all of this election mess and stuff

The election is less than 2 weeks away and it's a debacle. Can we talk about this? I don’t love to talk about politics. It can bring up a ton of stressful feelings, a need to defend our positions and opinions among a thousand voices as we try to find the tribe that seems to fit us best in the political arena. I have no intention of telling you which tribe you belong in.

I’m not a political expert. I know there are those out there who have spent a lot of time researching candidates and fact checking. I hope we can all just agree that we have some very flawed candidates running for the office of president this year. It’s a little bit scary. But as I study the lives of the judges of Israel and recall her many kings, I can’t help but find some sense of relief there. Every single one of them, being human and all, was flawed. Some more than others. If God can work through cowards, murderers, womanizers, liars and cheats to accomplish His good will, I have no doubt that He can work through any of the candidates that presently grace our ballots.

There’s something scarier to me than our candidates though. It’s us. As a society. As a group of people trying to follow Jesus. Here’s what terrifies me. We are all completely caught up in who and what we’re against. This election is being boiled down to attempting to ensure that the candidate we hate the most doesn’t win. Never {insert candidate name}.

Instead of asking ourselves who we are for, we are asking ourselves who we are against. This is no way to decide an election, or live our lives for that matter. Yes, the options may be poor. But before you place your vote, consider whether you're voting for a candidate or against one. Are you voting for someone you actually support or a place holder?

I don’t have an obvious solution for you. I don't know what the other choice is in this election. Sure there are independents and write ins. I still don’t know who you should vote for. I do know you shouldn’t vote for the lesser of two evils and expect that will be OK. I keep asking myself, if Jesus was in that voting booth with me on November 8, and He will be, who would I be comfortable supporting? Which candidate can I support and be able to explain to my children why I gave my vote to that person?

And if we’re honest, it’s not just the election, is it? When are we going to stop being defined by what we’re against instead of what we stand for? I guess the answer is when we stop defining ourselves and each other that way. Let's stop fighting about, well, almost everything. Let's not fight about music or non-essential doctrine or the way we drive. Let’s stand for what’s important today. Let’s stand for kindness, let's stand for each other, let's stand for Jesus.