By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Hebrews 11:9 ESV

On election day, my wife and I arrived at our polling place by 5:45 a.m. “Now that’s an early hour to be voting,” you might exclaim. But we weren’t there to vote. we showed up because it was our job as poll workers. If you came in yesterday, you would have seen my wife Nancy, with a friendly smile, gently showing each person how to put their ballots into the machine. Since I cannot stand for long hours, I sit at a table, hand out the ballots and then explain how to fill them out. As people turn to go to the voting booths, I often add, “Thanks for voting!” After saying this for hundreds of times yesterday, I rarely listened for their replies, until one young Latino, turned to me with a big smile and responded, “That’s why we came here!”

After all the anger, arguing and overall hooting and hollering that goes on every election, we often lose sight of the privilege we have as Americans just to vote. We forget that having the chance to freely vote for our leaders, is a rare commodity in today’s world. Like Abraham, many have left homes, family, and familiar surroundings and by faith have settled here. With Veteran’s Day right around the corner, we need to not only be thankful to God for our blessings, but we should also be grateful for the veterans who have sacrificed and sometimes even given their lives for that blessing. Generation after generation of people have come from all around the world with the phrase, “That’s why I came here!” So, let’s be thankful for that right and ask God how we may use our freedom to share the message of the love of Christ with someone else today!