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George W. Bush
A Real Hero! ...Roy Jose
From George W. Bush:
"Actually, the seeds of my decision had been planted the year before, by the Reverend Billy
Graham. He visited my family for a summer weekend in Maine. I saw him preach at the small
summer church, St. Ann's by the Sea. We all had lunch on the patio overlooking the ocean.
One evening my dad asked Billy to answer questions from a big group of family gathered for
the weekend. He sat by the fire and talked. And what he said sparked a change in my heart.
I don't remember the exact words. It was more the power of his example. The Lord was so
clearly reflected in his gentle and loving demeanor. The next day we walked and talked at
Walker's Point, and I knew I was in the presence of a great man. He was like a magnet; I felt
drawn to seek something different. He didn't lecture or admonish; he shared warmth and
concern. Billy Graham didn't make you feel guilty; he made you feel loved. Over the course of
that weekend, Reverend Graham planted a mustard seed in my soul, a seed that grew
over the next year. He led me to the path, and I began walking. It was the beginning of a
change in my life. I had always been a "religious" person, had regularly attended church,
even taught Sunday School and served as an altar boy. But that weekend my faith took on a
new meaning. It was the beginning of a new walk where I would commit my heart to Jesus
Christ. I was humbled to learn that God sent His Son to die for a sinner like me. I was
comforted to know that through the Son, I could find God's amazing grace, a grace that
crosses every border, every barrier and is open to everyone. Through the love of Christ's life,
I could understand the life changing powers of faith. When I returned to Midland, I began
reading the Bible regularly. Don Evans talked me into joining him and another friend, Don
Jones, at a men's community Bible study. The group had first assembled the year before, in
Spring of 1984, at the beginning of the downturn in the energy industry. Midland was hurting.
A lot of people were looking for comfort and strength and direction. A couple of men started
the Bible study as a support group, and it grew. By the time I began attending, in the fall of
1985, almost 120 men would gather. We met in small discussion groups of ten or twelve,
then joined the larger group for full meetings. Don Jones picked me up every week for the
meetings. I remember looking forward to them. My interest in reading the Bible grew
stronger and stronger, and the words became clearer and more meaningful. We studied
Acts, the story of the Apostles building the Christian church, and the next year, the Gospel of
Luke. The preparation for each meeting took several hours, reading the Scripture passages
and thinking through responses to discussion questions. I took it seriously, with my usual
touch of humor... Laura and I were active members of the First Methodist Church of Midland,
and we participated in many family programs, including James Dobson's Focus on the
Family series on raising children. As I studied and learned, Scripture took on greater
meaning, and gained confidence and understanding in my faith. I read the Bible regularly.
Don Evans gave me the "one-year" Bible, a Bible divided into 365 daily readings, each one
including a section from the New Testament, the Old Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. I
read through that Bible every other year. During the years in between, I pick different
chapters to study at different times. I have also learned the power of prayer. I pray for
guidance. I do not pray for earthly things, but for heavenly things, for wisdom and patience
and understanding. My faith gives me focus and perspective. It teaches humility. But I also
recognize that faith can be misinterpreted in the political process. Faith is an important part
of my life. I believe it is important to live my faith, not flaunt it.
America is a great country because of our religious freedoms. It is important for any leader
to respect the faith of others. That point was driven home when Laura and I visited Israel in
1998. We had traveled to Rome to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter, who was
attending a school program there, and spent three days in Israel on the way home. It was an
incredible experience. I remember waking up at the Jerusalem Hilton and opening the
curtains and seeing the Old City before us, the Jerusalem stone glowing gold. We visited the
Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. And we went to the Sea of Galilee and
stood atop the hill where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. It was an overwhelming
feeling to stand in the spot where the most famous speech in the history of the world was
delivered, the spot where Jesus outlined the character and conduct of a believer and gave
his disciples and the world the beatitudes, the golden rule, and the Lord's Prayer. Our
delegation included four gentile governors-one Methodist, two Catholics, and a Mormon, and
several Jewish-American friends. Someone suggested we read Scripture. I chose to read
"Amazing Grace," my favorite hymn. Later that night we all gathered at a restaurant in Tel
Aviv for dinner before we boarded our middle-of-night flight back to America. We talked
about the wonderful experiences and thanked the guides and government officials who had
introduced us to their country. And toward the end of the meal, one of our friends rose to
share a story, to tell us how he, a gentile, and his friend, a Jew, had (unbeknownst to the rest
of us) walked down to the Sea of Galilee, joined hands underwater, and prayed together, on
bended knee. Then out of his mouth came a hymn he had known as a child, a hymn he hadn't
thought about in years. He got every word right: "Now is the time approaching, by prophets
long foretold, when all shall dwell together, One Shepherd and one fold. Now Jew and
gentile, meeting, from many a distant shore, around an altar kneeling, one common Lord.
