Choose this day

The Israelites followed Moses around the Sinai Desert for 40 years. A lot of that time, they grumbled. The food from heaven was no good. Moses had traipsed up the mountain for what they thought was a long time. He came down with tablets of God’s Commandments.

Moses was gone long enough for the people to have built a golden calf. Obedience has always been a challenge. We don’t follow street limit signs. We test the yellow light to see if we can get through before it turns red. We cheat on our spouses.

Moses led them to build an Arc, a Tent of Meeting, a Tabernacle. The cloud of the Lord was on the Tabernacle in the day; fire was in the cloud by night.

In Deuteronomy 24, Moses is told he will not go into the promised land, but he will get to see it.

After Moses dies, “the Lord spoke to Joshua, Now, proceed to cross the Jordan.” Journey, people, journey to the place that God has promised.

Joshua gets old. In his advanced years he makes a statement that is the stuff of cross stitch and pillows. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

We had a back door neighbor in Wilson who told us one day, “Never say what your children will or won’t do.” What great wisdom.

People, even good people, can be wooed off the path. That is what happened when Donald Trump, a convicted felon, was elected. The snake oil salesman sold himself as a champion of the “little man and woman.” They voted for him because they bought what he was selling.

As it turns out, he sold us a bill of goods. He has enriched himself by millions over his presidency while the rest of us are paying higher prices for food, gasoline, utilities. We seem to be in a unretractable war of Donald’s own making. Young men and women on both sides are being killed.

We make many decisions in our lifetime, from the mundane to the important. Our spouse, our church, our college, our career, and who we elect to lead us are among the most important.

We sometimes don’t share the bad decisions we make. We return the Amazon sweater that is the wrong color. Amazon makes it easy to return. A flawed president is not that easy to get rid of.

We make voting decisions in a booth, in private. Conversation is discouraged. Let us hope that we chose candidates who keep us directed toward doing good for the people of America and North Carolina. Let us make right choices at the front end of the process, rather than sweeping up the mess in the back end.

We who claim to be Christ bearers in the world need to ask ourselves how our vote honors God. How does my vote promote good will among all people? How does my vote seek justice, mercy, and love for the least among us?

With what do I come before the Lord? In our vote lies our answer. May God bless the choices we made. May all that we do and all that we are be pleasing and acceptable unto God.

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist, and host of the blogsite Avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com.