Tip of My Iceberg

For a good many Americans, tomorrow is when we’ll have the opportunity to vote for our next President.

I’ve read opinions, blogs, articles and news stories galore about the substance of this election. Here’s what I know to be true.

Sometime after Tuesday, we’ll have a new President.

I’m not siding with the Democrats or Republicans on this. It concerns me that it appears neither candidate is a person of integrity, of genuine character.

There’s no question they’re both characters, but not the kind I’d want my kids to emulate. Or to hold up to the world as our shining example of respecting freedom, valuing people or caring for the common good.

It’s easy to throw stones. I’m quite good at pitching them this way and that. The stronger my arm gets, the heavier the stone.

That’s the easy part. We recognize our freedoms well enough to freely complain to anyone and everyone who’ll listen to us. Social media has become the platform for whining and criticizing.

What takes courage is making the time to engage in helping others rather than complaining about what funding we’re going to lose.  We have our rights, after all.

Even more challenging is choosing to do something so radical, so completely off the charts that folks might look at you as if you’re operating with a loose screw.

Pray for these candidates.

Pray for their hearts. Pray for them to have wisdom and courage to make right choices. Choices that show the value of all people, not just a few fortunate or those who make the biggest stink. Pray for them to have a listening ear and a discerning heart, that they’d actually hear all sides and understand the bigger picture of issues rather than pet projects that will allow them to leave a substantial legacy.

Pray for them to have an intimate relationship with the God of the universe through Jesus in a manner that’s more than a photo opportunity with a Christian bigwig. A relationship that radically changes their hearts, values, mindset so they might think of others as more important than themselves.

Even if it causes them to lose favor in the eyes of others. Even if, in taking a stand for absolute truth, they get reviled and ridiculed. Even if they lose popular opinion.

Reputations don’t run a country. Truth, law and grace do.

We’ve had some remarkable people who’ve held this office. People whose hearts was to help us as a country, as individuals in this country. They operated in the manner of this being a government for the people. And we’ve had less than remarkable people who’ve disappointed many by their drive for power and legacy.

God tells us that we’re to respect our leaders.

And pray for them.

He knows that no human can do the job of a true leader without folks holding them up in prayer. Without people coming alongside and being an intercessor for someone whose battles are of far greater scope than most of us will ever know.

Please vote. It’s a privilege. But even more, pray.

Washington can’t save us.