Though many like me may feel there is not a GREAT option for them in this election, particularly for POTUS, it is more clear to me than ever before in any other time for whom I CANNOT vote, a party who PLATFORM-WIDE seeks to destroy these things:
I REALLY DO LOVE LIFE…I CHERISH IT…my own, that of my family members, my friends, my community, the human race I have yet to meet.
But more than life, I love AND cherish the Creator and Designer of human life, the One who forms life in its mother’s womb, who shapes it as male or female, gives it breath and sustains it until He allows the elements of this sin-cursed world to remove life from the human body that has carried it. Each time I held my three children for the first time, I bawled and praise the One who made them, gave them life and breath and so mercifully chose my wife and me to be their parents. This is nothing short of a Divine Miracle…the sanctity of human life. I love human life human life outside of my country’s borders and I have very dear family members who risk their lives to live in very hard places carrying the gospel of Jesus so others may hear…AND live. I love and serve the lives of multiple ethnic cultures who have obtained legal access and asylum in our country for better health and FREEDOM from tyranny, abuse and persecution in their country of origin. I love the One who has brought the nations to us to bring Jesus to them and I pray that we may soon receive more into the refuge of our great land.
I LOVE MY WIFE…I ADORE HER.
But more than my wife, I love the One who created and designed her and gave her to me. I love the beautiful, intimate, pictorial image of the institution that He designed, allowing us to come together in physical union as husband and wife, man and woman…in the bonds and the sanctity of marriage. I love how He teaches me about my relationship with Him through my relationship with my wife in marriage, an institution of His design and definition.
I LOVE MY CHURCH…I HAVE DEDICATED MY LIFE TO IT.
I have pastored the same church for 21 years and I plan to retire as it’s Pastor. But more than my church FAMILY, I love the One who called me to serve them, to minister to them, to teach them and to lead them to love God and worship Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and to love their neighbor. I love the One who established the church through grace and mercy, sacrificing Himself and shedding His blood for me and called me to be willing to do the same.
I LOVE MY COUNTRY…WITH ALL OF IT’S FLAWS AND FAILURES.
But more than my country, my allegiance is to the One who chose to allow me to be born here, who through His divine providence allowed our founding fathers to form a more perfect union…a democratic Republic under the authority of a Constitution and it’s Bylaws…of the people, by the people and for the people – people who “hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I love the One who instituted human government over all citizens, to reward good and to restrain sin in an evil, fallen world (Romans 14), to be small and to stay within the realm for which it was instituted. This institution was to complement the three other authorities he instituted on earth, not to consume them: (1) the church over all believers; (2) the parents over all children; and (3) the masters over all employees. More than my country though and it’s constitutional gov’t, I love the One who has placed my citizenship in heaven, and from it, I await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will glorify and resurrect me to live with Him forever.
I’m nowhere close to a one-issue voter. Nor do I expect my President, my Congressmen or Senators, my Governor or Mayor to demonstrate my faith in God, though that would certainly be my preference. However, I do expect them to defend the practice of my faith in God and to represent me as my constitution commands them to and to which they swore an oath that they would do so…” I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.“
With this, I walk into the ballot box, trusting in the sovereignty of God…that He is in constant care for and absolute rule over all creation, for HIS GLORY and the good of HIS PEOPLE.
“We discovered that faith is not expecting that the Lord will miraculously give us whatever we ask, or feeling the security that we will not be killed and that everything will turn out as we want. We learned that faith is putting ourselves in His hands, whatever happens, good or bad. He will help us somehow.” (Felipe and Mary Barreda—20th century martyrs)
IN GOD WE TRUST!
Minimizing me...making much of Jesus 