Why I'm Not Voting (And It's Not Because I'm Lazy)

Recently I have read several articles and heard from many of my friends about how it is the Christian’s duty to vote for the candidate that will best represent Christian ideals. It is often suggested that it is a blessing to live in a nation that is founded on biblical ideals (a debate for another time), and that we are squandering that blessing by refusing to vote for the candidate which best embodies those ideals.

While these arguments can be well reasoned, and are written by well-meaning individuals, they find no support in scripture.  In contrast, Christ’s method of changing the world did not start with legislation, it started with love.  The Christ was not born into a powerful family from a powerful nation in order that he could revolutionize the political sphere, and thus enact worldwide change. The Christ was born into a nation in captivity, the bastard son of a carpenter.  The Christ did not rise to power to change laws and protect the interests of the faithful, but instead lowered himself even further to become the friend of whores and of traitors, even to the detriment of himself and those who followed him.

It was in this humbling of himself that Christ enacted the greatest change the world has ever seen. Indeed, is in the lowliness of Christ that Gospel becomes most potent, for it is in humility and impotence that God creates change.  The message of Christ is not that the powerful should change the world through legislation. The message of Christ is that God is already changing the world through the powerless.

If this is true (and I strongly believe that it is), then voting for a candidate, party, or laws that will protect the interests of Christians is in direct contrast to the power of the Gospel. Christ tells us that those who wish to be greatest must become least, and yet the Church in America fights to maintain its greatness. We vote to maintain our way of living. We struggle to maintain our voice. 

And it is in this struggle that the Church loses hold of the Gospel.

If the Gospel is that we become the righteousness of God only through the salvation of Christ, then perhaps we should recall how that salvation took place.

It was not through an election, by which Jesus took control of the government. It was not through a violent rebellion, by which Jesus overthrew the ways of the world and triumphed the ways of God.

No, salvation comes to all humanity when God subjects himself to humiliation and degradation leading all the way to a cross.

The Christ we claim to follow changed the world by giving up his voice.  The Christ we claim to follow changed the world by giving up his power as God and becoming death for his people.  The Christ we claim to follow surrendered his own will (far more perfect and holy than mine) in order that God’s will could be perfected in his weakness.

But Americans reject weakness. We refuse to give up our voice.  We refuse to allow someone else to take power without a fight.

Because if we were to give up our power, we might just have to let God work in us again.

Because if we were to forsake our rights, we might just have to become slaves to God and his kingdom.

Because if we were to surrender, we might just have to start trusting God again.

And that would be catastrophic, wouldn’t it?

The Kingdom of God is not compatible with the Kingdom of Man.  My rights as an American are not compatible with my slavery to God.

I made my vote when I joined with Christ in his death. I chose a life in which I lower myself in order that God might create change through me.  My faith becomes a surrendering of my power, and that power includes my right to choose who will govern, and what laws will be in place.

Instead, the Church should fight injustice in the same way Christ did. By joining in with those who are neglected, mistreated and abused.  By loving all people, especially our enemies, and by letting God be the one who transforms the world, not ourselves, our political candidates, or our Bible-based Government (whatever that means).

Voting is an exercise of power. And power is something that, like Jesus, Christians are called to give up. We must keep in mind the words of Christ in Matthew 20 –

 “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave. For the Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Out of Shape

Have you ever bitten off more than you could chew? Have you ever committed yourself to something only to find out that there was no way you could possibly finish that?

As I mentioned in my last post, a couple weeks ago, I got a Nintendo Wii. Along with it, I bought Wii Fit Plus, and have been working out everyday for the past 16 days (which is really impressive for me, by the way). This past Sunday, I decided that I had been working out a while, and it was time to do some outdoor exercise. I figured that I was in pretty good shape, because I did the long distance runs on the Wii Fit. So I set a timer on my phone for 30 minutes, put on my running shoes, popped in some headphones, and took off out the door.

I started with a pretty quick pace, and had made it down the street thinking, Wow, I really am in good shape. I feel great!


Fast forward about 30 seconds, and I am already out of breath, struggling to take every step, and feeling slightly nauseous. I pushed myself along until the minivan driving down the street couldn't see me anymore, and then I stopped to walk. I checked my timer.... Not even 5 minutes. I thought to myself, I can't go back yet! Andrea is back in my apartment, and she's going to think I'm a pansy. So I walked for a few more minutes, and then started jogging again; much, much slower than I had started. But it was no use, I'd already spent all my energy.

I hobbled along at sort of a half run for another couple minutes before I decided that I would rather embarrass myself in front of Andrea by coming back in early than embarrass myself in front of the whole world by continuing to hobble on pathetically. So I stumble back over to my apartment, let myself in, wave feebly to Andrea, and lurch back to my bedroom where I collapse on the bed while lights dance before my eyes. When I finally get the energy a couple minutes later to check my timer, it has just barely hit 15 minutes.

