{"id":802,"date":"2018-12-06T21:30:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T21:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/?p=802"},"modified":"2019-01-06T17:53:23","modified_gmt":"2019-01-06T17:53:23","slug":"insight-and-inspiration-processing-the-death-of-president-george-h-w-bush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/?p=802","title":{"rendered":"Insight and Inspiration Processing the Death of President George H.W. Bush"},"content":{"rendered":"

The true test of a person’s impact is what mark they leave on history when they die.\u00a0 The 41st President George H.W. Bush knew that and even answered accordingly in an interview I saw replayed.\u00a0 The interviewer asked if he thought he was a good president.\u00a0 He humbly replied that the historians will determine.\u00a0 Jon Meachan, author of Bush Senior’s\u00a0biography<\/a>,\u00a0 spoke at the\u00a0State Funeral<\/a> as if he ranked with the founding fathers like Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln.\u00a0 But the truth is, each can believe what they want.\u00a0 Was he a great leader or not?<\/p>\n

I grew up fed on typical media spin with a dad who played too much golf after work and mother who felt she was a golf widow.\u00a0 The arguing usurped family dinners over meaningful discussion of the news, politics, and what was being learned at school.\u00a0 So I held the belief that Bush Sr. was a failure because he promised, “Read my lips.\u00a0 No new taxes”\u00a0and then proceeded to do to the very opposite.\u00a0 But, I didn’t know the full story.\u00a0 \u00a0Thankfully Alan Simpson set the record straight in his eulogy yesterday. Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0for the full transcript.<\/p>\n

Little did I know that George H.W. Bush knew very well what was going to happen to his popularity and political career by this tax increase.\u00a0\u00a0I was fed a lie that I believed for way too many years.\u00a0 I cried so hard during\u00a0Bush Senior’s State Funeral<\/a>\u00a0because of it.\u00a0 Another great leader who impacted the world through a humble life and meaningful death, Jesus Christ, is recorded in\u00a0John 8:32<\/a>\u00a0for pointing out truth is what empowers freedom.<\/p>\n

The self-help literature and advocacy groups like\u00a0NAMI<\/a>\u00a0are replete with how “stink’n think’n” fuels depression and\u00a0anxiety<\/a>.\u00a0 It’s not a wonder I cried so hard while I watched the funeral.\u00a0 My wrong thoughts about President Bush dominated my thinking for over 20 years during which I’ve struggled with many dips into depression fueled by anxiety.\u00a0 There are many other lies I’ve ignorantly subscribed to that have contributed as well, but the power of uncovering this lie with the truth was encouraging and the tears that flowed healed.<\/p>\n

Children are very literal and get hung up with rules.\u00a0 This is sometimes referred to black and white thinking of which I refer to in\u00a0Rojo, The Baby Red Panda at the Zoo<\/a>.\u00a0 The immature don’t understand why someone changes their commitment.\u00a0 They just take offense.\u00a0 My daughter helped me to see this last night through an episode of\u00a0The Andy Griffith Show<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0She asked why Andy\u00a0 Griffith had\u00a0 changed what he had initially taught and was asking of his son.\u00a0 Thankfully, the story continued as Andy lovingly lived out his explanation to the kids.<\/p>\n

This vignette turned out to be very timely with the Bush Senior’s legacy issue. My 11 year old got the idea faster than Andy’s 8 year old.\u00a0 It’s a gentle process of maturation which presents with other challenges.\u00a0 \u00a0In similar manner too many had been led astray by sound bites and political jabs to the defamation of Bush Senior’s reputation by this “but you said” mentality.<\/p>\n

Another obstacle to growth is\u00a0 how pain, suffering, problems, illness, and death are perceived.\u00a0 These are inevitable experiences of life.\u00a0 They aren’t something to completely fear and avoid.\u00a0 Rather, they are powerful means to invite us to grow and to love.\u00a0 \u00a0George H.W. modeled this well.\u00a0 When he asked, “Why me? Why was I spared?” He heard a very high calling to move on living for others and not just for self.\u00a0 We need to grow up.\u00a0 Whether George Herbert Walker Bush was one the the great presidents of the United States of America might be debated.\u00a0 But doubting his maturity as a leader has very little evidence.<\/p>\n

