VOTE! TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6

This morning, I watched as thirty-ish children sat around maps of the world and prayed for children in various countries. It dawned on me that our children are living in a country where meeting together to pray and to talk about Christ is legal, while many of the children for whom they prayed do not. What struck me further was that 30% of the children in the room were Chinese. What a different life they would be living if they were in China.

This coming weekend we will remember the persecuted church. We will pray and focus our thoughts to the many who sacrifice their lives to assemble with other believers for the sake of Christ. We will attempt to understand what it is they face in their countries, and we will strive to relate it to our own sufferings for the cause of Christ. 

I'm asking that we remember, pray, focus, understand and relate a few days early. The persecuted church is not an unrealistic outcome in our own country. The decisions, whether large or small, that are made by the men and women who are voted in on Tuesday will directly impact our lives and the lives of our children. 

^{Romans 1:18-25 (HCSB)}

¹⁸ For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, ¹⁹ since what can be known^[o] about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. ²¹ For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

God is ultimately in control, but that does not mean that we should not take a bold stand in our community and in our nation. It is urgent that we get on our faces before God to beg for His mercy on our country. If we are quiet, I believe we are in danger of bringing the persecuted church to the good ol' U.S.A.

Six of the world's most precious children call me Aunt Bec Bec. My vote matters. 

~Rebecca Phillips