Recently I was asked by someone whom I greatly admire and respect in public service to consider a political role at the federal level. On the one hand, I found this very humbling and on the other, I found it very humorous as I do not come from a political background nor have I ever really aspired to serve in this way. However, I am a patriot and I decided several years ago that it is my obligation as a citizen of this great republic to not just sit on the sidelines but to become active where I can.
I was told that I needed to decide to put my name in the hat within one to two weeks if I was going to do it. I told this person that the only way I would consider this role is if God called me to it. I would need time to talk to Greg, pray about it, and counsel with my trusted advisors before I could come to a decision. And pray I did. I wanted to make sure that whatever decision I made was what God wanted now. I also did not want fear to keep me from saying “yes” so, I needed to also surrender my fear. I am not sure who coined this phrase, but I believe it with all my heart, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called”. I got very comfortable with the promise that if I said “yes”, then He would provide everything I needed to accomplish the work.
Now I had to turn the attention toward my family and my extended family, Technology Partners. What would this mean for our family? What would this mean for Technology Partners? I will be the first to say, that we are not a perfect family. Unfortunately, the political landscape can be vicious and unscrupulous at times. I realize that during campaigning, opponents can work tirelessly to defame your character and the character of your family to win. If they cannot find dirt to dig up, they will often make up dirt. The thought of dragging our family through this was not appealing yet as a trusted advisor said, “Americans are begging for real people who are transparent about their real struggles. Greater still, being real about our struggles can also give us a chance to point to an awesome Redeemer.” I liked the sound of that.
Another word of advice from this trusted advisor was to pray diligently and use discernment about the people that I let into my circle if I decided to move forward with the opportunity. There would be those people who are “hanger- ons” he said. I knew exactly what he meant. There would be some people who would not have my best interest in mind but rather would be trying to ride a coat tail for their own personal agenda or gain. As I thought about this, my thoughts turned to Ally. She loves people and it always come from a place of purity and genuineness. The thought of being kind to someone or giving someone her friendship for personal gain would never even occur to her. This is how God loves us. God sent His only Son to die on a cross for our sins while we were yet sinners – this is the epitome of unconditional love and a pure motive.
This was not an easy decision. I prayed about it, I spent hours in the Word and I leaned in to people that I knew would give me sound advice. Since it was not feasible for our family to uproot and move, this would mean that I would be commuting for half of the year between STL and DC. While this could be an opportunity to do good on a wider scale, I first had to honor the commitment that I made to my family. As I weighed the costs, I decided that the price was much too high at this point.
What would Ally do? I am confident that she would have made the same decision.