Have you ever arrived to pick up your kids from an outing, and heard something obnoxious and thought, “I hope that’s not one of mine”? Or maybe you’re approaching your child’s practice field and hear shrieking. That moment of distant, panic-like adrenaline rush is one-of-a-kind. And, it is such a relief when you find out it’s not “one of yours,” and you get to go on your merry way feeling like you escaped a train wreck.

I wish I had that feeling of relief right now. But as it turns out, it is one of mine. One of mine misbehaving. And not just misbehaving, but doing so in public.

Of course, I’m talking about Trump. By far, of the million or so Republicans I regularly encounter or have known for years, exactly zero of them support his candidacy. Zero. Everyone one of them is all “how is this happening?” Every single one of them is completely mystified, because when you are used to your party-of-choice mostly or entirely aligning with your value system, and when most of the people you encounter daily align with it also, it is understandably jarring to suddenly have this man winning. He’s winning. Actual elections.

So, what gives? Well, pundits who are much better-versed than I in analyzing elections have many theories, among them being that he appeals to people because he’s not a politician, because he’s not afraid to offend, because he says what he thinks. And, there are many reasons that logical people would hear those things and continue to be mystified because…well, John Oliver said it better than anyone else I’ve heard.

But, my theory centers on a biblical principle with which most of those Republicans I mentioned above would be familiar. In the book of Galatians, the author discusses the principle of sowing and reaping, pointing out that if you have sown a seed of one particular plant, you will not expect to reap something else when the crop comes in. You can’t sow cotton and reap wheat. The surrounding verses go on to specify that you cannot sow “corruption” and expect to reap “eternal life.”

For a long time now, Republicans have allowed some well-meaning (and some likely not) leaders to feed us with fear and paranoia. And those seeds, planted, will bring a crop. And that crop is currently in full bloom, in the form of Donald Trump.

Oh, yes, I know. I know that we didn’t intend or foresee THIS. We didn’t mean HIM. But, the problem with planting weeds in your neighbor’s yard is that weeds won’t be contained like that. When you decide that the means (bullying, discriminating, cherry-picking scripture, etc) are justified by the end (winning), you can’t then micromanage what those things also produce.

To be clear, I’m not talking about seeds made up of differences in political positions, or of differences in social justice opinions. The seeds I’m discussing are in the How, not the What (although, to be clear, some Whats are difficult to propagate without some innate Hows attached).

Here are what those seeds have sometimes looked like:

The implication (or outright claim) that President Obama is a(n extremist) Muslim, that he harbors extremists, and his lack-of-my-kinda-belief-system is the proof positive that America is headed toward demise, even hell.

The implication that your specific faith path is the only way to be safe, to be cared for, to be protected by and to honor God.

Being a vigilante of God by shooting down those who dare to question, dare to be angered, to be honest.

Using hate speech to demean those who have chosen (or have been forced into) a different lifestyle, a different church, a different choice, a different head covering.

If these things are our seeds, we cannot be surprised when the crop comes up. And I propose Trump having the ear of so many in our nation is merely the natural result—the “crop”— of the seeds so many of us have sown, sometimes unintentionally, of fear, of disgust, and of hate.

And, yes, this is not a one-party problem. It’s not that Republicans have invented the public tantrum. Or Christians. Or Evangelicals. Or whites. Sometimes it’s someone else’s tantrum. But, this time it’s ours. And, when it’s ours, the added poison in it is that it’s often done in the name of our God. Who gave up position and power and prominence to serve us as a nobody born in a stable. He could have bullied with justice because He was always right ,and we were always wrong. He could have humiliated. He could have excommunicated. He could have held us to an impossibly high standard of behavior. He could have shamed. He could have insulted and belittled. He could have built a wall. He could have done this unless we obeyed. But, He didn’t even when we didn’t.

I don’t know what our options will be this November. I have hopes that things will turn around, that somehow reason will have a forum to reign. That somehow these seeds weren’t the only ones sown. That somehow people who have run farther than we intended with the vitriol we entrusted them with to use for our glory and gain will find wisdom and balance and integrity as they vote.

But, more than those hopes, I hope with all my heart that the Church, my Church, His Church, will learn from this experience. Learn that the principle of sowing and reaping applies here. That when you decide that anyone who isn’t exactly you is against you, anyone who believes something different than you, even if you think it’s a matter of right and wrong, doesn’t deserve respect and care, everyone who has made a damaging choice should be publicly mocked and derided, you will reap this man.

Trump may be the caricature, but we are the raw material. And it doesn’t benefit anyone to deny the resemblance.