After the Ballots Have Been Counted

Before you read any further, I need you to do two things (but promise to come back and finish reading after you do them). If you haven’t yet, check out my post about voting your conscience. I’d also commend this piece to you by Eric Metaxas (and just for context, this is the man who penned the definitive work on German hero Dietrich Bonhoeffer, gave a daring speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, and hosts an uplifting daily radio show about everything). I’m voting for Donald Trump for the same reasons Metaxas so ardently articulates. 

But whoever you are (or aren’t) voting for on November 8, think about what you’ll be doing on November 9 and beyond. No matter what the outcome the ballot boxes report, American Christians will have a lot of choices to make as we head into the next four years of the history of the United States. 

If Donald Trump is elected, many of us will breathe a sigh of relief—for a few moments. Unfortunately, if Trump takes residence in the White House, too many of us (i.e. conservative Christians) may do what we’ve done before: assume that a Republican presidency means we can coast for a while. Of course, the fact that the Republican president will be Trump is probably enough to keep a lot of us on our toes. But still, the tendency is to let our guard down when someone from our own side is the country's team captain. And besides the potential messes that Trump’s foibles might cause, we still have a hostile culture to deal with in the meantime. We still have to grapple with how to raise our children, how to boldly but winsomely practice our religious liberty, how to faithfully share the Gospel with our neighbors and acquaintances, and how to be practically involved in our communities.

And those questions become even more problematic if we get four years of another Clinton presidency—big time. Instead of an unpredictable friend, we will have a predictable opponent of the core principles that we as Christians hold dear.  

So, regardless of the election results nationally, regionally and locally, plan on doing the following things (even if you feel depressed) on the morning of November 9.

Pray. Praise God that He is sovereign, and thank Him that He has a good purpose for whoever He has placed in positions of authority.  Read Psalm 141:8: “But my eyes are upon You, O God the Lord; in You I take refuge…” Ask Him for wisdom for what to do in the days ahead.

Be faithful to do what God has called you to do. No matter who is elected, don't alter your current way of life because of what might happen if you don't. Take a cue from Daniel, who kept publicly worshiping God even after he knew it might put him in a lion's den (and it did!) Maybe we might have to do some things a little differently because it's prudent or more effective, but we can't operate out of fear. Follow the British morale poster from WWII: "Keep Calm and Carry On."

Be a voice of hope. No, really. Christians can always, always, always bring good news when there is bad news, light when there is darkness, hope when there is despair. The Gospel is still the Gospel. No matter who lives in the White House, Jesus is still the King of kings. He will put all to rights, and for those who are right with Him, the very best is yet to come. As the Apostle Peter put it:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (I Peter 1:3-7 ESV)

Book Review: Meet the Men and Women We Call Heroes

I love biographies because they’re true stories about relatable and yet inspirational people. But often I don’t have the time I’d like to delve into the details about the great men and women of history. And sometimes, I like to get a sense of who a person was before spending a few dozen hours of my life reading a 400-page book about them. That’s one of the reasons I’m grateful for my recent journey through Meet the Men and Women We Call Heroes, an anthology of 20 short biographies edited by Charles Turner and Ann Spangler.

 Heroes is unique in two ways: its subjects and their authors. Unlike other “hero” books, the people you’ll encounter in this volume are not particularly famous, but they were particularly impacting. There are a few headliners, like Mother Teresa and C.S. Lewis, but most are only moderately known (e.g. Catherine Marshall, Paul Brandt, Amy Carmichael), and many without any prior notoriety. They come from all points in history (the Middle Ages to modern times) and include scholars, politicians, authors, editors, poets, doctors, missionaries, fathers and mothers.

But even more unique than the collection of heroes this anthology contains is the collection of authors who describe them. Each author, 10 men and 10 women, was (and in most cases, still is) considered an influential Christian in 1985, the year of the book’s publishing. Readers then and now see them as modern “heroes of the faith,” and this puts an entirely new perspective on each contribution. Instead of simply reading about William Wilberforce, you'll read about the historical cultural activist from modern cultural activist Chuck Colson. Ever wonder who inspired people like R.C. Sproul, Elisabeth Elliot, J.I. Packer, or Philip Keller? Heroes will give you the answer. And like the subjects themselves, the contributors include lesser known (but just as effective) communicators.  

In each of the book’s 20 chapters, a contributor describes his or her hero in their own unique style. You’ll read Kitty Muggeridge’s straightforward life account of Mother Teresa, Elisabeth Sherrill’s dramatic portrayal of Adrienne de Lafayette (a.ka. the wife of the Marquis de Lafayette of American Revolution fame), and Harry Blamires’ reminisces of what it was like to be a student of C.S. Lewis. It’s true that some authors do the job better than others, but each piece gives special insight into both hero and admirer. In many instances, the chapter is a first hand account written by someone who knew the hero, sometimes quite personally.

Because it’s an unassuming paperback from 30 years ago, some might think Heroes is old enough to be considered dated, but recent enough to be considered unremarkable. But that’s a mistake. While there are a few chapters where the book’s age does leave some gaps (e.g. some of the heroes who were living have since passed on), the accounts are otherwise timeless, and the heroes just as worth learning about and emulating now as they were then.

Meet the Men and Women We Call Heroes, edited by Charles Turner and Ann Spangler, 368 pages, (Servant Publications, 1985 and other editions) is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble . Contributors (and their heroes) include Kitty Muggeridge (Mother Teresa), Elisabeth Elliot (Amy Carmichael), Kathryn Koob (Catherine Marshall), Elizabeth Sherrill (Adrienne de Lafayette), Ingrid Trobisch (Johanna Mathilda Lind Hult), Luci Shaw (Elizabeth Rooney), Gladys Hunt (Evelyn Harris Brand), Karen Burton Mains (Wilma Burton), Madeleine L’Engle (Mary McKenna O’Connell), Rebecca Manley Pippert (Ethel Renwick), Harry Blamires (C.S. Lewis), Philip Yancey (Paul Brand), Charles Colson (William Wilberforce), R.C. Sproul (Thomas Aquinas), W. Phillip Keller (Otto C. Keller), J.I. Packer (David Martyn-Lloyd Jones), Thomas Howard (Philip E. Howard Jr.), Robert E. Coleman (Blaise Pascal), Charles Turner (T. Stanley Soltau), and Malcom Muggeridge (Alexander Solzhenitsyn).