It’s Thursday, October 28.  The mid-term elections are just five days away.  Much of the country waits anxiously to see who will be victorious.  Much of the country could care less.  This year I find myself somewhere in the middle.

I am, at heart, a talk radio/quasi-political junkie and would listen to it primarily in the car, but the antenna went out on my truck a few months ago and the only stations I can get now are country music and the occasional top 40 station.  I can’t listen to it much at home anymore, as we’re doing school during the prime talk radio hours.  And I don’t have the time to stream it on-line in the evening.  I feel out of the political loop this year and maybe that is part of my ambivalence.

Part of it is that I still feel somewhat burned by the Bush administration.  He was incredible during 9/11 and in his first years in office.  But that second term was a waste of taxpayer dollars.  I have become, at least partially, one of those people who doesn’t really feel like I can make a difference, that what I do, say, or think can’t change anything about this government machine.  In a word, I feel a bit helpless.

But on the other hand, I seem to see a movement within the Church away from political involvement.  It seems to be en vogue to be apolitical.  Love of country and active involvement in her government are considered idolatrous and anti the Kingdom of God.  I think this attitude is terribly dangerous toward the freedoms that we have enjoyed that allow us to have this open dialogue and to worship and live and do – all, more or less, at our own choosing.  Because if those who possess the mind of Christ are not involved in the lawmaking a governing processes, then who is?  Those who are against Him, or at the very least, do not acknowledge Him or His moral law.

Our Founders’ own words confirm that we are nation founded on faith and that our citizens were expected to have an internal moral code, a conduct becoming of those who were the example of freedom and hope to the world, an educated populace who could defend against both physical and intellectual attack:

“It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.” – Abraham Lincoln

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religion but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We shall not fight alone.  God presides over the destinies of nations.  The battle is not to the strong alone.  Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it, Almighty God!  Give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry

“Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally – and I do not mean figuratively, but literally – impossible for us to figure what that loss would be if these teachings were removed.  We would lose all the standars by which we now judge both public and private morals; all the standards towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves.” – Theodore Roosevelt

“The choice before us is plain, Christ or chaos, conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration.  I am rather tired of hearing about our rights and privileges as American citizens.  The time is come, it now is, when we ought o hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship.  America’s future depends upon demonstrating God’s government.” – Peter Marshall

“The Bible is the Rock on which this Republic rests.” – Andrew Jackson

America is not a perfect nation, but she is no doubt amazing.  A unique experiment in history that led to a so-called five thousand year leap in human progress.  I want to be part of that dream.  I want to be part of history.  My hope is not in my government, elephant or donkey or anything else, but I believe we are called to be active in the process.  So in spite of my current detached view of it all, I will make it a priority to stay engaged, to be informed, and to be involved.  The future that my children will have as American citizens is far too important to not make an effort.

What about you?  Have you been involved this political season?  You still have a few days.  Won’t you take some time this weekend to read up on the candidates in your area, and then make the time on Tuesday to get out and vote?

For His Glory ~

~ Sara