That's right. In 15 minutes, I went from feeling very in shape and good about myself, to collapsing on my bed exhausted and feeling sick.

I think I bit off more than I could chew. I think I convinced myself that I was in better shape than I actually was, and pushed myself too hard too fast, and completely ruined a potentially good workout. Because we aren't designed to just be able to get up out of our sedentary lifestyles and run 30 minutes like its no big deal. We're not supposed to sprint when we've never even really jogged.

And this is true about every kind of exercise. From physical exercise to mental exercise to spiritual exercise.

We can't listen to a sermon about prayer, and then go home and spend two hours on your knees before God.  We can't live a spiritually sedentary life, and then expect to create a spiritually meaningful encounter with God whenever we want.  They're called spiritual disciplines for a reason.

So I want to encourage you to exercise your spiritual disciplines--to spend a little bit of time praying even when you really don't feel like it. To spend 5 minutes in silence before God even though it makes you uncomfortable. To decide to skip one meal and trust in God to sustain you, even though you really like food and are getting kinda hungry.

We won't feel powerful spiritual connections with God every time we set aside time to pray, or fast, or sit in silence, or practice any other spiritual disciplines, but we can train ourselves to place ourselves in the presence of God for longer and longer periods of time, until we do make that connection with God. Until we can have that relationship with God that we always wished we had, but never really worked for.

And if we can get into real spiritual shape, those times will come to mean everything to us. It won't be nearly as much of a struggle. And we just might meet God on a more intimate level than we ever imagined.

May you constantly grow in your relationship with God and celebrate your connection with Him.

--Tyler

Spring Break

Ah, Spring Break.

The time of year when students get to take a break. The time of year when we all get to forget our school work for a week and focus on relaxing.

Then again, maybe not.

This week I have way too much to do. I finished an 11-page paper yesterday, I'm at work today and Thursday, I have an 8 page research paper to do, a list of resources for my youth ministry class, a 5 page single spaced outline for Old Testament Theology, and a brand new Wii to enjoy (Credit Card rewards are kind of nice).

Ok maybe that last one isn't a necessity.

But really, sometimes we can just get so bogged down with what we have to get done that we don't take time to rest. Spring Break can be a nice reminder that sometimes we should stop to enjoy life. Sometimes that is difficult for me. My weeks have been so full ever since I started graduate school that I don't think I've taken nearly enough time to appreciate the life that God has given to me. But while I have important things to get done, I also need to take time to rest.

Sometimes I forget that God didn't make me to write papers and read textbooks. I spend so much time wrapped up in what I have to get done that I forget to look at the big picture. My whole life becomes about this chapter I have to read, or this outline I have to write, or this class I have to prepare for church. I don't take time to step back and look at the big picture. But this week I get to do that.

Really, in the grand scheme of things, this one Wednesday night class won't be that important. I probably won't even remember this 8 page paper by this time next year. But how I spend time before God this week will always be important. I just have to be willing to extract myself from business to place myself before an Almighty God. If I can do that, maybe he will mold me to be like him in ways I could never do on my own--especially by my own work.

May you rest in the presence of your Creator and be refreshed.

--Tyler

The Phantom of the Opera

I saw Phantom of the Opera last night in Dallas. It was kind of epic.

I'm not sure if my favorite part was the explosion of fire from the stage, the broken chandelier piecing itself back together and flying itself on up to the ceiling, or the floating candles appearing out of the stage only to disappear seconds later.

Oh and the singing, acting, and storyline were nice too.

I mean, the story is nothing new. I've seen the movie more times than I care to count and the stage musical once in London.

The singing was good, but not the best Phantom of the Opera I've ever heard. Of course, I listen to the Original Cast Recording on a pretty regular basis.

And the acting was fine, but let's be honest--watching not-so-famous actors who are so far away you can't tell if they're good actors or not is not the ideal situation.

But the special effects... those are incredible. To watch an actor appear in a mirror, shoot fire at another character, and disappear off the stage leaving nothing but a glowing mask behind... that makes the whole experience incredible. Part of what makes this kind of theater (theatre? Are you supposed to type it the British way when discussing a British play?) so fantastic is the sheer wonder of the production that makes you say, "How the heck did they do that?"

But you know, I really don't think I want to know how they did it. I think I prefer to wonder. Because it's the wonder of the play that actually brings the play to life. If I knew how they did everything, the play would lose a lot of its excitement. I think it might even kill the whole play.

There's this old saying that "Curiosity killed the cat." People say it to you to keep you from being to nosy. What I wonder is, whose curiosity killed the cat? For instance, if Billy was curious what turpentine would do to a cat, it would be Billy's curiosity that killed the cat. Not the cat's curiosity. I really think this is where the truth lies in the old saying. Because sometimes (read: most times) I think it's our curiosity that can be harmful to everyone, not just ourselves.

