What Is the Christian's Responsibility in Regard to Voting?

One of the things that is true everywhere in ministry is that there are, from time to time, issues that hijack everyone's attention.  Sometimes it's a local tragedy.  Sometimes it's something exciting or fun, like a championship run by the local team.  Right now, it's the election.  So please indulge me for this post as we address what is dominating the news, as well as the conversations of our people.

For most Southern white Evangelicals, the question in this election is not really one or the other; it's one or neither.  Other church leaders may have reason to address why Hillary Clinton is not fit for our vote, but that's not what we're struggling with here.  It's all about Donald Trump, and it goes like this: Christians have the civic duty to vote, we can't vote for Hillary, a write-in or third-party vote is as just like not voting at all, so we must vote for Trump, regardless of his perceived flaws.  You've heard this line of reasoning rolled out in various forms for months now, and it's been effective.  Many Christians who initially found Trump to be repugnant are now fervently on his side.  Trump/Pence yard signs are popping up everywhere around town.

I accept only one premise in that argument: for her radically pro-abortion stance, her general hostility toward biblically conservative Christians, and a host of other reasons, I cannot recommend that anyone vote for Hillary Clinton.  But I want to examine the question of what a Christian's civic duty really is in regard to voting, and I'd like us to center our thoughts on five guidelines for our political engagement:

1 - Pay attention

"No Matter What": A New Year (part 2)

CHAPTER 3 – A NEW YEAR (continued)

            These things might have kept me on the margins of a few conversations, but these disparities were nothing compared to the difference in transportation.  Kids at our church had used BMWs and Mercedes, brand-new Mazdas and Toyotas, or full custom pickups and SUVs.  I drove (when I could get it) my dad’s brown 1983 Oldsmobile.  Most of the time, I went around like a beggar, asking people for rides.

            I didn’t have to beg for rides from my youth group much, because I was usually with my parents, but it was an everyday struggle at school.  Basketball was the last period of the day, and we never got out in time to catch the bus, so I was stuck without a way to get home.  No one wanted to commit to driving me home on a daily basis, so every afternoon contained the humiliating quest to find a willing friend to take me home.

*  *  *  *  *

            “It sucks, Dad,” I said, as we talked about it on the way home from a grocery store run on the last day of summer.  “I know there’s nothing we can do about it, but I feel like an idiot every day.”

10 Ways God is Different from "the Force"

With the hysteria at fever-pitch this week as Star Wars, Episode VII, is set to premiere later this week, I thought I would take a look at the "theology" of these movies compared with what has been revealed to us in the Bible about God.

This type of exercise is fun in a way, but it also serves a purpose.  Competing ideas about God are everywhere, and when a mythology such as what Star Wars has built becomes so ingrained in our cultural consciousness, it can create confusion.  Particularly if you are a parent of a Star-Wars-crazy kid (like I am), these distinctions might be some talking points to cover when you enjoy these adventures together.

And since everyone loves lists on the Internet, here are Ten Ways God is Different from the Force:

"No Matter What": A New Year, part 1 (excerpt)

CHAPTER 3 – A NEW YEAR

            It was a week before the start of my junior year, and I was back-to-school shopping with my mom—which was just as embarrassing as it sounds.  I was actually never the type to be embarrassed to be seen with my parents or family, though.  I love my mom, and, besides, am I supposed to be embarrassed I have parents?  That being said, there’s nothing that makes you feel more like a “little boy” than going in and out of a dressing room so your mom can see how your clothes fit, and you don’t exactly want kids from school seeing you do a model turn for your mother. 

            I had the reputation in my family as the “fashion-conscious” one, which would have been hilarious to anyone who actually saw me dress as a teenager.  (There was this dude my sophomore year who looked me over disdainfully one day and said, “I can’t believe you can throw those clothes on in the morning and think you’re ready for school.”)

"Calvary Characters": Barabbas

This is my first effort for my "Calvary Characters" project.  These are fictionalized first-person stories of people who surrounded Jesus during the time of His crucifixion and resurrected, based on Scripture and history.  This first one was based on a monologue I did for Easter a couple of years ago.  Let me know what you think.

CALVARY CHARACTERS - BARABBAS

            In a cave in the Negev of Judah, a hooded figure slips through the shadows to join a band of robbers by the fire.  As light from the flickering fire illuminates his face, gasps echo in the cavern.  The newcomer removes his hood and speaks…

            “Don’t look so surprised!  Yes!  It is me!  Barabbas!”

August 6th

August 6th is my son's birthday.  This year, he turns eight.  Eight seems pretty old to me, hard to believe.  (I remember when I turned eight, I thought I was big stuff, challenging my much larger brother with an ill-advised, "Don't mess with the eight-year-old.")

August 6th is also the anniversary of two of the scariest days of my life...

20-Year Reflections

It's a week for nostalgia.  Tomorrow we leave for a summer Kansas City vacation, just like I used to have when I was a kid.  It will be fun to take my kids and Liz to the sites I looked forward to visiting each summer, as well as spending some time with the people (whom I have rarely seen in the last decade or so) that made those trips so special.

Sunday is also our 12th wedding anniversary.  It's hard to believe it's been 12 years.  It's also hard to believe it's only been 12 years, since it's hard to remember life without Liz.  Twelve years is how long it takes to get through school, and I must say I've enjoyed these dozen years much more than those school years.

Speaking of which, chance would have it that tonight is also the day of my 20-year high school reunion.  I can't attend, of course, since it's pretty impossible to get to an 8 p.m. party on a Saturday night in south Texas when you need to preach in Arkansas on Sunday morning.  But I have been seeing pictures on Facebook, and, along with all the other nostalgia of the week (did I mention the KC trip winds up with a family reunion?), it's got me in a reflective mood.

I think the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about seeing people from high school is whether or not you have met the expectations that you imagine that they had for you.  I think I sort of imagined ten years ago that I was "proving" something when I was able to come and "show off" Liz a little bit (I did get married!).  And I was a little sheepish about my weight gain.

So looking back, I'm happy to realize that, although I've been packing it on lately, I'm no fatter than I was ten years ago.  And we've added three impossibly adorable kids to the family since then.  But I also remember the plans I told people about back then, and I've lived to see them altered, crushed, re-shaped, and re-made over the past decade.

I've also come to realize that these thoughts I've imagined in others are just my own insecurities and expectations reflected back to me.  Because my high school social circle was small and I've been removed from that area since that time, I'm firmly in the category of "Who?" or "Oh yeah, I guess I remember him" for 98% of the people in my class.  The question really is whether I feel good about my life right now, and my definition of success has undergone a radical overhaul over the past couple of decades.