You haven’t heard from me in a consistent way on this blog, mostly because we’ve been diligently working to serve multitudes of needy people here in Uganda on the islands of Lake Victoria to the neglect of reporting on it. But in the midst of all the projects and tasks we have going right now I felt compelled to share a little piece of our hearts for the forgotten during this critical hour that very literally determines the future course of the United States of America.
As I’ve mentioned before, one of the themes of our service in Uganda comes from Proverbs 31:8-9:
This has been a driving motivation for us for many years now: that we would become mediators between a pleasure-saturated, greed-loving, glory-hungry world and the destitute forgotten the world over. Of course these “speechless” include AIDS orphans in Africa. Certainly they are comprised of widows and refugees and slum-dwellers and those who live on less than a dollar a day. But the quintessential “poor and needy…speechless…appointed to die” are innocent children who live their short lives in acute vulnerability and are silently snuffed out by those discharged with the sole duty of bringing them to birth.
I’m writing this while watching my smiling 10 month old Josiah sing a contented tune of “ba-ba” from his prostrate position on the living room rug. Having become a new parent this year, the theme of rescuing “the speechless” has leaped from the political issue to the realm of daily living. And this abhorrent thought of “the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy” is no longer politics, but moral obligation. On Tuesday this week Americans everywhere will make their voice heard on their concern for the voiceless.
As US citizens living in a foreign land, we were privileged to vote absentee by mail a number of weeks ago and took the time to research the candidates (even the “3rd parties”), the issues, and the various things that are at stake in this pivotal election taking place mere hours from now. I realize there are multiple issues to ponder, but consider this: In the next four years, multiple members of the aging US Supreme Court will likely retire and the President will appoint like-minded members to the bar who are allowed to serve in their position for life. This election is not about Obama or McCain, but about the next 30-40 years of judicial decisions that will determine the moral course of our land. And if liberal, pro-abortion judges are set in (not to mention a liberal President signing law from a liberal Congress), we stand to see multiplied millions of the poor and needy appointed to die.
I’m not asking you to vote like Jesus would (undoubtedly he’d mention something about giving to Caesar the votes that are Caesar’s), but I am imploring you to vote according to Biblical principles and Godly values so that the rights and freedoms inherent to the foundation of our great nation might be applied to all members of the family.
Opening my mouth,
-Brent
PS – Check out a great article from my uncle Wendell Smith on “Principles over Politics.”