In fact, some day, not too long from now, I think the statement will probably become "Curiosity killed God" because we seem to be getting over our need for him. Our curiosity about God and his creation is quickly causing us to lose our wonder and fear of God. I think we need to stop every once and a while to admire the beauty of Creation as it comes from God without putting it through all kinds of tests and experiments. I believe we should continue to study theology in order to become more familiar with the personality of God, but sometimes we just need to realize that God is beyond our understanding, and to stand before him in fear and wonder, worshipping him in his incomprehensibility. That wonder and fear of God is what gives life to our relationship with him.

May your relationship with God be filled with wonder and excitement

--Tyler

The Winter Olympics

I love the Olympics.

Not because the sports are actually interesting. Not because I really care if America wipes the ice with the other competitors. Not because Bob Costas is my favorite sportscaster of all time.

The reason I love the Olympics is because of the people who compete in the Olympics are normal everyday people.  The vast majority of American athletes are unknown, and when the Olympics are over most of them remain that way. Sure, occasionally Olympic athletes gain fame from doing well in their sport. Everyone knows who Apolo Ohno and Shawn White are, but what about the other medal winners? What about the non-medal winners?

When the Olympics are over, most of the athletes go home, keep rocking their sports, continue in relative anonymity. But for this brief 2 week period, these athletes get to play their sport on the world stage, represent their countries and their families. And we get to cheer for these strangers.

At any other time, we're not interested in watching someone whose name we can't remember slide a big rock across ice while other nameless people sweep the ice in front of it. But this is a time when the whole world stops to watch these people play their sports. We cheer for them to win, and we enjoy watching them do what they do.

In a world where fame and popularity are prerequisites for public interest, it's refreshing to take a break from that to cheer for normal, unfamous people.

You know... I'm kind of glad God doesn't operate like us. He doesn't just watch the super Christians. God's attention isn't always on the spectacular christians in the world. God's attention is on all of us. He always cheers for us in the situations we're in. Each of us has the opportunity to do incredible things for God.

In fact, God often picks the "normal" person to do his will. One famous example is David. Even though Samuel would have picked any of David's brothers to be king, God picked the one who was still in the field with the sheep.

Jesus could have picked anyone to be his apostles, but he chose fishermen.

And now, we have an opportunity to wonderful things for God despite our position. We don't have to be famous and well known. God lets us work for him in any situation. There is no Christian Olympics of working for God, because God always uses the normal person to do his work.

That's encouraging because it means each of us can do powerful things for us.

May God bless you with the ability to do powerful things for him  May you be encouraged in your walk with God. May you in turn be a blessing in the Kingdom of God.

--Tyler

The Green Pen

As a graduate student at Abilene Christian University, I have a lot of really cool opportunities. One of those opportunities is that I get to work as Curt Niccum's graduate assistant. Sometimes, that means I get to do work with manuscripts of the Greek New Testament that are 800+ years old.  Sometimes it means I get to pick his brain over all things textual criticism (Yes I know, totally boring to you, but totally exciting to me). Today, it meant I got to grade tests.

Ok, ok, I understand that doesn't sound remotely exciting. It's certainly not the best task I've ever been given, but it was actually not too bad. It's kind of thrilling to think that the academic well-being of these students depends on the strokes you make with that green pen. As I got into it, I realized I began rooting for different papers in different ways.  What I mean by that is that I would find myself hoping for certain results from certain papers. If the first page would be perfect, I would find myself really hoping the rest of the test would be just as flawless. I would root for that particular student to get a 100.  However, if the first page was already marred by lots of little green marks, I found myself wanting to see how many this person could miss. 

I know that makes me a terrible person. I really do want everyone to learn as much as possible in every class that they take, but sometimes it's just fun to try and see how many questions you get to mark wrong.

The problem with that is that sometimes you just get on a roll. There were a few instances in which someone missed several in a row, and so I absently marked the next one wrong, only to discover that that person had actually answered the question correctly. My pen got ahead of my brain.

Now before you get all upset, I double-checked and made sure that I correctly graded every test. Every test has the correct total on it. There are just several that include corrected mistakes made by me.

Anyway, this whole grading process got me thinking about how glad I am that God doesn't look at us the same way I looked at these tests.  God doesn't pick people to cheer for and others to cheer against based on how well they are performing.  God doesn't get pleasure out of recognizing the mistakes we make. God doesn't anticipate our failure. He wants every single one of us to live according to his will. And if we don't do so well on the first page, he doesn't dismiss us. If we do everything wrong, he doesn't cross us off as hopeless.

When it comes to grading tests, I imagine I'll probably always be the same way I am now. I will always be fair, but that doesn't mean I won't enjoy the process of passing and failing students. However, when it comes to real life, I really want to be able to say I look at people the same way God does.

