The Unknown Staffer posted by jwatson on Jul 17, 2013

CCS Politics and Principles Luncheon

As you can imagine, working for a United States Congressman is all consuming. Staffers and interns are the gears that make our whole governmental system work. A great staff makes for a great congressman and conversely a poor staff makes for a poor congressman. If you have ever heard a powerful speech or a well-written letter you can bet a staffer played a significant role in its creation.  Staffers and interns answer phone calls and respond to your letters. They are the lifeblood of any good politician.

As a staffer, you spend your time assuming the life of your boss. Your life revolves around him or her. You are the moon to their earth. You need to know their political positions, schedule, and even family. Your job is most complete when they are successful. And their failures become your failures. And that’s when it happens…

You lose your identity.

You lose the answer to the question – “Who am I?” Your identity becomes wrapped up in your bosses so much so that you begin to disappear. And when that politician’s career comes to an end, especially an abrupt one, you’re left feeling empty; unable to recapture the identity of who you once were.

The Joy of what happens next is why I love what God has called me to do. In the broken, lost moments of our life, God draws us close and begins to whisper.  It is in those moments I get to meet these staffers and offer them hope. Not a hope of this world, but one of eternity. A hope so grand and so big, it lasts forever. In those moments of lost identity they are introduced to Jesus. All things governing or elected no longer define them. They claim the promise of John 1:12-13 – the very right to become children of God. Jesus, the good shepherd, finds them and knows them. And because of that they are never lost again. The answer of “Who am I?” is forever answered—I am a child of God—forever and always.

^12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  John 1:12-13

Please pray for your staffers and interns on Capitol Hill. They need you more than they even know.