GOD BLESS THE PRESIDENT
by
Stephen F. Bigelow
This was the same man who came within a hair's breadth of losing an
election in November.
This was the same man who admitted to having a drinking problem in younger
years, and whose happy-go-lucky lifestyle led him to mediocre grades in
college and an ill-fated oil venture.
This was the same man who mangled syntax even more than his father,
and whose speaking missteps became known as "Bushisms."
And this is the man who has borne the weight of the world and the responsibilities
of a generation with dignity, class, confidence, appropriate solemnity,
and even much needed wit.
You see, it is this faith business that has confounded everyone. We
have had such actors and liars in public office that we have looked skeptically
whenever anyone used the term faith.
But this was the same man who was the first politician ever in recent
memory to name Jesus Christ as the Lord of his life on public TV. Not an
oblique reference to being "born-again" or having a "life change." He said
the un-PC-like phrase, "Jesus Christ," to which his handlers and advisors,
no doubt, off stage, were also saying, "Jesus Christ" in a much different
tone.
God has a way of honoring those who honor him. David learned that while
he was on the run from Saul's armies. Job learned that after his time of
horrible tribulation. The Messiah said so Himself, many times.
So this was the man who actually put faith into practice. He actually
loves those who hate him. It is a staggering concept, so foreign in daily
occurrence that few thought it anything but grandstanding. Even one of
W's biggest supporters chided the president for adhering to his "new tone."
Yet there he was, again and again, thanking the Democrats. Appointing
his enemies to high places in his government. Inviting his former
foes and their wives to private movie screenings, and treating them with
dignity. See, this was the man who learned early on how faith works: by
praying for his enemies.
This was the man who named the absolute top people in national security
and defense, then caught barbs from the politically righteous that this
one didn't have the right views on abortion or that one didn't have the
right position on guns.
|
And on September 11, at mid-morning, this was the man thrust into a
position only known by Roosevelt, Churchill, Lincoln, and Washington. The
weight of the world was on his shoulders, and the responsibility of 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 most impressive
symbols of American capitalism and prosperity virtually evaporated, along
with, perhaps, thousands of Americans. |
As he sat down next to his wife, immediately we knew that even if his
faith ever faltered, hers didn't. There was never seen a more peaceful
face than Laura Bush, whose eyes seemed as though they were already gazing
at the final outcome... not just of this conflict, but of her reward in
Heaven itself. In this marriage, you indeed got two for the price
of one.
| Then came 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 when the history of this time is written, it will be acknowledged
by friend and foe alike that President George W. Bush came of age in that
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 a 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,
W was able to deliver 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 know...
that they made a grave miscalculation.
This 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 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 always 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 saw in his eyes a quiet acknowledgment.
"I know. Thank you, Lord."
Back at his seat, when W sat down, George H. W. Bush reached over and
took his son's hand. The elder Bush always struck me as a religious man,
but not someone who shared his life on a daily basis with the Lord. George
H. W. treats the Father like a respected uncle, visiting him on appropriate
holidays and knowing the relationship is real, but not constant. Anyway,
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."
W squeezed back and gave him that look of peace that Laura had kept throughout.
It said, "I don't have to do it alone, Dad. I've got help."
God Bless President Bush
God Bless America
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