I have friends who are Democrats. I have friends who are Republicans. I have friends who are Independents. I have friends who don’t have a political clue as to who or what they are. I have friends who believe Mrs. Clinton is dishonest to the bone. I have friends who think Mr. Trump is immoral beyond redemption. I have friends who are going to vote for Hillary. I have friends who are going to vote for Donald. I have friends who are not going vote for either presidential candidate. I have friends who are so disgusted they have decided not to vote at all. Period!

 

Why this year of all years?

Now, it seems all my friends, for whatever reason, are more interested in what I think about the current election than they’ve ever been before. They didn’t care in the past. They never asked my opinion. But, this year my friends want to know what I intend to do about it!

Maybe it’s because I’ve hung around longer than most of my friends. Or maybe they need one more person to disagree with. Well, there is that. Because if I say anything at all, as you can see, I’m going to disappoint a lot of my friends.

If I just duck and hide, waiting until it’s all over, and the “wrong candidate” (the “lesser of two evils,” etc.) gets to be president, then my friends will say to me, “Why didn’t you say anything while there was still time. This is all your fault!”

 

So what am I going to do about it?

If I listen to some of my friends, it’s simple. It boils down to, “I’m a follower of Jesus. I’m just passing through, on my way to a new heaven and a new earth. You can read all about it in the Bible. It’s no secret. Besides, God will take of me. America deserves a little comeuppance (not too much mind you, because that would be uncomfortable). Just enough so I can say to everyone, “I told you this would happen!”

Meanwhile, here on the “old earth” (you can read about it in the Bible, too), I’m also an American citizen who treasures my right to express an opinion in the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” This much all my friends need to know. I don’t intend to waste my vote, the one heroes both past and present have made possible, by my not voting.

I acknowledge my friends have the right not to vote. It’s hard, though, to respect my friend’s decision to be a “non-voter,” who then exercises his/her right to bend my ear for the next four years complaining about the president. Sadly, the fact that so many Christ followers have exercised this kind of right in the past, may, in part at least, be the reason we are in “the fix we is in” today. We don’t get to vote for candidates we trust and respect because we didn’t bother voting for them when we had the chance.

So I will not leave my presidential vote a blank space this year.

 

There’s a reason we call them bored (board) games.

Andy Crouch points out, in an October 10 Christianity Today piece, that some have equated Mr. Trump with the biblical King David, who had an extramarital affair, but was later forgiven and rose to greatness. Well, if we are playing “Biblical Analogies” in this political race, I’d say being dealt a Mr Trump card is more like getting a King Saul, who has a chance to lead with strength and goodness, but who is dangerously close to blowing it. If you are holding a Mike Pence card to go with it, maybe that is your not-so-young David analogy. (Does Mr. Pence play a harp?)

My choice to vote for Mr. Trump will not be because I think he is a modern day “King David who committed adultery and murder” but will one day become a great and respected world leader. Nor will my choice to vote for Mrs. Clinton be because I think she is a not-so-young, truth-telling Hadassah, rising to become the next Queen Esther “for such a time as this.” ( Would this make Mr. Kaine a biblical Mordecai?) Okay, stop it. All such analogies are fanciful and ‘leaky’ at best.

 

Still interested? Then here is what I’m doing.

I’ve read the Democrat and Republican national platform agendas. I am voting for the agenda most closely adhering to my value system as a follower of Jesus.

I wish I was voting for a George Washington or Abe Lincoln or even a Ronald Reagan character type to go along with the agenda, but alas, even these great men were flawed. This year of 2016 appears to be a year for the political rapscallions, of which our White House has known a few in the past. Whatever “is is” has come back to haunt us.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14 (The Bible).

Wait. You mean you’re really not going to tell us which candidate you are voting for after all this?

Nope.

But if you write or text me, I will read every word, I promise. I may not answer if you call, however. I will likely be busy, out trying to find some new friends.

I love you all.

Blessings all and take care!