Victory or Defeat? By: Grace Macias

May 5^th, 2008, was a long day. I woke up at 5 a.m. in order to stand at the voting poles holding my dad’s “Nathan Macias re-election for State Representative” campaign sign. It was now 6:30 p.m. as I walked into the barbecue restaurant where all of the campaign staff and volunteers were having our victory party. Although we had not seen the results from the race, we still called it our victory party. Everyone there had been campaigning for Dad’s re-election for State Representative since November of 2007.

Inside the restaurant was loud, crowded, and dark. People were squeezing into booths and pulling chairs up to tables so more friends could fit. As I walked around, I saw different groups talking, laughing, and enjoying themselves. I joined the party by squeezing into a booth. There were periodical updates of the votes throughout the night and I had no doubt that we would win, until a skeptical condition happened. Apparently, someone had lost the ballot box in one of the precincts and they were trying to “locate” it. This was a very suspicious situation since it is unusual to “misplace” a ballot box.

It was about 2 A.M. when I looked around and saw my Mom sitting on the floor in a corner with her knees up and eyes strained; I had never seen her this anxious. In the process of observing the crowd I saw many groups of young people praying earnestly for the outcome of the race. It encouraged me, but there was still a lot of tension. At 4 a.m., I was in a booth with a few of my friends when Mr. Clark—my dad’s treasurer and dear friend—came up and said in a very low and subtle voice, “We lost by 38 votes out of 30,000.”

Everyone in the booth fell silent. I looked down and asked myself so many questions, “What? How? Why is this happening?” My friend leaned over and asked me if I was okay. I nodded, not wanting to say anything, for fear I would start to cry. We moved slowly out of the booth and when I looked around I saw everyone’s expressions: shocked and disappointed. Dad stood up in front of everyone to give a speech. He later told us he had his defeated and victory speech written out the day before, and that God had prompted him to give the victory speech even though we had lost. We all began to give each other hugs, clean up and prepare to leave. As I was saying goodbye to everyone, I walked up to my choir teacher Nikkae, a young lady we had known for a few years. When she gave me a hug, my tears started to pour out. My eyes were flooding; I couldn’t stop crying. She wrapped me in her arms and stroked my head; it was the comfort I needed.

At 5:30 A.M. we started to head home. One of my brothers was driving and another brother was in the passengers seat. I was sitting in the back with my sister, Leah. The car was silent except for the quiet radio playing in the background. My mind was racing with so many thoughts that I was not paying attention to the radio. But when the song “My Savior Loves” came on I started to listen. These are the words that impacted my life. The song started, “I am not skilled to understand/What God has willed what God has planned/I only know that His right hand/Stands one to be my Savior” The chorus continued. “My Savior loves/My Savior lives/ My Savior’s always there for me/My God He was/My God He is/My God He’s always gonna be!” As I laid my head back and closed my eyes, tears began streaming down my cheeks. As the song continued I realized that God was still in control. No matter what the outcome had been He was the one who had all the power and all the control in my dad’s campaign. I felt a peace and comfort that I had never experienced before.

I now look back and recognize that so many people have been affected for good by the campaign. My brother Luke found his calling in politics, as a campaign consultant due to my Dad’s race. Sixty percent of our volunteers were young men and women who gave up their Saturdays to campaign for Dad and many close and dear friendships were made during that time as well. Our family grew closer through that defeat and I have learned the importance of voting, volunteering for campaigns, and being involved in politics. I also learned about the sovereignty of God, which was a significant lesson in my life.