Faith changes lives. I know, because faith has changed mine."
I could not be governor if I did not believe in a divine plan that supersedes all human plans.
Politics is a fickle business. Polls change. Today's friend is tomorrow's adversary. People
lavish praise and attention. Many times it is genuine; sometimes it is not. Yet I build my life on
a foundation that will not shift. My faith frees me. Frees me to put the problem of the moment
in proper perspective. Frees me to make decisions that others might not like. Frees me to
try to do the right thing, even though it may not poll well...
The death penalty is a difficult issue for supporters as well as its opponents. I have a
reverence for life; my faith teaches that life is a gift from our Creator. In a perfect world,
life is given by God and only taken by God. I hope someday our society will respect life, the
full spectrum of life, from the unborn to the elderly. I hope someday unborn children will be
protected by law and welcomed in life.
I support the death penalty because I believe, if administered swiftly and justly, capital
punishment is a deterrent against future violence and will save other innocent lives. Some
advocates of life will challenge why I oppose abortion yet support the death penalty.
To me, it's the difference between innocence and guilt.
Today, two weeks after Jeb's inauguration, in my church in downtown Austin, Pastor Mark
Craig, was telling me that my re-election was the first Governor to win back-to-back,
four-year terms in the history of the State of Texas. It was a beginning, not an end...
People are starved for faithfulness. He talked of the need for honesty in government. He
warned that leaders who cheat on their wives will cheat their country,will cheat their
colleagues, will cheat themselves. Pastor Craig said that America is starved for honest
leaders. He told the story of Moses, asked by God to lead his people to a land of milk and
honey. Moses had a lot of reasons to shirk the task. As the Pastor told it, Moses' basic
reaction was, "Sorry, God, I'm busy. I've got a family. I've got sheep to tend. I've got a life.
"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? The people
won't believe me, he protested. I'm not a very good speaker. Oh, my Lord, send, I pray, some
other person," Moses pleaded. But God did not, and Moses ultimately did His bidding,
leading his people through forty years of wilderness and wandering, relying on God for
strength and direction and inspiration. "People are starved for leadership," Pastor Craig
said, "starved for leaders who have ethical and moral courage." "It is not enough to have an
ethical compass to know right from wrong," he argued. "America needs leaders who have
the moral courage to do what is right for the right reason. It's not always easy or convenient
for leaders to step forward," he acknowledged. "Remember, even Moses had doubts."
"He was talking to you," my mother later said. The pastor was, of course, talking to all of us,
challenging each one of us to make the most of our lives, to assume the mantle of leadership
and responsibility wherever we find it. He was calling on us to use whatever power we have,
in business, in politics, in our communities, and in our families, to do good for the right
reason. And his sermon spoke directly to my heart and my life... There was no magic
moment of decision. After talking with my family during the Christmas holidays, then hearing
this rousing sermon, to make most of every moment, during my inaugural church service, I
gradually felt more comfortable with the prospect of a presidential campaign. My family
would love me, my faith would sustain me, no matter what. During the more than half century
of my life, we have seen an unprecedented decay in our American culture, a decay that has
eroded the foundations of our collective values and moral standards of conduct. Our sense of
personal responsibility has declined dramatically, just as the role and responsibility of the
federal government have increased. The changing culture blurred the sharp contrast between
right and wrong and created a new standard of conduct: "If it feels good, do it." and "If you've
got a problem, blame somebody else." "Individuals are not responsible for their actions," the
new culture has said.
"We are all victims of forces beyond our control." We have gone from a culture of sacrifice
and saving to a culture obsessed with grabbing all the gusto. We went from accepting
responsibility to assigning blame. As government did more and more, individuals were
required to do less and less. The new culture said: if people were poor, the government
should feed them. If someone had no house, the government should provide one. If criminals
are not responsible for their acts, then the answers are not prisons, but social programs...
For our culture to change, it must change one heart, one soul, and one conscience at a time.
Government can spend money, but it cannot put hope in our hearts or a sense of purpose in
our lives.
