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            During the years of Jimmy Carter’s presidency I don’t recall being particularly impressed with him as a leader. I don’t think I voted for Carter in 1976. During his term I was busy getting married, preaching by appointment for two different congregations, working full-time for J. C. Penney and later as an associate preacher as well as going to school. Events in Washington were the farthest thing from my mind. I did pick up a copy of the October 30-November 5, 1976, TV Guide which focused on the election. I have an April 1977 issue of The Plains Statesman, a twelve-page weekly newspaper from Plains, Georgia. The newspaper contains such tidbits as, “Officer Benny Barry has been hospitalized with pneumonia, and his brother Billy is unfortunately contemplating a similar move.” Hmmm. I still possess both of these items.
            Since the death of Jimmy Carter recently I have pondered the way the media remembered the former president. What I heard was an appreciative reflection on his life of simplicity and service. It was such that even social elites sat up and took notice. This reminds me that for whatever we might accomplish in life people appreciate simple humanity and goodness to others. We cannot help but admire one who came from the obscurity of small town Georgia to rise to the heights of military rank and government that he did. I am reminded of Nathaniel’s words when Philip said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Nathaniel said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see’” (Jn. 1:44-45). This is not to compare Carter to Christ. It is simply to point out the typical human prejudice to people who come from Nowhere, USA.
            This is not about politics. No one is less political than me. This is about what one is capable of doing who lacks the power and political machinery that many think necessary to make a mark in the world. Then to leave the realms of power to return to a simple life of home, family, fishing, woodworking, teaching in Sunday School and building houses for Habitat for Humanity, among other things. Say what you will but I think people admire character, integrity, compassion, honesty, service to people and a marriage to one woman that lasted 77 years. I think people appreciate those who remember their roots. All of this speaks louder than any concession to a Woke agenda!
            I listened with interest to the reflections of Carter’s grandsons and sons of political coworkers, as well as rivals. They remembered the person more than the president. I learned about Carter’s home life and his regular place in teaching a Bible class at the Baptist church in Plains, Georgia. I am not reflecting on doctrinal differences here, just persistence in what one believes is right. In contrast there are some “clouds without water” among us that have turned out to give the church a black eye.
            As with most any funeral there was the reading of scripture. It occurred to me that the political dignitaries in attendance heard more scripture in that single service than they have probably heard in many years. Now, whether or not they gave thought to a single word of it, I cannot say. Still, in all the pomp, pageantry and ecclesiasticism of a presidential funeral the word of God was read. Whatever attitudes (if any) may have clouded their hearing we do not know. May we continue our prayers to God for a nation that will return to the paths of peace that can be found only by a return to him! All the priestly petitions for God to receive Jimmy Carter’s soul into the world of the redeemed never got past the ceiling. How much happier would we be to know that he lived and died in Christ. No funeral oration praising human greatness will ever rise above the status of being in Christ and knowing, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’” (Rev. 14:13).