The other thing I need to do

Hello readers! It has been some time since I've written a column, and I finally felt led to write about this week's particular topic. I hope this piece is a blessing, and if it is please pass it along! Thanks and much love!

Original publication date: Friday, February 26, 2016
Random Writer
The other thing I need to do 

It’s a vivid memory of mine. November 2008. I was at Bible college and hanging out in the music library with some of my friends. I wasn’t a music major by that time, so I don’t really know what I was doing in there.

But I remember that night so well. It was Election Night.

I’m guessing while everyone was doing some sort of music homework, I was keeping up with the election results. And while I don’t remember how everything transpired, I remember how I felt. Especially when the results continued to show that the candidate I chose wasn’t going to be President. It was this sinking feeling filled with uncertainty.

And almost eight years later, I feel the exact same way.

Thanks to this job of mine, I’m a bit more aware of what’s going on than I was eight years or even four years ago. This campaign season has inundated all of us, from the local to federal level. Signs are all over town, those mailers just keep coming in, the ads appear on the TV screen...and there’s no way to fend off the political articles and blogs that appear all over the internet and especially social media (as well as the memes. Can’t forget about those memes.).

Even in 2012, I knew that change could have happened, but it didn’t. We had the same President for another four years, but the two terms are almost over and at the end of the 2016 election cycle there will be a new President elected. And this coming Tuesday, we as registered voters will have the chance to decide who we want to choose for a particular position or who we want to see reappear on the November ballot.

For me, there are some obvious choices. I know exactly who I’m voting for and why I’m voting for that person. At the other end, I know who will not get my vote and will list the reasons why. And admittedly, there are a couple of races where I just don’t know. I’ve narrowed the field at large down to a couple candidates, but the decision remains.

Some people might have chosen their candidates a long time ago. Some chose once the field was narrowed. But I kind of feel that there are several, like me, who only have a few days left to make a decision that will have major implications.

I can read all the mailers and watch all the ads. I can browse all those internet articles while laughing at those memes (because a lot of them are funny, honestly). But you know what else I can (and should) do?

Pray about it.

I can bring this situation before the Father and say, “Give me wisdom and discernment as to who You want me to vote for.” (Remember in James 4:2 where it says “ye have not, because ye ask not?” I think it can apply here.) We can ask God to give us some insight as to which candidate truly follows Him in word and action, because to me, if a candidate is a true Christ-follower, then his words and actions (not just his political promises) will reflect that. It reminds me of the verse in one of Paul’s epistles where he wrote that whatever we do should be done to the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31).

And while we pray for who we need to elect (whether it’s this Tuesday or that upcoming Tuesday in November), I really believe we need to ask the Lord for forgiveness. I feel like we as Christ-followers have dropped the ball in standing strong. Maybe we got scared along the way as to how we’d be treated if we stood up for Christ--which, being ridiculed or rejected by some is nothing compared to what some of our brothers and sisters in Christ have to deal with in regard to persecution. We’ve let some molehill issues become mountains and vice versa. We sometimes deal with the issues in such a harsh way that the love of Christ doesn’t come out, but that “I’m right” mentality instead.

And at the end of the day on Tuesday, whoever gets elected or selected for the November ballot, we must, at all costs, remember that God is in control. His hand has been and continues to be on the election process. Even though I didn’t participate, I remember the aftermath of 2008 on social media and how some Christians reacted horribly to the events that transpired. The reactions left a bad taste in people’s mouths and hurt some people’s testimony for Christ. Some acted as if God was caught off guard. He wasn’t. We might have been, but He alone was and is at the center of it all.

So to those who have already voted, good job. To those who will join me at the polls on Tuesday, I’ll see you there. And to all of us, let’s keep praying as this process continues and keep our hearts, minds and emotions focused on Him.