Faith Through the Journey

The American Electorate

After the recent elections, there has been much discussion about why some candidates won and others lost. Having been part of over 16,000 voters’ ballots being cast firsthand, I saw a very diverse group of American citizens. I was both encouraged and disheartened as I watched people participate in the process. There were older voters who were very anxious to express their opinions at the ballot box; businessmen and women who have been hurt by governmental overreach; young people who were excited to have their first voting experience; minorities who wanted their voices to be heard; and even a couple of celebrities! Those who came earliest in early voting seemed to have the strongest opinions about candidates or issues, or perhaps they were just well sick of all the robo-calls!

When people show up at the polls to express their opinions, they are participating in an important and uniquely American process. It is often said that if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain when decisions with which you disagree are made. However, I must say there are some voters who I would almost prefer NOT participate! I heard more times than I cared to that the voter “hadn’t voted since the last election”. When I asked them if they meant the one we had in July, they gave me a strange look and wondered what I was talking about! As the days (and election day itself) wore on, the less informed voters began to appear. These were the ones who came out once every four years to vote on basically one office, and their ignorance about everything from their own registration to who was running  became painfully evident. Unfortunately, looking into their faces was very discouraging and disheartening to me. I could see they had absolutely no idea what they were doing, and yet they were making one of the most national decisions there is. The only preparation they made to vote was to show up where they thought they might be registered! I was trying to find “lost voters” after the polls had officially closed! When uninformed people vote, they perpetrate the consequences of bad decisions upon everyone else. That is the height of irresponsibility and selfishness. Unfortunately, it is the right of all Americans who meet the qualifications of voting–age, registration, residence–to exercise that right in decision-making for many important issues. When people vote ignorantly or emotionally, they cause the rest of the population to lose out on well-chosen candidates or issues that can have far-reaching consequences, possibly for generations to come.

It is a tragedy that one of the most important rights, one our Founding Fathers prized above many others, the right to vote, has been so irresponsibly exercised by so many citizens. It would be far better for the country if they either did a little homework or just admitted they didn’t know what they were doing and stay home. That probably sounds harsh, but I think many will agree that uninformed choices can end up being dangerous to the vast majority of their fellow citizens. Please, America, THINK before you vote!!

A Good and Faithful Servant

Ten years ago today my dad, Robert “Bob” Whitcomb, entered the presence of Jesus. Although he had battled with complications of prostate cancer surgery for nearly a year, his sudden death was a source of shock and grief to our entire family. 

Dad was an amazing man, and he packed a lot of life into his 74 years. He could fix just about anything and wouldn’t rest until he had figured things out with whatever needed fixing. He had a lifelong ambition to build his own house, and after he retired at the age of 56, he did just that. He took classes on plumbing, electrical wiring, upholstering and brick laying to prepare for this undertaking. He always had some kind of a “project” going, building something or working in his woodworking shop. He built furniture, keepsake items for his grandchildren, frames for my mother’s stained-glass pictures–he even built a deck onto the back of their house during his last summer when he was going through the many physical problems he had over the course of the year. He was even on his roof the week before he died, trying to find a leak that needed fixing!

Dad was a man who loved his God, his country, and his family. He was one of the godliest men I have ever known, and he loved studying and teaching the Bible. His last study in the book of Romans was bound and published by his Sunday school class because they all wanted to remember the many truths Dad had taught them. Dad took his family to church and led us by his example. His faith was such a part of him that it was as natural as breathing for him to live out that faith. He led us in family Bible reading and prayer every night and taught us to follow God’s leading in everything. He was a passionate patriot, even to the point of constructing a flagpole on his property and raising and lowering the flag every day. He taught us the “proper” way to fold the flag and made sure we had as great a love for America as he did. Dad was a Navy veteran of the Korean War, and he even turned down a fleet appointment to the Naval Academy because he really wanted to have a permanent home and family of his own. He didn’t have an easy life, but there were always people in his life who loved him and taught him how to be a great man. He was the first person in his family to graduate from college, with a degree in metallurgical engineering.

God was so gracious in allowing us to have Dad for the years we did. He dearly loved his wife, his children and “in-laws”, and his 7 grandchildren. He was so proud of his grandchildren, and each of them remember him well and know without a doubt how much he loved them. He LOVED watching all of them play sports and even though all but 2 of them lived a distance away, he made sure he and Mom traveled to see them at least once during every “season”. He would have been proud to see each of them graduate from college, something he strongly believed in and encouraged. He always said that if he knew how much fun grandchildren were, he would have had them first! He had a great sense of humor and always joked with the kids. They all remember his “famous” one-liners!

Because he loved America so much, it somehow seemed fitting that he should die on Election Day. Even though all of us still miss him so much, we wouldn’t wish him back on earth for even one day. He would have hated a life of being much less active, confined to a body that no longer worked right. God took him home to heaven so that he wouldn’t have to live that way. We know that one day we will have a grand reunion in heaven–maybe even in a home he helped build! I often picture him in heaven, telling a joke and wearing his tool belt! I don’t know if that’s what he’s doing at all, but I know heaven is a place where God has prepared a home for us, a place where we will be eternally happy. God knows how to take care of His children, and whatever we need in heaven to be happy, He will give it to us. My dad knew about heaven because of all the years he studied God’s Word, and I know he was looking forward to eternity. When he met Jesus face-to-face, he looked into the face of the One who saved him and made it possible for him to have an eternal home in heaven. I know as well that when Dad reached heaven’s shore, he heard the words from his Heavenly Father: “Well done, good and faithful servant!”