The Endorcement
The day before the Presidential Election of 2012, one of the candidates was coming through Seminole County on a quick fly-by before heading off on a whistle-stop tour of the country, hoping to snatch the late undecided voters. I would have willingly gone and seen the other candidate had our schedules been able to sync because I am fascinated by the great American political process. As a new citizen and with Election Day just a few hours away, I wanted to consume as much as I could of the passion surrounding this historic event.
I found out I could get some tickets the Sunday before the candidate’s visit on Monday. I got two, hoping to find someone equally interested in the process to join me. I called a friend, a well-respected elected official in Seminole County, to see if she wanted to join me. She agreed to come, and I told her I’d pick her up at 7 a.m. the following day. Giving someone a ride is always a great excuse to clean your car, so I did before having an early night as I prepared for an early start the following day.
As I arrived at my friend’s and her husband’s home, she suggested we take her car. I told her that I had cleaned my car and even thrown my empty fast food bags into the back seat, but she responded with great humbleness that it might be wise to take her car because if someone recognized her vehicle, it might do something positive for us. My friend, driving her recognizable car, carried an endorsement with it.
As we arrived at the location of the visiting presidential candidate, there was a long line of cars before us waiting to park. Neither of us was a big fan of waiting in line, and we remembered that just a block back, we had seen a sign that said, “VIP parking.” I was pretty sure I wasn't a VIP, but my friend pulled around to the steward, shared who she was, and waved us through to the special parking just a few hundred yards from the event. The endorsement that the voters had given her had been an endorsement that got us plentiful parking!
As we moved closer to the airplane hangar where we would listen to the claims of this candidate, we noticed another big crowd, another long line… and another sign that said, “VIP seating.” We made our way over to the VIP seating sign-in table. I knew we wouldn't be on the list, but as my friend shared her position, they immediately welcomed her to the front of the crowd, ten feet from where the candidate would speak. “And you are, Sir?” the organizer inquired of me. “Oh, he’s with me,” said my friend as her endorsement of me got me further than I should have.
As we were chatting with other friends, we were surrounded by camera operators setting up their angles, crowds waving signs, and chanting the candidate’s name and the vast airplane in which the candidate had been flying around. Feeling a surge of confidence from all that had happened to me, I approached one of the Secret Service agents to see if I could go up to, and even on, the plane. He responded that this would be impossible, and even my claims that “I was friends with a VIP” didn't carry much weight. My great “endorsement adventure” had come to a crashing end.
My point is this. The endorsements we can give, get, and receive in this world can help us get somewhere, but we need to get closer to the one we want to meet. I got closer than I deserved, but it wasn't as close as I wanted.
The most significant and primary desire of humankind is to know its creator. Each of us has a place in our soul that desires to know God, and, as Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.” But how can we get to know Him? We can’t get to where we want to go. But, through and with Jesus, we can, because scripture tells us that Jesus has the endorsement of God upon Him (Acts 2:22). This endorsement and the sinless life He lives was Jesus' credential to defeat death so that we could be brought close to the Father.
Every endorsement we can receive on this earth can never take us to where the deepest yearnings of our hearts want us to go. But the endorsement of God takes the people of God to where God wants us to go. And that’s always to get to know Him – The real VIP!
I found out I could get some tickets the Sunday before the candidate’s visit on Monday. I got two, hoping to find someone equally interested in the process to join me. I called a friend, a well-respected elected official in Seminole County, to see if she wanted to join me. She agreed to come, and I told her I’d pick her up at 7 a.m. the following day. Giving someone a ride is always a great excuse to clean your car, so I did before having an early night as I prepared for an early start the following day.
As I arrived at my friend’s and her husband’s home, she suggested we take her car. I told her that I had cleaned my car and even thrown my empty fast food bags into the back seat, but she responded with great humbleness that it might be wise to take her car because if someone recognized her vehicle, it might do something positive for us. My friend, driving her recognizable car, carried an endorsement with it.
As we arrived at the location of the visiting presidential candidate, there was a long line of cars before us waiting to park. Neither of us was a big fan of waiting in line, and we remembered that just a block back, we had seen a sign that said, “VIP parking.” I was pretty sure I wasn't a VIP, but my friend pulled around to the steward, shared who she was, and waved us through to the special parking just a few hundred yards from the event. The endorsement that the voters had given her had been an endorsement that got us plentiful parking!
As we moved closer to the airplane hangar where we would listen to the claims of this candidate, we noticed another big crowd, another long line… and another sign that said, “VIP seating.” We made our way over to the VIP seating sign-in table. I knew we wouldn't be on the list, but as my friend shared her position, they immediately welcomed her to the front of the crowd, ten feet from where the candidate would speak. “And you are, Sir?” the organizer inquired of me. “Oh, he’s with me,” said my friend as her endorsement of me got me further than I should have.
As we were chatting with other friends, we were surrounded by camera operators setting up their angles, crowds waving signs, and chanting the candidate’s name and the vast airplane in which the candidate had been flying around. Feeling a surge of confidence from all that had happened to me, I approached one of the Secret Service agents to see if I could go up to, and even on, the plane. He responded that this would be impossible, and even my claims that “I was friends with a VIP” didn't carry much weight. My great “endorsement adventure” had come to a crashing end.
My point is this. The endorsements we can give, get, and receive in this world can help us get somewhere, but we need to get closer to the one we want to meet. I got closer than I deserved, but it wasn't as close as I wanted.
The most significant and primary desire of humankind is to know its creator. Each of us has a place in our soul that desires to know God, and, as Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.” But how can we get to know Him? We can’t get to where we want to go. But, through and with Jesus, we can, because scripture tells us that Jesus has the endorsement of God upon Him (Acts 2:22). This endorsement and the sinless life He lives was Jesus' credential to defeat death so that we could be brought close to the Father.
Every endorsement we can receive on this earth can never take us to where the deepest yearnings of our hearts want us to go. But the endorsement of God takes the people of God to where God wants us to go. And that’s always to get to know Him – The real VIP!
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