention, one of the things I prayed specifically for was that McCain would make the right pick. I was ready to settle for non-Christians who had some decent experience.

But I'm amazed at what happened, instead. Lots of political pundits have been busy talking about how John McCain caved to the conservative right. I heard one person say that the two candidates McCain would have preferred (Lieberman and Ridge) were both pro-choice candidates.

I laughed out loud when I heard that indictment. I had to acknowledge that the words could well be true. But true-er still are these words from the Bible: "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes" (Pro. 21:1).

God is still calling the shots. McCain didn't cave, he just obeyed the One who is in charge of all things. I'm thinking that Palin was less about McCain's pick than God's.