Resourceful. Hardworking. Innovative. Street Smart. Tough. Straight shooting. Earnest. Gifted. Creative. Strong. Funny. Outgoing. Passionate. Intelligent. Focused. Friendly. Tireless. Industrious. Authoritative. Successful.
What girl wouldn’t love a guy like that? I know, right. That’s my guy. These are just a few words that describe my husband. Nineteen years ago, I saw greatness. I was neither mistaken nor disappointed. He’s the kind of guy you want to get stuck on a desert island or trapped in an elevator with. He just makes things work. He isn’t scared. He protects, plans, and produces.
Show me a man with these attributes and I will show you a strong leader. When a man can play these cards, in tandem, he is a magnet marked out for management, marksmanship, and often, money-making.
America, if you are wondering why on earth any thinking person would get behind the likes of Donald Trump, listen to the little lady who’s been attached to his likeness for the entirety of my adult life. I fell in love with and married a man with similar strengths – a self-made, big-mouth businessman, if you will.
Unfortunately, alongside these marks of integrity, pure grit, and aptitude are often character traits that are not so stellar and sweet. Traits that, thanks to Our Lord Jesus Christ, my husband has largely overcome and continues to turn away from. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, is by all accounts an unconverted man paying lip service to Christianity, filled to the brim and overflowing with them.
Volatile. Risk-taking. Hot-tempered. Ill-mannered. Brutal. Egotistical. Stressed. Pre-occupied. Prideful. Narrow-minded. Domineering. Manipulative. Forceful.
A wise man once said, “Our strengths are our weaknesses.” While Trump’s opponents scratch their heads unable to imagine anything worse than a president with the second list written all over him in red sharpie marker, his supporters see only the former traits. Love is blind and the polls are proving it.
I heard a man saying he is supporting Donald Trump because, “He’s different.” It is purely reaction to the poor performance of the preceding presidents – and a poor reason to vote for anyone at that. Different does not necessarily mean better. Nevertheless, truth be told, many people see Trump as authentic and genuine. He talks, walks, and acts like a blue collar worker. He bucks the system and pretends to hate the establishment. He breaks the rules and laughs at his critics. He is puffed up and pretentious but that’s okay because he is good at it. Even if it is just a case of superb semantics, Trump feels real.
People do not care that he is dangerous and domineering. All that matters is that he is different in a way that makes them feel a great sameness and security with him. They feel safe, not because he is safe, but because he is on their side…or so they think. It’s like getting a bully to be your bodyguard. Not the smartest strategy, but somewhat effective when you’re too small to fight with your own fists. What they do not realize is that bully bodyguards turn on you the second you stop being useful to their tyrannical reign.
I often laugh and say to myself, “I think I’m married to Donald Trump.” My husband absolutely does share his strengths and has dealt with more than a few of his weaknesses. There is quite a difference, though. Mr. Rodeheaver is a good man, self-governed and submitted to God. Donald Trump is nothing more than a dictator in disguise.
I can’t tell you who to vote for. I wouldn’t even try. I can’t tell you who will be most worth supporting or even who is the best candidate for the election of 2016. I can tell you who to follow, though. I can tell you who is supporting the rise and fall of your chest and the very breath in your lungs. God. Follow God. Follow Jesus Christ. Ask the Lord to show mercy to you and to our country in these uncertain times. Repent of your not so stellar attributes while I repent of mine. Make this world a better place by allowing the Lord to make you a better person.
At the end of the day, one thing is for sure. God is in control. He sits on his throne and reigns in sovereignty over all of the earth. No matter who is elected our next president, God will still be ruling this world. In the words of Shane Claiborne the pacifist, “Jesus for President.”
Lori, you’ve hit the nail on the head here. I’m praying as hard as I ever have before for our country, but truth to be told, what we need to do is lean on God and pray for acceptance of his will. I feel exactly the same as you do about Trump, too.
Hope all is well with you and yours, I’d love to see your beautiful daughters some day again!
All the best,
Ina May
Amen!