She was six when I first met her. Shy, maybe even a little afraid of me. Her hands were folded in front of her and she was staring at me. Who was this new person at the church? All the adults were talking with him. Calling him Pastor. Who was he? I was watching her out of the corner of my eye and I finally excused myself from the group I was talking to and I bent down and stared back at her.

          “What’s your name, young lady?” Clearly, she wasn’t quite ready to confide in me that information, but the adults and the Youth seemed fine with me. She took a deep breath.

          “Ashley.”

          “Ah, OK. I was going to guess that. You really do look like an ‘Ashley.’ But there is more. Hmmm. Yeah…..I am going to call you Ashley Doodle.” Her face went from serious to laughter in a second. After that she was Ashley Doodle or Doodle or, for short, Doo. Even now in e-mails or Facebook I call her one of those names. Married, 31 this December and the mother of two little ones. Still call her Doo.

          She wants to be a good Christian, and she works at it. She and her husband and kids are in church on Sunday. She reads her Bible. She prays. The kids are taught Christian ethics at home. She does well. She also wants to be a good American. Takes it seriously. Votes. We don’t always agree, but I never told my kids how to vote, just insisted that they vote and that they do so as informed young people.

          And so, I was a little surprised earlier in the week when I saw she had posted on her Facebook page; “That’s it! I am done with politics! I am not voting!” I immediately started to type a reply, but then I stopped. I understand the frustration. For the most part, national politics have degraded to name calling and finger pointing. Even threats. It is very frustrating. So much so that people are being turned away from the whole thing. Because of the evil that is coming to the surface in the political world, many are opting out of the process. There is no longer a high road in politics.

          Seeing Doodle’s note made me think back many years. A Youth group meeting. Elections were near. I don’t remember if Doodle was in the group yet. If she was, she would have only been first year. We hadn’t actually started the meeting yet when one of the kids asked me why did we have these long campaigns. I answered that campaigns gave the candidate the opportunity to get the message out. It seems like that year there was a senator or governor running against an incumbent president. The same Youth who had asked the question then said that it seemed like a lot of money and time could be saved if the candidate just got on TV and stated their case, answered some questions and went home. Then have the election. I laughed and said it didn’t work that way, and he immediately asked why not. And then he asked a brilliant question. “Pastor, has any of the campaign changed your mind?” I told him no, it had not. I had researched the candidates and had made my choice long before the campaigns began in earnest. That set off more conversation. Why couldn’t everyone be like that? If people are swayed in the campaigning, aren’t they kind of clueless? Has any candidate changed their beliefs and plans midway in the campaign? How much money does this cost? And then one of the girls asked another brilliant question. “Don’t these people already have jobs? How can they spend so much time running for something when they were elected to do the job they already have? Their job is not being a candidate.”

          They were asking questions I could not answer. It doesn’t make sense to a teenager to answer a question by saying, “Well, it has always been that way.” For that matter, it shouldn’t make sense to any of us.

          I am antiabortion. I am antisocialism. (Never forget, Hitler and Stalin were socialists.) I respect the flag. I respect the country. I respect my fellow man. I knew who I was voting for in this election before anyone ever heard of COVID-19. I don’t care for the president on a personal level, but there just isn’t anyone else. None of the campaigning has moved me in the least.

          I think it would be so great if a president would come out one day as the election season was coming up and say, “Folks, I am pretty busy in my job as president. I really don’t have time to do all those candidate things. Next Tuesday night at 8 Eastern, 7 Central, 6 Mountain and 5 Pacific I am going to go on air and outline my plan for the next four years. I am going to tell you what I believe and what I want done. And then I am going to go back to work and take care of the country. No campaigning, no debates, no kissing babies, no shaking hands and no rallies. This is the biggest job in the world and I was elected to see to it. I will talk to you again Tuesday evening.”

          What do you think would happen with that? The media would melt down! They make huge money during campaigns. The opposition would freak out. Hard to call someone a name when they are not responding. And the voters would have to do a little digging to get their answers, but that would be good.

          As Americans, we have an obligation to vote. More than an obligation. A high privilege. We vote our conscious, but our conscious has to be guided by our faith. Which brings me to the next point. We, as Christians, need to pray for our leaders WHETHER WE LIKE THEM OR NOT. “Yeah, well, in the Bible times they didn’t have anyone like Obama or Clinton!” No, but they had leaders who threw Christians in to starving lions or blood thirsty gladiators. Leaders who could order the deaths of male children under the age of two. People in authority who could order a stoning. Or even a brutal crucifixion. In 1 Timothy 2:1-6 (a time of persecution) we have this; First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, Godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 

          It seems the prayers were for the leadership to come to Jesus. Think what a world that would be.

          Never forget that God is in control. If we want our nation to return to Christian ways and values, we need to first bring ourselves back to Christian ways and values. We cannot legislate it, but we can give it to Jesus and accept His way.