Pass the Ammo- The Vote

“Fight the good fight of faith”

1 Timothy 6:12

“Pass the Ammo” is a new true story series of unnamed (but not unknown) soldiers for Christ who stepped out of their comfort zone to obey the Holy Spirit’s call. To stay in the fight, we’ll need all the extra rounds we can get. So, praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!

No Excuse, Sir

Getting out of the house is quite a fiasco.

Simple living has become painful. His past of military service, physical labor, and eighty years of life have taken bits and pieces of his health away, until he can do little more than just survive from day to day.

He can’t walk down the street to witness to his neighbor- the legs would give out. And even if he made it, he may not be able to carry on a conversation- the hearing has given out. Even thinking about it drains him- his strength has just about gone.

Retired, you say? Withdrawn from the battle, you suppose? Far from it. He is on the look out for a worthy fight.

November arrives; election time. The issues on the ballot are not just disagreeable; they are downright wicked. Bloody abortion is back. Stupifying marijuana is encroaching. There is much talk about what should be done, and whether the voters will turn out or not.

He won’t leave it up to chance. He won’t allow this decision to be made without his voice. There is too much at stake. His conscience is fired up.

His caring wife helps him as he struggles into the car that he can no longer drive. Other than necessary medical appointments, he just doesn’t go out anymore. But today is voting day, and neither hell nor high water can make him stay home.

Thankfully there is not a waiting line, for he could not stand it for long. The pollster matches his name face with the weathered photo on his ID. They move him down the line to a place between a set of dividers. Already weary, he leans on the table. He has a hard time focusing the small print on the ballot, but his mind is clear and made up. A nearly thoughtless action– holding a pen, marking a box– is insanely exaggerated by the tremors of age. Barely able to steady his hand, he makes his vote.

But the polling machines reject it, it was marred. He will have to wait while they cancel that ballot, and get a new one.

What’s the use? He may have thought. What’s one vote? Why make the effort?

A long procedure stretches into a longer one. While the new ballot processed through the bureaucracy his mind wandered back. Back to a young man stepping up for military service. Back to a new father burning the candle at both ends to provide for his family. Back through regrets and trophies mixed together, tears mixed with laughter. On his memory travels, back to a day when, disillusioned with his sin and the wages of it, he trusted a Saviour who lit a fire in his soul. Travelling swiftly through time suddenly brought him back to this instant.

That fire still burning deep inside, that motivation to fight for a worthy cause, that purpose in living because it is right, and the Lord he loves, loves righteousness. He cast his vote on the replacement card. This time, it went through.

To say it was a labor of love would be an understatement. You can’t imagine the unnecessary trouble he faced getting into the polls, waiting in line, straining to hold steady through the ordeal. He barely made back in through the front door of his house. Finally inside, he collapsed, exhausted.

He did what he could. Because it was worth it. What is WORTH IT to you, Christian?

“…And having done all, to stand.”

Ephesians 6:13b

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