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1) My brother’s left-handed.

2) I don’t follow politics closely; It just irritates me. I do pay attention to the headlines, since that usually tells me what I need to know and then some instead of reading an entire article or watching an argument on TV. Worst thing in the world is a political debate. Uh!

3) I think Christians should be less concerned with taking sides and boycotting and more concerned with loving each other. We just look like everyone else when we’re focused on positions of the world rather than souls.

1) Only our son-in-law is left-handed and no one in the bloodline family is.

2) I am a history lover and hence have followed politics since I was in high school and loved to talk history and how it related to the political landscape with my dad. I look for solid sources and tend to avoid the news sources that have increasingly become op-ed versus straight news reporting. (Our daughter also minored in politics in college.)

3) One thing is to keep front and center that we are a part of His Kingdom first of all and not to get caught up in political debate and conversation unless the Lord leads. When I am connecting with other believers, I really want to focus on Kingdom things rather than politics. I have unfollowed folks on Facebook because of the ranting and raving of political opinions that are opinions versus facts. In reality, we are not doing well at listening to one another in this era and have such bitterness and hatred that we cannot conceive the other person may have a valid opinion. I honestly believe this is also a part of the enemy’s scheme to create chaos and confusion and division across every spectrum of our life and cause us to forget who the real enemy is. Sadly, he is good at what he does and has been winning too much in this and Christians have fallen in step to take the bait.

(2) I follow politics a little more closely than I use to. I believe I should stay aware of the issues so that my voting decisions can be knowledgeable and not just one-sided.

(3) One of the things that I see Jesus doing in the Bible is meeting people where they are. I spoke about this is a recent blog post; we can’t meet people where they are if we have no clue of where that is. A lot of times, I see (and have been guilty of it myself) people believing that they are “right” about a topic and refusing to hear anything that would contradict or potentially alter their world view. Often, I have NO idea what I am talking about because I have never experienced something someone else has. And if I don’t listen, I can’t even have sympathy, realizing like Lisa notes here that we are more alike than we think. We won’t know that if we don’t listen. Jesus was so loving and nonjudgmental (although He, alone, has the right to be a judgmental), that even prostitutes felt comfortable in His presence. I’m not sure if anyone can say the same about me.

2) I follow politics only very lightly. It’s one of my husband’s major interests, however, so I hear more than I would normally care for because of videos and newscasts that he listens to. I am grateful we have a voice in this country, and I believe in voting, in being aware, in writing our representatives, etc. But I have no hope or trust in politics. I’ve been hearing the some of the same rhetoric, promises, and accusations for 40 years. Even the best of them don’t do everything they promised or everything their followers hope they will. I *hate* political talk at the dinner table.

3) Realize that good people can differ on a wide variety of areas, drop the condescending rhetoric, treat people with respect, listen rather than assuming. Remember that our hope is in Christ, not having “the right guy” in office, and our main responsibility is to shine for Him and help people see Him rather than converting people to our political viewpoint.

1) I am left-handed.
2) I have followed politics less closely during this White House administration, but am now happily following Texas politics in anticipation of November elections!
3)I believe listening, loving, and serving bring people together.