The President by Glenn Rawson

 

We heard this on Sounds for Sunday this morning. So powerful I had to share. It's from 

Glenn Rawson.

 

The President

This week the voice of the nation will speak to determine the president. I would like to talk about the President of the United States.
On May 30, 1787, a small group of men in Philadelphia changed the world. They were the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Among other things, they created an officer of government unlike any ever before, one destined to become the most powerful political figure in our modern world - the President of the United States.
“There must be one, and not three,” they said. The office would require energy, action, and decisiveness. With only one, we would always know who’s responsible, and once a year he was expected to report to the people.
They were going to call him “His Excellency.” (Madison, p. 523) But that wouldn’t do. The President of the United States is a man of the people, a leader among equals.
Four years he would serve, and then he would be returned to his people, and that was the design. The framers felt if he merited their esteem, they could have him again as president. The only limit on his term was to be the wisdom of the people who elected him.
It was considered that he not even receive a salary, but sometimes the best of men are not wealthy men. He was to serve for love and honor, not for love of money.
The framers put him under the most sacred oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. To preserve that document, they felt, was to save us as a nation.
Never – never was the president to start a war! He could defend us in case of attack, but he could not start a war. If the blood and money of the people were to be expended in war, the people must declare it. But once it was declared, he was the Commander-in-Chief.
No law was ever to be imposed on us without his approval – no treaty that he did not negotiate. He was to be our voice to the nation, the champion of our rights and liberties, and the guardian – the guardian of all his people.
He alone was to be the nation’s voice of mercy and reason through the pardon power. All the chief officers who execute the law and judge it were to be his appointees – his nominees. He was to be the one man in government above the pettiness of partisan politics. He was not to be a man of the party, but a man for us all.
So critical was his leadership, and so vital his virtue, that the framers did not trust the common people to find him and elect him. So they devised a system whereby the wisest among us would select the wisest to be him.
He had to be a native son, a fully imbued American, filled with wisdom, maturity, goodness, and integrity. He was to be our voice, our protector, [and] the great man of the people.
He would be, and still is, only as powerful as ‘we the people.’ Similarly, he is only as good as we are. And the nation would be ever after as safe and free as he was good, honest, and wise.
Few men living can affect more people in a deeper way for a longer time than the President of the United States. Therefore, all things considered, this week God help us to be wise!

Glenn Rawson – 13 February 2007
Music: Take Pride in America, track 8 (edited) – Mel and Brook Teeples
Song: Heal Our Land – The Janice Kapp Perry chorus
www.soundsofsunday.com

A prayer for the elections this week. May we select a man who manifests this in all that he is. I pray that we each look deep inside of each of us and consider the good of this country and not just ourselves. That we will vote for one who will be the essence of all that is good and noble and righteous about this country. And may God ever be watchful over this blessed nation!

Thank a Veteran!

Jacob and Avvy with a kind sailor, Norman Walker. What a privilege to have seen this gentle man for the last several years!

Today is Veteran's Day. (Okay, technically yesterday was, but because it was a Sunday we observe it today!)

One of the reasons I love living in this tiny town of Wellsville is that the elementary school has a patriotic spirit twice the size of the school! We have freedoms at this tiny (albeit ancient) school that even other schools in this sheltered valley have let go the way of nostalgia. We still sing "Away in a Manger" and "Oh Holy Night" for Christmas. We still carry on traditions that started back when this (ancient) school was built. And if you are privileged to be in a classroom during morning announcements, you will get to hear the classes singing rousing songs of patriotism...every morning! "God Bless the USA", "My Country tis of Thee", "America the Beautiful", etc. And I LOVE it!!

Each year, like many other schools around, our quaint little school invites the veterans in our area to join us so that our children can thank them for their service. They are reinforcing what we teach our children about respect for the flag as they stand motionless, eyes on the colors until it is posted and we have been told to be seated. This is the beginning of my tears this day. The children sing the national anthem with vigor in each word. Our wonderful principal has explained to them all what each stanza means. Thank you, Mr Dobson, for your patriotism!

The children are so proud to sing the theme for each branch of the military as the members of the audience who served in them proudly stand, many in uniform. Cards the children have made are handed to these service personnel and the audience enthusiastically applauds.

Each year is pretty much the same program. The children growing up a bit. This is our 6th year attending. And every year I cry.

But this year was just a little bit different. Perhaps it was the music. Perhaps it was watching two of our kids in the program. This year I was NOT pregnant, so I can't blame it on that. It began the same as always, as the flag came in the silent room. Then, entering just to my right, an elderly gentleman, crippled in a specialty wheelchair, was wheeled in to sit in the area reserved for the veterans. The children sang each military branch's song, and as the Navy's began to play, the wheelchair bound veteran motioned to two people near him that he wanted to stand. He stood as proudly as he could, supported by a sweet teacher and another lovely woman, his face beaming with pride, waving his crumpled hand, his legs quivering beneath him. His smile was radiant, tears streaming down the women's faces. My own tears turned to sobs. This man had served in Korea. One of the oldest Vets now.

And with it all, there was an unspoken feeling in the air. Have things changed for this country? Has this past election changed the way this country will forever move through time? Will what these men and women saw in unspeakable horrors of war be for naught? Will our sweet children who so proudly sang "thank you" to our veterans ever really know what they are thankful for? Will they get to experience the benefits of a truly free country but not the "benefits" of entitlement?! I say we keep the spirit! We continue to teach our children that our freedoms are not free! We were not given the rights we absently take for granted. They were won by brave men and women who gave their all! And I believe they will continue to be defended by more "who love this country more than self"!

In the past the phrase "God bless America" was said as more of a statement. We are blessed. We were blessed. We will still be blessed as the greatest nation in the world! (And I defend my right to say that! I live in this country, I am entitled (yes entitled! think "freedom of speech) to say that this IS the greatest nation in the world!)
But I think this phrase has become a prayer. At least for me. "God, please... please bless America!"

So today, thank a veteran. Tell them we appreciate them! And pray for our country to continue to be the greatest, free-est, most giving country in the world!