Why? All my life, I have lived with the idea that responsible people should always lead, be in positions of trust and exhibit a lifestyle that contains what I was taught: honesty, common sense, integrity, courage, kindness, accountability, morality, forgiveness and above all faith in God.

After all, isn't this what God expects of His people? Knowing, of course, that all living human beings are hardly faultless and need a lot of guidance, He did give us 10 very clear and straightforward commandments that can be kept to keep us in line and a whole lot easier to live with. Unfortunately, a pretty good size of the population seems to use them as a checklist to be sure that they have broken most before the sun goes down.

I have always believed that anyone who has been chosen by the people will work for the people. The big flaw in my thinking is that I also believed that most people will choose the most qualified who just happen to have all those great qualities I listed in paragraph one. Wrong! I remember talking to the editor of the St. Petersburg Times way back when, and he told me, "John, we keep electing people who we think are better than us."

I almost said something very stupid, but decided to keep my thoughts to myself. Run all that around in your brain for a bit.

Now for a biblical thought that reads almost like a soap opera. This is a loose interpretation from II Samuel 11-12. Uriah, a warrior absolutely loyal to David, the king, had been ordered to return home from an ongoing battle with some hated Ammonites. We called that R&R in the military. Rather than go straight home, he slept on the doorstep of the palace. King David was ready to pick up the morning milk delivery when he noticed Uriah and asked, "Why? You should be home with your wife and kids."

"Well, your holiness, my fellow soldiers are on the front lines and sleeping out in the open country. I do what they do out of honor and respect."

King David sends Uriah back to the war with a sealed letter to commander Joab. The letter reads, "Put Uriah on the front lines. Then, pull back the army and leave Uriah alone and let him die in battle."

"Why?" you ask.

David just happened to catch a quick peek at Uriah's wife, Bathsheba -- who was taking a bath -- and decided a king can do whatever a king wants. He has an affair and soon finds she is pregnant. What does David do? Reread the story again.

David is the one called, "a man after God's heart" in II Samuel 13:14. This has been thought of as a technical term for divine election. Most theologians and church-going people have always thought of David as the greatest of all the kings of Israel. Read his story carefully and discover his success and his failure.

This brings me to my final "Why?"

The answer comes from Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

God did not send His Son Jesus for the pure, perfect, moral and great quality human beings. Christ died for the worst of us as well as the best of us, and the best of us isn't much better than the worst.

I am embarrassed to admit that I have voted for what I thought were the best in all parts of his or her life and found they were lacking in capability. I have witnessed some whom I thought lacked all those great moral qualities and who then did a pretty good job.

The conclusion? Folks, elect those who can function well in their elected offices and help them to be helpful to our country and our world.

I am exhausted! God will make it all happen. We just need to be patient.

Thanks, God!