Bush: 'Tell my Southern Baptist friends how much I love them'
By Todd Starnes
WASHINGTON (BP)--James Merritt, president of the Southern
Baptist Convention and pastor of the Atlanta-area First Baptist Church,
Snellville, was one of six ministers invited to join President Bush
for a closed-door meeting just hours before the president
addressed a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20.
"I think I can speak for the entire group when I say that without
question, we all came away impressed with where he is right now
as a leader and where he is spiritually," Merritt told Baptist Press. "I
was very elated and came away from the meeting encouraged."
Merritt said the six religious leaders spent 30 minutes with the
president talking about the importance of Americans to come together
spiritually and the importance of faith.
"Those were the things on his heart and mind," Merritt said. "He
shared with us that he is being very deliberate and he is going to
uphold his responsibility to defend this nation.
"This meeting was a signal that this is a president who understands
the foundation of this nation is not financial, economical or
military," Merritt said. "The foundation of this nation is spiritual."
At times, Merritt said, the president became emotional. "He is a man
of deep faith," he said. "The president is without question a
compassionate conservative. His heart is broken over what has
happened."
Merritt said the president requested prayer from the group of leaders.
"He wanted to share with us his need for prayer and his need for
wisdom during these days," Merritt said. "Physically, he is doing
well. Emotionally, he is totally at peace. He knows where he wants to
lead the nation."
Merritt said the religious leaders stood in a circle with the
president, clasped hands, and prayed.
"For a president to take 30 minutes to spend with religious leaders
tells you where his priorities are," Merritt said. "The fact that we
were able to interact with him in that type of setting is remarkable.
He listened more than he spoke."
While some ministers offered counsel to the president, Merritt said he
simply offered a word of encouragement.
"As fellow believers we believe in the sovereignty of God. On the one
hand, God knew what was going to happen on Sept. 11, but he also knew
who would be sitting in the White House. I believe that President Bush
is God's man for this hour. God's hand is on him.
"I encouraged him to humble himself to the Lord and God will lead him
in a divine, providential way," Merritt said.
After the meeting, Merritt asked the president how Christians could
pray for him.
"First, he said to pray for wisdom; second, strength; third for
clarity of thought; and he asked us to say a special prayer for his
wife, daughters and family that God would protect them and he would be
a godly husband and godly father," Merritt said.
At the end of the meeting, Merritt said he shook the president's hand
and told him that "I loved him."
"That's when he looked at me and said, 'James, tell all my Southern
Baptist friends how much I love them as well.'"
While Merritt said he never dreamed he would be in the Oval Office, he
said the most impressive memory of the prayer time was the president.
"Again, what I will remember is that we have a president who has a
genuine love for Christ," Merritt said.
Prior to the Oval Office gathering, Merritt attended a noontime
meeting at the White House with ministers from 30 other denominations
including evangelist Franklin Graham and Christian author Max Lucado.
Watching the President's Speech Date: 9/24/01
This is the same man who came within a hair's breadth of losing the election in November, who withstood what many believe was the political chicanery of the Florida Democratic machine to fix the vote count in favor of "their" candidate.
This was the same man who admitted to having a drinking problem in younger years, and whose happy-go-lucky lifestyle led him to average grades in college and to an ill-fated oil venture.
This was the same man who mangles the syntax of the English language even more than his father, and whose missteps in speech have become known as "Bushisms."
And last Thursday, this was the man who bore the weight of the world and the responsibilities of a generation with dignity, class, confidence, appropriate solemnity, and even much-needed wit.
One thing struck me during the campaign, that difficult, roller-coaster campaign that now seems years ago. It was that George W. Bush never seemed to get ruffled. Whether contending with the theft of a campaign debate video or the sudden (some said vicious) release of a DUI arrest two decades ago at a key moment, George W. never lost his cool. At times, his staff seemed overconfident, as did many of us. A 350-electoral-vote win, was quietly implied ... and many optimistically believed.
Then the vote was counted, and miscounted, blocked and re-counted. And at the end, he was still there. While Al Gore frantically huffed and puffed, seemingly trying to gin something out of nothing, Bush quietly but confidently waited at his ranch. He wasn't doing nothing ... that is a mistake people constantly make with this man when they confuse lack of bluster for the absence of action. No, his team of attorneys and the iron-willed James Baker were carrying out his orders, but "W" stayed in the background, confident and faithful.
This faith business seems to have confounded everyone. We have had such a parade of actors and liars in public office on both sides of the aisle that we look skeptical whenever anyone uses the term faith.
