Pray and vote...

Election Day is upon us. In just a few days, tens of millions of Americans will go to the polls to elect a new set of men and women to rule them. These citizens will have their say in who governs their fair cities and counties and states. They will elect mayors and judges and sheriffs and district attorneys and treasurers and governors and a whole host of officials they’ve never heard of. Some of those tens of millions of voters will give a “thumbs up” or a “thumbs down” to ballot initiatives and bond issues.

If it is the Lord’s will for me to live until Tuesday, I plan to cast my ballot at the city building. I hope you aim to do the same. It is a great privilege to be given a say in who will govern you. Not everyone in the world has the right to do that. I urge you to pray for our nation and vote as God directs you.

A lot of decisions will be made on Tuesday, important decisions, but the one decision that the majority of folks are most focused on is the race for president. While there are six candidates in that race, practically all eyes are on two – Obama and McCain. These two have captured the lion’s share of the media coverage and of the millions of dollars in campaign contributions. It’s likely, highly likely, that one or the other of these senators will be the next president of the United States.

I’m not endorsing either of them (I’ve done that in earlier posts) nor am I disparaging the five courageous men and the one brave woman who are running third-party campaigns against them. I’m simply stating the facts: McCain and Obama, with their national name recognition and well-oiled Democratic and Republican political machinery, have the best chance of winning the presidency.

So how do you feel about these guys?

A few of you – I’m just guessing – are enthusiastically supportive of one or the other. You like what Obama stands for or what McCain represents. You have bright hopes for the future. You anticipate change for the better. You will joyfully enter the voting booth this week and tap your man’s name exuberantly.

Good for you! You are rare. Wish there were more like you.

Of those who aren’t enthusiastic, ambivalence seems to be a fairly prevalent attitude. Some are asking, “300,000,000 people in the US and these are the best we have?” Others are saying, “I like that one guy, sort of.” A few honest folks confess, “I dislike this guy less than I dislike the other.”

I’ve had numerous conversations with people who aren’t sure about either of the two main contenders. I’ve heard good friends say, “I’m voting for the lesser of two evils.”

Have you heard the same from your friends? Is that how you feel?

If not eager anticipation or half-hearted resignation, perhaps you’re gripped by desperate fears.

My cousin, a devout Catholic living in Nevada, wrote me this week, uneasy about the election. As he talked about McCain and Obama throughout his note, he used fear words repeatedly. “Scared,” “apprehensive,” “dread” and “afraid” all made appearances in connection to the front runners.

(He is, as a matter of conscience and conviction, voting for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party because he didn’t feel like he could trust either Obama or McCain. He gave me permission to talk about his letter to me.)

Before my cousin’s email arrived this week, I received another last week from two or three different people that began with these words: “This is the scariest election we as Christians have ever faced.” It was actually an invitation to pray about the election for one minute every day leading up to November 4th. People on the East Coast pray at 9:00pm. Folks in the middle at 8:00pm. 7:00pm for the folks in the Mountain time zone and 6:00pm in the Pacific. A nice enough suggestion, I suppose. A great way to unite Christians. Praying as one for a minute isn’t a bad idea. Pass it along. But I felt uncomfortable passing along this particular note because of the fearful tone set in that opening sentence. I suppose I could’ve edited the “scariest” words out, but I didn’t think of that until now when it’s practically too late.

Believers, we have nothing to fear! We have reason to be excited! God is in control. He will still be in control Wednesday morning…no matter who wins the election. I hope you will pray and vote enthusiastically Tuesday – not with a sigh or a moan.

House showing in Canton...

I was checking out the House website this morning and found out that it will be showing opening weekend at the Cinemark Tinseltown USA theater in Canton, Ohio, where I'll be for the weekend. To go or not to go? That is the question that now returns full force. I won't have a car there, so I guess it will depend on whether friends want to go or not...and if I decide to subject myself to a night of horror. The book was so good. Can the movie measure up?