Now I move on to the message delivered by Rector Hollerith at the State Funeral.\u00a0 His message made me recall a particular discussion that took place when I was visiting at a nearby church for a Wednesday night Bible Study. The passage covered was Romans 3:1-9. Two moving comments worthy of quoting were made. One man pointed out that the enemies of Jesus called him a “friend of sinners.” And then Brother Doug replied, “That’s right. We can be friends of sinners without being friendly with sin.”<\/p>\n

Then conversation turned to why discussion of sin is so unacceptable in society. In many settings this conversation often turns to focusing on the sins of others and those condemn by us or a theological discourse on why non-believers can’t come to terms with their debased nature and need of a Savior.<\/p>\n

Could it be the later shares a similarity with the inherent flaw in the first? Being that we ALL love to remain in our sin and blinded to its glaring reality?<\/p>\n

The ruler of the world does have power and the culture in which he leads with is Humanism which denies the sinful debased nature of humans and focuses only on the good that we are capable of. (The philosophical system that inspires how American public and many private schools are run.)<\/p>\n

So for those unbelievers out there, you know those open minded people when it comes to condoning other ideas, have you considered why it is so hard to be thoughtful of others when you are sick, tired, sleep deprived, cold, and\/or stressed? Is it possible you are not as good as you think?<\/p>\n

For you believers do you pray daily to your dear Lord asking him to be the light in your own dark heart and listen to him reveal to you where you are in error? Or do you just focus on the speck in your brother’s eye while continuing to hurt yourself and others with the log in your own? (Matthew 7:3-5) And then focus on how they have hurt you and caused you trouble? And then list of your “shopping list” or “honey do” of what you want God to do for you? Please be mindful that you may be praying out of unbelief or rather belief that its up to YOUR prayers and efforts to get God to hear you. You might be in more trouble than the unbelievers. At least they are up front and don’t claim to have faith in Christ.<\/p>\n

Then I believe another factor plays in. Inherently, society whether it regards God or not, does call persons like Hitler evil and want justice served, not the “forgiving grace” that some espouse that Jesus offers through his life, death, and resurrection. It also praises those who contribute self-less heroic work towards the common good. So now what?<\/p>\n

I believe it is the WHOLE of the Bible that is the answer here, And the greatest problem is while there are Bibles everywhere and talked about, the bulk of the book isn’t read much less interpreted properly. Instead of being used to unite believers it is masterfully used by the wolves in sheep clothing who use it to divide us and to take our time, money, and to influence how we think and behave.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself this, how do you react when someone points out that you fell short of something? If you deny it, minimize it, change the subject, excuse it (“If you only knew what I went through xyz…”), or worse yet flip it around to blame the other consider Proverbs chapter 9. Those behaviors describe fools, those who do not bow the knee to the lordship of the LORD.\u00a0 The wise take to heart any correction. Their response is one of contrition, remorse, and changed behavior. These reactions describe the wise and they are synonymous with true believers throughout scripture.<\/p>\n

The best and wisest instruction is usually called the greatest commandment: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength. It is also refer to as the Shema and consists of three paragraphs in Deuteronomy 6:4\u20139, Deuteronomy 11:13\u201321 and Numbers 15:37\u201341. Jesus quoted it as the masterful answer to enemies trap question on which was the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:34-39.<\/p>\n

This is was the core message deliver yesterday at the\u00a0The state funeral of President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral<\/a>.\u00a0 If you want to review or hear the message for yourself go to click\u00a0here for my Facebook Page.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The true test of a person’s impact is what mark they leave on history when they die.\u00a0 The 41st President George H.W. Bush knew that and even answered accordingly in an interview I saw replayed.\u00a0 The interviewer asked if he thought he was a good president.\u00a0 He humbly replied that the historians will determine.\u00a0 Jon … Continue reading Insight and Inspiration Processing the Death of President George H.W. Bush<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849,"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hopetheparentteacher.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}