I voted in my first election in 1980 because I missed the 1976 election by just a few days.  I think I missed one election in the early 90’s because of a baby with Chicken Pox.  I vote because I have the right and because it is the right thing to do.  I voted early this year because I was going to be on an airplane this Election Day.  I can’t tell you who I voted for, and I can’t suggest whom you should vote for because that is a wrong thing for our ministry to do.  (A fact that I had to learn the hard way!  –Although I did enjoy writing my “retraction blog.”)

This is a short blog post because I want you to take time to vote.  Even if the race is “decided” according to the news… you need to decide to vote.  Even if you wish there was a box on the ballot that said, “None of the above” you need to pick one of the above.  Even if the weather is bad, you need to get an umbrella, coat and a little patience and go cast your vote.

We live in a great country that is currently divided along political lines.  Christians serve a God who unifies.  If each of us went to the polls and voted for the person that God would choose, we would have a great country.  And I think some of us would be surprised on occasion at the person God would select!  For example, I would not have voted for Samson, but he turned out to be an effective leader.  Moses would have seemed too old for the job – I would have been wrong.  Queen Esther would not have been my choice to protect a nation, but she did.  Voting for Saul of Tarsus would have seemed like voting for the enemy – but he turned out to be a very important and hard working leader.  

Before you enter the voting booth, take a moment to pray and ask God to direct your choices.  Television commercials are a terrible way to decide whom you like or dislike.  In fact, television commercials cause me to dislike everyone running most of the time.  The Internet is a great place to find good information – and some bad.  Read, think, pray and then vote.

God needs us to care, our country needs us to vote and the great candidates need us to discover who they truly are or are not.  Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”  I would say this today:  You have no right to take a stand, if you don’t work to change the direction we are moving.  Vote today and tell the world you are working hard to do your part.

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