Did You Vote Last Week?

I voted last week. Actually, more than once.

I’m not an extremely political person (please forgive me, all my Oklahoma subscribers), so I’m not someone who usually watches the election results. However, the last couple national elections, my interest has been piqued. This last Tuesday night as soon as information started coming in, I began checking on it. Between Tuesday and Friday, I’m embarrassed to tell how many times I checked the election map projection by Associated Press.

I had voted earlier in the day on Tuesday, and I had my own opinions on the way I wanted the election to go. By that night, certain states were starting to turn blue, and certain states were starting to turn red. My state of Kansas was light blue. That meant that there were more democratic votes at that point than republican votes, but the votes were still coming in. It couldn’t be determined yet which way Kansas would go.

Sure enough, as the evening went on, the color on the state of Kansas suddenly changed—pink! And then it went to solid red. That meant, that at that point, the Associated Press felt that without any doubt Kansas had gone republican.

I sat mesmerized…pink states turning blue, and light blue states turning pink, and pink states turning red. It was interesting seeing this play out in real life. If the presidency, senate, and congress had just been announced without the drama, it would not have had the suspense.
I thought I had seen all this before. People are blue, then out of nowhere, their colors change. You look up, and they are pink, then dark blue. Someone that you thought would always be red, changes and is blue. The Associated Press called this flipping. I have seen it over and over in people I love until I have wanted to curl up and hide somewhere!

They say that every vote counts, but I’m not sure everyone feels the importance of their vote. Imagine the people in Alaska! How many years has a president been proclaimed while the Alaskan votes were still being counted? Did their vote matter? I mean, they only had three electoral votes, so did the rest of the country care?

By Wednesday, this AP map of the United States was symbolizing the helplessness I felt with those I care about and love. There are people who I want to make it with all my heart, and does my vote matter?

I felt like God told me that His Word told me it mattered. That when He said the “effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” that He meant that my vote mattered. Even if I only have three electoral votes.

And so, I started to vote. I told God, “I’m voting for Lexie. I’m voting for Logan.” Yes, I voted for my thirteen-year olds. I cried and voted. I voted for people who have dropped out of my church. I voted for my family members. I voted over and over.

As I was voting Wednesday and Thursday, I had no idea that by Friday, Logan would be praying through to victory.  When you are voting, you don’t know about the end results. You don’t know if the state is going to end up being red or blue. The suspense and concern are there.

But when it’s all over, you will know that you voted!