Dual Citizen

A citizen as defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary is

a person who legally belongs  to a country and has the rights and protection of that country.

I am fortunate to have two citizenships: I am American by birth and Canadian by choice. Years ago I met a Canadian man while travelling in Mexico. Within a year we were married and I moved to Ontario; several decades later I went through the process to obtain my Canadian citizenship. It was the right thing to do: I was employed in the Canadian public education system, I had a Canadian husband and four children born in Canada, I loved Canada and I could still keep my American citizenship. All good.

These days I get to share my time in both countries, with a vacation home in beautiful southwest Florida and a home in Canada on the equally beautiful St Lawrence River. I am very blessed.

I am currently in Florida and over the last month or so I have been immersed in the election process in the U.S.

Like many others my emotions have moved from amusement to amazement at the tone and the content of the candidates’ discourse.

However as I watched a rally in Missouri, I realized that I was experiencing a new emotion: fear. Fear for the homeland of my birth and how the political process had jackknifed, how an extremely unlikely presidential candidate was leading the race with a message of hatred, scapegoating, bullying and arrogance. I also felt a deep sadness for the country of my birth akin to the feeling I had when I observed the events of 9/11 from the distance of my Canadian home.

Although I still wrestle with the emotions of fear and sadness, there are two reasons why I am not dwelling “there”.

Firstly, it is important to look at history. History as recent as the U.S. election year of 1968. I was in my last year of high school. I have vivid memories of classmates fighting in Vietnam, of protest marches, of the assassination of Martin Luther King, and less than two months later the assassination of Democratic  presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy. A raucous Democratic convention took place that summer amid violent protests in the streets and a violent police response. An avowed opposer of civil rights, George Wallace ran as an independent candidate. Eventually President Richard Nixon was elected by a very narrow margin .

In retrospect that was an incredibly tumultuous year.

Yet, in spite of the horror and fear and sadness of that election year of 1968, the country didn’t fall apart. The war eventually ended. The political parties rallied. There were Democratic and Republican presidents over the next several decades.

And so history tells me not to be fearful. History has shown that the people of the United States have persevered to maintain this democracy.

But the second and more important reason for hope and not despair is my faith as a gospel Christian. The Bible tells us that we are to respect earthly authority, but that our ultimate authority is our God. Jesus didn’t come to live among us to be an earthly king but to reign over our hearts and minds with the promise of an eternal kingdom with him.

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Phil.3:20. ESV

And so even though I have an earthly citizenship, I have a greater confidence in my heavenly citizenship. I am confident that whether I enter the heavenly kingdom through my death or my Savior’s return, my eternal citizenship is secure.

My King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, is sovereign over all things. Now and in the world to come.

Including presidential elections.