When I was a kid my life centered around playing sports. More specifically, I played various levels of baseball for the town in which I was raised. Additionally, I was a member of my high school’s basketball team.

Whether it was baseball or basketball, I saw much playing time in both sports. On occasion, my respective coaches pulled me from a game for one reason or another and I had to ride the pine or in other words, to sit on the bench.

For me, to sit on the bench was analogous to cruel and unusual punishment. I had to get in the game where I could have the opportunity to make a difference and perhaps impact the outcome of a game.

The same could be said for you and I as we find ourselves entrenched in the current political season.

We must get in the game as the stakes are very high.

We might be voting with our own interests in mind, but what we do (or don’t do) this time around will have a generational impact.

We cannot afford to ride the pine on this one. It is time for you and I to do our part to make a difference.

During the most previous mid-term election cycle, I cited our need to vote and thereby having our voices be heard.

At the time, I outlined important reasons for us doing so. Much of the same reasons still exist and are in a heightened state as we have gone from bad to worse.

You can access my prior post here as a refresher. The stakes have been exponentially raised in the past two years.

We can no longer distract ourselves with whether a candidate posts “mean tweets” or another refines their culinary skills by offering “word salads” on the daily menu.

If you are a regular subscriber to this blog, please accept my sincere thanks for taking the time to read what I share. I do my best to do so from a biblical world view in the hope of offering meaningful content.

In the past few weeks I have heard it reported from several sources that an estimated 40 million people who refer to themselves as Christians do not vote and 15 million are not registered to vote.

I call that riding the pine and not getting into the game – intentionally!

It’s a recipe for disaster and one which has contributed to getting us as a nation into the mess we find ourselves in the first place.

The reasons to get engaged are more than a watered down party affiliation or following a candidate based on their personality.

It boils down to the issues and most specifically, the issues which are important to our world view.

I reiterate the following from Eric Metaxas’ book, Letter to the American Church.

In it Metaxas says the following:

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. God will not hold us guiltless.”

I heard a talk recently where it was proposed that we as voters cast our vote on values versus party affiliation or the like.

The speaker outlined the following value based points as the core issues we as believers should consider when voting for candidate(s) during the upcoming election.

When voting biblical values, we should consider the candidate or candidates most closely aligned with being against these positions, recognizing there is NO perfect candidate.

1. Abortion on demand in every trimester.
2. Open borders resulting in fentanyl deaths and chaos in major cities.
3. Rampant unchecked crime and DA’s who refuse to prosecute violent offenders-no bail or catch and release.
4. Out of control inflation.
5. Boys in girl’s sports /restrooms; men in women’s sports / restrooms.
6. Transgender ideology, puberty blockers, no parental notification.
7. Drag shows for children in public schools.
8. Betrayal of Israel or greatest ally.
9. Weaponization of the justice system.
10. Political weaponization of teachers unions and higher education indoctrination.

Source: America First Works

The time to act is now. We are five weeks out from the most consequential election of our lifetime.

My encouragement to you is to get in the game, VOTE, and to make a difference. If this post was meaningful to you, please consider sharing it with another.

God is and always will be on His throne. When we do our part, He does His.

Incidentally, I am providing a link to the following video to a wonderful election day message by Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, VA.

As Hamrick states, “Government is not the answer for the soul of a nation, Jesus is.”

It would be well worth your time to listen to it.

HELPING YOU DISCOVER A PLACE CALLED HOPE