But recall that this is the same man who is the first politician in recent memory to name Jesus Christ as the Lord of his life on public TV. He didn't make some sort of oblique reference to being "born-again" or having a "life change." He said the un-PC-like phrase, "Jesus Christ," and combined his statement of faith with an admittance to dependence on Christ right out in front of everyone who had eyes to see and ears to hear (to which his handlers and advisors off stage, were likely saying, "jesus christ" with a somewhat different emphasis).
You know, it's funny. God has a way of honoring those who honor Him. David learned that lesson while on the run from Saul's armies. Job learned it after his time of horrible tribulation. The Messiah said so Himself many times.
This man, George W., actually has put his faith into practice while in public office. He actually loves those who hate him. It is a staggering concept, so foreign in daily occurrence that few have thought it anything but grandstanding. Even one of W's biggest supporters chided the President for adhering to his "new tone."
Yet there we've seen him, time and time again, thanking the Democrats. Appointing his enemies to high places in his government. Inviting his foes and their wives to private movie screenings, and (I know, this is hard to stomach) even treating them with dignity. See, this was the man who learned early on how faith worked: by praying for his enemies, you "heap burning coals upon their heads." (Did you happen to catch Bill Clinton at the National Prayer Service? Didn't look too good, did he?) But more importantly, he has won converts to his belief - to his way of reacting to adversity. And the tone in Washington is starting to change.
This man named the absolute top people to national security and defense, then caught barbs from the politically righteous that this one didn't have the "right" views on abortion or the "right" position on guns.
And on September 11, at mid-morning, this young President was the man who was thrust into a position only known by Roosevelt, Churchill, Lincoln, and Washington.
The weight of the world and our nation was on his shoulders, and the responsibility for a generation was on his soul.
So this same man---the one that the media repeatedly attempted to tarnish with charges of "illegitimacy," and the one whose political opponents desperately sought to stonewall until mid-term elections---walked to his seat at the front of the National Cathedral just three days after the two greatest symbols of American capitalism and prosperity virtually evaporated along with thousands of lives of Americans and citizens of nearly every nation on earth.
As he sat down next to Laura, I knew immediately that even if his faith should ever falter, hers would not. I have never seen a more peaceful expression than that on Laura Bushs' face. Her eyes seemed as though she was already gazing at the final outcome ... not just of this conflict, but of her reward in Heaven itself. In this marriage, we have indeed got not just two, but three for the price of one.
Appropriate songs were sung in an almost unbearably emotional service. I was overwhelmed innumerable times as I listened to the words the President delivered. How George W. spoke without blubbering, I'll never know.
Then came what I believe is the defining moment of our generation. Some people fondly recall their Woodstock days. Others mark with grim sadness November 22, 1963 as the day America lost her innocence. But I firmly believe that when the history of our times are written, it will be acknowledged by friend and foe alike that President George W. Bush came of age in that old cathedral and lifted a nation off its knees.
It wasn't so much his words, though read a decade later, they will indeed be as stirring as any. The conflict would end, he noted, "at an time of our choosing." It certainly wasn't his emotion. What had to have been one of the most stunning exhibitions of self-control in Presidential history, President George W. Bush delivered his remarks without losing either his resolve or his focus, or, more important, his confidence. It was as if God's hand, which had guided him through that sliver-thin election, now rested fully on him.
His quiet confidence let our enemies know... and believe me, they do know... that they made a grave miscalculation.
Now, this same man who practiced his faith during a tough election, who steeled his convictions even more in the long drawn-out Florida battle, and who never once gave in to the temptation to get in the gutter with his foes (well, ok, maybe the "Clymer" comment is an exception), this same man now lifted the weight of the world and the responsibility of a generation and put it on his modest shoulders as though it were just another unpleasant duty.
As he walked back to his seat, the camera angle was appropriate. He was virtually alone in the scene, alone in that massive place of God, just him and the Lord. But that's the way it's been in his life recently.
In that brief time it took him to return to his seat, I believe he heard words to the effect of, "You can do this, George. I am with you always. And you can do this well, because I am going before you. And don't worry about the weight. I've got it." And I believe saw in his eyes the quiet acknowledgement. "I know. Thank you, Lord."
Back at his seat, when George W. sat, George H. W. Bush reached over and took his son's hand. I believe that in that fatherly squeeze George H. W. said, "I wish I could do this for you, son, but I can't. You have to do this on your own." And when George W. squeezed back and gave his Dad that look of peace that Laura had kept throughout he was saying, "I won't have to do it alone Dad. I've got help."
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just think back to last November....
May God Bless President Bush, and May God Bless America.
bravenet.com