I want to be able to say that I don't dismiss others just because they don't seem to get it. I want to be able to cheer for everyone, regardless of how well they seem to be doing. I want to use my "green pen" as little as possible. I don't want to be someone who judges others.

I'm so glad that God doesn't look at people the same way I look at tests. And I'm so happy that we have an example of love in Jesus so that I can escape my tendencies of judgment and dismissal. I'm so thankful for a God that is forgiving and that is always on our team, even if we don't seem to recognize the sport we're playing.

May the love of God guide your relationships, and may compassion always stay your hand.

--Tyler

Not-So-Happy Thursday

One of the things that I learned going to Pine Springs Christian Camp was that Thursdays are happy days. If there is any day of the week to celebrate, it is Thursday. We used to have rousing "Happy Thursday" celebrations every Thursday that we were at camp. As far as I know, they still celebrate Thursdays at Pine Springs. Thursdays are supposed to be happy days.

This past Thursday was not a happy Thursday.

Don't get me wrong, there were parts of it that were fantastic. But overall, not my best Thursday.

It started with snow. Quite a bit of snow. It made my morning drive to work a little difficult, but overall not too bad. I made it to work, and was having an ok day in the office (I even got paid!). I was excited at the prospect of making a snowman and getting in a snowball fight with Andrea. The morning went ok. Nothing to complain too much about. Lunch rolls around, and I decide I need gloves for our snowball fight. I drive to Wal-Mart to purchase some gloves, but due to the snow, they are all sold out of gloves(They did ask if I would be interested in purchasing work gloves, though. Wal-Mart employees are so gosh-darn helpful!), so I drive to Old Navy instead.

Old Navy had one pair of gloves left. So I purchase them for $6.47, and head back out to my car. I attempt to start my car... nothing. That's ok! I think to myself, Andrea can come jump start my car, and my day can continue as usual. So I call Andrea who heads on over to help out. She pulls in front of my car and we attempt to jump start it. No luck. A friendly old man stops by and asks if he can help. He takes a look at the battery and determines I need a new one, because my current one is 8 years old. (It was a 50 month battery... did I get my money's worth or what?) So I remove the battery, Andrea drives me to Interstate Battery, and we replace it for $104.72. She drives me back to my car, where I drop the battery in, connect it, and attempt to start the car.

Victory. The car starts, we cheer a bit, and then I tell Andrea to kill the engine so that I can tighten the battery connectors a bit more. She does, and we tighten the battery. I climb in to start the car and drive back to work.

Un-Victory. The car doesn't start. We complain a bit, and we pop the hood all over again.  Another friendly gentlemen heads over to help out. He tinkers around with it a bit and determines that it's the starter. So we call a tow-truck and have the car towed to Max's Automotive where it is confirmed that my starter is dead. Max tells me it's going to cost $314.93 including the new starter, the labor, and the cost of towing.

By this point, it's too late for me to go back to work. I'm tired, frustrated, and rather cold (Whose car waits until the biggest snow of the half-decade to die?), and we head back to my apartment.

We do manage to get our play in the snow in, and that was wonderfully fantastic.  But then I lose one of my gloves. Not so wonderfully fantastic.

By the end of the day, I'm out over $400 and a left glove. Happy Thursday indeed.


I was not at all happy by the time the whole car ordeal was over. I hated the way it went. But I tell this story not so you can sit back and say, "Oh poor Tyler and his car!" But rather to say this:

My day had all of the makings of a Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very-Bad Day. I was grumpy and not at all happy. But when I look back on my day, I notice a few things:

1. I got paid that day. I had the funds to handle my broken car.
2. Both times I was wrestling with my car, someone very friendly and much more knowledgable about cars stopped to help out as best they could.
3. My wonderful, amazing, fantastic girlfriend sat in the snow with me to keep me company. She drove me around so I could get my car fixed, and then she built snowmen with me and made me hot chocolate when we finished.

When I look back on my day, it wasn't so bad after all. I mean, I've certainly had better days. I've certainly had more productive days.  But it's on days like this past Thursday that I can see the intense blessings that God has put in my life. God put my broken car in just the right spot that those two very helpful men would stop and would kind of know what they were doing. God kept my car running until I had the funds to fix it. God sent snow for me to have something fun to do to unwind after my stressful day. And God blessed me with an awesome girlfriend who was willing to give up her day to help me and spend time with me.

It's funny how God works like that. He uses less-than-fun situations to show us our blessings. He uses some of the worst days to create some of the best memories and stories. I can't look back on Thursday and say it was a terrible day. I get to look back on this past Thursday and say it was a day that God reminded me of all the blessings he's given me. It was a Happy Thursday after all.

May you find all of God's everyday blessings, too.

--Tyler