ELECTION DAY THOUGHTS

Election Day. The capital letters are intentional because it has become an official holiday in the Moorhead house. Last night my wife was planning the Election Night snack food which is to be eaten as the family sits around the TV to watch the voting returns. The TVs were turned on early this morning to CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC. No matter where you go in the house you can’t miss anything that’s going on around our country today! It’s a big day, not only for our family but for our country. Things will be different tomorrow.

All the news channels were telling us about how crowded the polls were this morning. My experience tells me that the best time to vote is late morning. The early birds are all finished voting. I didn’t want to spend too much time standing in line at my polling place. So I left to vote at 10:00. I was home by 10:15! I was the only person voting. As I was leaving I saw someone drive into the parking lot but I was the only one there the entire time I voted!

Anyway, that’s not really why I’m here this morning. And I’m not here to tell you how I voted. Let me just say this: When the campaign started over a year ago I was really impressed with Obama. As the campaign progressed the gleam started to fade. Down the stretch, I became very concerned. It wasn’t the way he campaigned. I don’t like the way modern politicians campaign at all. In fact, the way they do it is practically a waste of time. You can listen to what they say if you want to but you have to look way beyond their words if you want to find anything that will help you decide how to vote. My problems with Obama had more to do with the people who are supporting him and the people with whom he has associated over his way-too-brief political career. And, I don’t think he has been completely straightforward about a number of things.

But even that’s not why I’m here. What has really been bothering me has been the way so many of my professing brothers and sisters in Christ have demonized Obama. I have been disheartened by the angry, threatening, apocalyptic emails I have received over the last couple of months. I am saddened to hear people talking as if this whole election has somehow gotten out from under the control of God! So many people are acting as if they have no faith in God at all!

Please! God is in control of this election! The man who finds himself victorious this evening is the man God has chosen to lead this country! What is going on in our country cannot be blamed on any one man or any one political party. We, the church, need to wake up and look for God’s hand at work in our country. I think we are about to be offered the privilege of standing up for our faith in a way that no American Christians have ever been allowed to do. The opportunities for ministry are about to increase a hundredfold! If our country is in trouble, and it is, we need to realize that the answer is not in the voting booth. The answer is the same as it has always been. Our only hope is in Christ Jesus!

Our president will change. He may offer change. But our message never changes no matter what the moral or financial atmosphere of our country is. We’re on a mission here. Let’s prepare ourselves to stick to it!