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Felix Culpa

If I Had Coffee with The Donald

Last updated on: March 18, 2016 at 6:13 pm   by Brenda Renee Coats

If I Had Coffee with The Donald 2016-03-18T18:13:00-07:00 Brenda Renee Coats

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Suppose I had coffee with Donald Trump.

Suppose also that we got a little competitive and started a chess game as we sipped. About mid-point in the game, he had taken two of my pawns, one bishop, and one knight. I, however, had three of his pawns, a bishop, one knight, his queen, and both of his rooks. Clearly, I’m ahead in the game, but I’ve got a long way to go. He still has five pawns, one bishop, one knight, and a king. And while I have more pieces on the board, I’m vulnerable because of the placement of those pieces. Positionally, he’s gaining on me, and I’m starting to sweat a little.

Okay, a lot. I don’t want to lose to the Donald. In fact, I’m desperate to win. And so, I let my pride and nervousness get the best of me. I stand up, flip over the chess board, scatter all the pieces, and declare a victory.

“Hey, fellow coffee addicts! Look at me. I won! I beat Donald Trump at chess! I knew I’d win. I knew it all along. I’m so good at chess, Donnie never had any hope. Honestly, I had him in the first five moves. I’m so great. I’m awesome and he’s chopped liver. I’m sick of people losing to Donald, and I am going to teach him a lesson. Every time I play him, I’m going to beat him. Because I’m a winner. The word “lose” isn’t even in my vocabulary. I don’t know how to lose. I won, because winning is what I do. Win, win, win. That’s what I do. I always win.”

Pretty pathetic, huh? But from the outside looking in, it would seem that this is what Trump has done in the primaries. He has overturned the chess board and assumed, without any real proof, that he will be dubbed the winner. And the media has backed him one hundred and thirty percent. Cruz? Who’s Ted Cruz? No, he doesn’t get any airtime, because Donald says he’s going to win, and in all “fairness”, Donald has more votes and what Donald stomps his feet for, goes. So let’s assume it’s as Donald says. Donald wins. He’s our man – at least until the general election, and then we’ll drop him like hot, burnt toast.

Folks, Donald is almost half way to securing 1237 delegate votes. If he does not secure all 1237 votes, he doesn’t get the nomination – unless someone pulls a fast one – and they might. There’s a lot of voting to be done. Cruz is behind Donald, yes. But just like our imaginary chess game, there’s a lot of playing to be done before a winner is determined. Rubio is now out. Kasich is staying in for his own …. perceived upcoming glory, or whatever. I fail to understand the man. Point is, a win for Cruz is still doable.

“Well what can I do? I’m just little ol’ me and nothing I do counts anyway. Harrumph.”

Well the first obvious thing is to think right, and that’s not thinking right. We have privileges and duties as Christian citizens of this country, and the two most obvious ones are to vote and pray.

I’m not going to get into whether our votes count. There are theories behind that belief, and some of them have fairly good arguments. But the fact is, if the people don’t vote, a Republican candidate doesn’t get elected. And the other fact is that “my vote doesn’t count” is more often than not a cop out, so … I’ll just ask you straight up to please not be that way.

There’s a verse that shows the heart of how God dealt with Israel. It goes like this:

If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. ~2 Chronicles 7:14

So we need to vote, because voting is a stewardship issue and we are to be good stewards of all that God has given us. And clearly, God has given overabundantly. Next, we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways. I find it interesting that we usually pick up on the prayer part of that verse and we never talk much about humility, seeking His face, or turning from our wicked ways. This is a call to prayer. But more than that, it’s a call to repentance – a complete turnabout. A total turning away from all of our iniquities.

Sounds like a boat load of work.

But wouldn’t a healed nation be a phenomenal reward for our labor?

Even if we don’t see it in our lifetime?

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