Today I voted and I as I stood in line for close to an hour, I looked at people ahead of me and behind me and I was thankful. I was thankful that I could do what I was doing without fear of retribution or antagonism. Even though there were people voting differently than me, a group of eight of us talked together about life for most of the time we were together in line. 

    I sort of hate to admit this, but as I waited, my mind drifted to something I’d heard attributed to Oprah. I don’t spend much time or really any time watching Oprah, but I heard a quote from her regarding one of the candidates. She was responding to someone expressing frustration about not liking the candidates and Oprah replied with something like, “You don’t have to like’m, it’s not like they’re coming over to your house.” Her point seemed to be that it’s not the person as much as it is the policy that we’re voting for. I thought this was insightful. 

    Here’s another thought I had…both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are real people. Despite their tough exteriors and imperfections, they are real people with feelings and issues regarding self esteem just like everyone else. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be the focal point of so much anger and disdain, no matter what their decisions or behaviors may have been. In James 5, God tells us through his apostle that the prayer of person who is right with the Lord is powerful and effective. That’s you and me through Jesus. Therefore we have an ability and access to change things through the spiritual realm. We may not discern the impact, but faith is acting on what God has said is true. Let’s begin to pray for both of these candidates; one of them is going to be our president. God will bring to your mind what specifically to pray. Be faithful and do it. 

    Lastly, someone asked me for a voters guide that listed the candidates’ positions on issues related to values important to our country and our faith. I think this one from the Family Research Council is concise and clear.