Nightmare call...

I woke up this morning, heart thumping, breath shallow and rapid. I'd had a nightmare.

In my dream I was paged out for some sort of medical call so I raced to the ambulance barn. I got there and pulled 101, our first response ambulance, out of the garage, radioed dispatch that we were 10-8 and waited for other techs to show up. I waited and waited, but no one came. No one! (Where were you guys?!)

I got on the radio and asked for assistance. In reply, I got a panicked sounding, "We're on scene!" from Medic 2. (I'm pretty sure on the voice, but I'm surprised it wasn't Medic 4. She always gets the crazy calls.)

So I took off toward the scene. On the way or as I was pulling up to the house, it's hard to remember which, I reached over to replay the page just to make sure I had the right address. That's when the "story" went bonkers.

The page in memory was NOT the same one I'd originally come running for. It was something about a fight gone bad at the grade school. By this time I was in the house I'd stopped at and Medic 5 was there. She was trying to buy something from the people who lived there and my bike was in the living room.

I ran back outside and Medic 2 was driving away with the ambulance. I waved frantically, trying to stop him, but he didn't see me in his mirrors. (I imagine he was mad because he needed an ambulance and didn't have one.)

Now, I don't know how it got there, but my van, the old one with 240,000+ miles, was in the driveway at the house. I ran back inside, grabbed my bike and loaded it in the van before roaring off after Medic 2 in 101. (Are you following all this?)

When I pulled out onto Main Street, I nearly cutoff a bright yellow custom pickup truck with flames on the hood and sides. The tough looking bald guy inside started shouting at me. He ran up on my bumper then swung around next to me and started threatening me.

I turned at the Lutheran Church suddenly, hoping to lose him. As soon as I was out of sight, I doubled back. I'd seen him speed up to the next block, so I thought I'd lose him with my sneaky maneuver. Unfortunately, he did the same thing at the next block and I found him next to me again. (What happened here would be physically impossible, but dreams aren't bound by the laws of physics. Would've been nice if they applied in this case.)

I was in a panic. I drove back to the ambulance barn, grabbed my portable radio and began frantically trying to raise dispatch while the driver, now out of his pretty pickup, started pounding on my window angrily.

I woke up. Whew! (Pepperoni pizza at an EMS meeting late in the evening...NEVER AGAIN!!!)

Don't be stupid...

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. This political button is so out there. "Don't be racist, vote Obama"? Get real. I make decisions about my politics based on issues not race and I am NOT a racist even though I will not be voting for Mr. O. Don't be ridiculous!

Without getting angry...

Here is Don Miller's step-by-step formula for "how you, too, can go to church without getting angry":

• Pray that God will show you a church filled with people who share your interests and values.
• Go to the church God shows you.
• Don't hold grudges against any other churches. God loves those churches almost as much as He loves yours.

Leading up to this formula, Miller says this: "I had to tell my heart to love the people at the churches I used to go to, the people who were different from me. This was entirely freeing because when I told my heart to do this, my heart did it, and now I think very fondly of those wacko Republican fundamentalists, and I know that they love me, too, and I know that we will eat together, we will break bread together in heaven, and we will love each other so purely it will hurt because we are a family in Christ." (Blue Like Jazz, p. 137-138)

Crime Stoppers alert!

I thought I’d give you a heads up. Masked bandits are coming to town next Friday. Trust me. They always do on October 31st. Never fails. And the cops do nothing to stop them.

Here’s how they operate…

They ring your doorbell and when you answer, they hold out a sack or a bucket and demand you pay up or else.

“Trick or treat?” is a threat, you know? It’s extortion, pure and simple. “Give me something good to eat,” the little candy-grubbers demand, “or I’ll put mustard in your oatmeal and make noises like a sick cat outside your window while you’re trying to sleep.”

The Mob has nothing on young Halloweeners. Be prepared…or else!