My first Presidential Election

The Bible talks about the second coming and reveals that no one knows the time or the hour that Jesus will come; however, the Bible gives signs that we are to watch out for. The Bible tells us that when we see these things happening, it is a sign that the end time is near.

Since Barack Obama became a candidate for the President of the United States, I am more convinced that we are living in the last days, because the Bible tells us the Anti-Christ will appear on the scene in the last days. My research tells me that we won’t know who the Anti-Christ is until the right time.

Some people believe that President Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ. This has me questioning, will the world as we know it be here in 2010, 2012, or 2015? Will Jesus come back by then, no one knows, but the fact that some people are even questioning whether President Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ convinces me that we are fast approaching the end of time. For this reason and others, the 2008 presidential election is one like America has never experienced.

The 2008 presidential election was the first time I got to vote for the president, because I turned 18 in December 2007. This was a great election to be a part of, it was a historic election. In one night, the United States forever changed. Its image has changed, its makeup has changed and the color of its leader has changed. The theme of Barack Obama’s campaign was “change” and with his presidential win, that theme has come true. With such an historic election, people couldn't help but vote, resulting in a record turnout. I have heard stories of people waiting for hours to vote. My whole family was excited and anxious to vote, but I was especially excited since I was voting for the first time, and in such an important election. It is a very exciting time to be alive.

My mom has always told me that we have to vote, because people have died for that right My mom, dad, and myself went to vote together. My underage brother also went, just so he could experience a part of history and see what it is like to vote, when he is old enough. We voted before election day, thinking that we wouldn’t have such a long line. My mom said that she has waited for two or three hours in recent elections, so she figured that the lines would be crazy. And she was right.

I took my mom to work on a Tuesday. My dad, brother and myself picked my mom up from work and went straight to Veteran’s Memorial to vote. We thought that we could go right after my mom got off work at 3:00 p.m. and avoid ridiculous, long lines. So we did the early absentee voting at the polls. But, we were surprised to see all the vehicles leaving and coming in the parking lot, we were lucky to find a half-way decent parking space.

We had to go a long way in Vets Memorial, we had to go up several flights of stairs and we saw a long zigzag line from the door from which we walked in to the door leading to the voting booths. It didn’t look good for us getting in and out quickly. I was very impatient, I was ready to leave already. My mom is also not very patient when waiting in line, so she was pacing and complaining. She kept looking ahead trying to figure out where the line was going. Every time we thought we were making head way, we found out that the line made another twist or turn. The lines seemed like they were moving so slowly, to help pass time we talked and goofed off amongst each other.

As we’re moving my mom notices one of her friends from work exiting the voting area, they began to socialize with one another for a minute or two. My brother and dad were horse playing with one another like they always do. I was hungry and thirsty. The pop in the soda machines were two dollars and fifty cents if I remember correctly, so that was out of the question.

Slowly, we were progressing in line. Finally we made it to the beginning of the line. We were almost ready to enter the voting booth. I was both excited and nervous, I thought to myself, what if I voted for the wrong person, what if I marked the wrong box. We get in the voting area and there’s another line but it’s moving faster than the line outside.

When we get inside we show our slips to the people coordinating the voting areas and they tell me I have to go to a different section than my family since it was my first time voting. The lady kept asking me questions. My mom kept looking over at me, I could tell she was wondering if something was wrong. Finally, she broke down and came over to hear what the lady was saying. After she finished asking me the questions, I could finally go vote. A man that worked the polls was talking to my mom and told her that we came on a good day because the weekend before, the lines were winding down the stairs and out the doors, and all the way down Broad Street, over the bridge.

So then, the moment of truth. I got in the booth, made my choices and turned in my ballot. I had just participated in the election that changed America. I don’t believe that President Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ, but is the 2008 presidential election another sign that we are living in the last days?