Go Out and Vote!

Two weeks ago, I voted early so that I could work at my hometown precinct polls for Super Tuesday. (Go here if you want to read about my experience keeping the polls during the 2016 presential election.) Last fall, I changed my party to Unaffiliated, finally! I was thrilled to vote for Nikki Haley.

For the first time in the several decades since I registered to vote as an eighteen-year-old, I was excited about a candidate. I believed in her. My vote wasn’t a I’d-rather-have-him-than-the-other-one kind of vote. It was a wow-I-really-want-her-to-win kind of vote!

My Candidate

She tics so many boxes:

Nikki Haley is smart.

She is a child of immigrants.

She has leading experience.

She has international experience.

She’s married to a deployed officer in the National Guard.

She follows through. She does what she says she’s going to do. (I received this t-shirt almost a week after she concluded her campaign.)

She is a woman, for Pete’s sake.

I don’t understand why more people didn’t want her to succeed, more women in particular.

I’m continuing to be flabbergasted at the evangelicals (of whom I align with on many topics) who are supporting the other Republican candidate. I. Just. Do. Not. Get. It.

My Biblical Thoughts

Yes, okay. He got some conservative policies passed. He appointed conservative judges on the Supreme Court. Thank you. But people really want four more years of the cringeworthy, uncouth, vitriol? Seriously?

Absolutely, I believe that God puts into office whomever He wants. Yes. But do I think that always means the best person for the job? No. Look to the Old Testament. God told the Israelites, He’d be their God, their king. He’d set them apart from surrounding nations.

But.

The people clamored to be like their neighbors.  They whined, “They’ve got a human king. We want a human king.” God said, “You want a human king? All right. I’ll give you a human king.” I’m paraphrasing 1 Samuel 8 here. So, God gave them kings. Yes, He gave them King David, but He also gave them Abijah, Nadab, Baasha and don’t forget Ahab, the king who “did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.” (1Kings 16:30) So, yes. God allowed these evil men on the throne.

Many of his followers are people who feel overlooked, people who feel they don’t have a voice. They see him as being strong and someone who will fight for them. But Christians are supposed to look to God as their strength, to look to God as their Savior, protector, defender, … However, people and circumstances change, while God remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Looking Forward

As usual, I’ll be praying for God’s will to take place next November. I hope you pray, too, and then go vote!