Mormons<\/a>, Jackson Baptists, and Nashville Church of Christers to shock the political world (and Mitt!) with a second place finish;<\/p>\n-Of countless conversations with \u201cI ain\u2019t gonna vote for a Mormon\u201d southern evangelicals \u2014 all of whom ended up enthusiastically supporting Mitt;<\/p>\n
-Of Nancy and I giving up our last weekend before my Iraq deployment to win the Values Voter 2007 straw poll \u2014 only to see Nancy thrown out of the conference and physically confronted by irate Huckabee supporters;<\/p>\n
-Of getting a gracious and kind gift and note from Mitt just before I left for Iraq and writing him a thank you note at 4:00 a.m. on the morning I left for war \u2014 expressing a hope that I would soon salute him as my commander-in-chief;<\/p>\n
-Of the moment when Nancy messaged me in Iraq that Mitt had withdrawn from the race but knowing in my heart that the story was not over;<\/p>\n
-Of Mitt and Ann reaching out to Nancy during the deployment, and Nancy enjoying a marvelous weekend with them in their Utah home;<\/p>\n
-Of Nancy reporting that she lied to Romneys by telling him that she could ski (just so she could keep hanging out) and then almost injured Mitt on the slopes by tackling him out during an uncontrolled free fall;<\/p>\n
-Of saddling up once again in 2010 and journeying down to New Orleans for yet another straw poll \u2013 the first of the 2012 season \u2013 but with many, many more Evangelicals for Mitt than we had in 2006;<\/p>\n
-Of 1,000 No Apology<\/em> books, 2,000 \u201cWe need a president who won\u2019t break the bank\u201d piggy banks, hundreds of piggy bank t-shirts, and some very clever \u201cBurma Shave\u201d signs (signs still in our garage);<\/p>\n-Of beating Ron Paul by one vote as the Ron Paul revolution rained profanities upon us;<\/p>\n
-Of herculean efforts from dear friends to finance the effort and all their wisdom and moral guidance during times good and bad;<\/p>\n
-Of a Time<\/em> hit piece against Nancy, me and our Evangelical for Mitt friends;<\/p>\n-Of the hundreds of vile and vicious comments and hateful interactions that we endured during two primary contests \u2014 including efforts to destroy our careers and even physically intimidate Nancy, me, and even our children;<\/p>\n
-Of the thousands more blessed and life-giving conversations with new Mormon friends as God orchestrated our efforts in surprising ways to build bridges of friendship, reconciliation, and understanding between evangelical and LDS;<\/p>\n
-Of the dark days after South Carolina;<\/p>\n
-Of the dark days after Colorado, Missouri, and Minnesota;<\/p>\n
-Of the marvelous day when we gathered in Tampa to see a nomination that so many told us would never happen and to hear the thunderous applause of a conservative movement that pundits said would never unite;<\/p>\n
-Of poll-watching, number-crunching, blogging, tweeting, and facebooking;<\/p>\n
But most of all . . .<\/p>\n
-Of two people, Mitt and Ann Romney, who took on an immense, years-long burden out of love this great nation, carried that burden with grace, integrity, and dignity, and have \u2014 at all times \u2014 made us proud to know them, support them, and do whatever we could \u2014 whether they be things great or small \u2014 to help them win.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s outcome is \u2014 as it has always been \u2014 in God\u2019s hands. \u00a0On this fateful day I\u2019m reminded of the words used by many of our nation\u2019s leaders and founders \u2014 going back first, I believe, to the abolitionist John Jay: \u00a0Duty is ours; consequences are God\u2019s.<\/p>\n
We have done our duty. \u00a0Let\u2019s see what God has in store.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I type this post mere hours before the first set of polls close on election day, and I must admit that I\u2019m as nostalgic as I am anxious.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[27,182,23,24,859],"class_list":["post-4591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evangelicals","tag-evangelicals-for-mitt","tag-mitt-romney","tag-mormons","tag-nostalgia"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n