Dear Friends,
The news caught my attention. “Jimmy Carter not attending Biden’s
inauguration.” My first thought was that is no surprise; after all he is
96 and has had had bouts with liver cancer, brain cancer that both had
metastasized, and he only recently learned had learned how to walk again after
suffering a pelvic fracture one of a number of falls. Missing the inauguration,
however, should have been a surprise, for it marked the first one he would miss
since he and his wife left the White House in 1981
Former President Carter has always impressed me, not so much for
his presidential politics and leadership -most historians feel he was only an
average president, -but for his tenacity and determination to make his life
count for others through his involvement with Habitat for Humanity as
well as a long list of other charitable causes. President Carter was always
serving and up until a few years ago he was still teaching his weekly Bible study
lesson on Sundays in his home church in Plains, Ga.
Carter tells the following story that illustrates a point he would
often make about the importance of always giving your absolute best at whatever
you did.
In his autobiography he tells of being interviewed by the late
naval Admiral Hyman Rickover whose interviews were legendary. Rickover always
wanted to cut through glib, rehearsed answers to get a look at the person
underneath. He especially wanted to know how candidates would act under stress.
On occasion he would have those he was interviewing sit in a chair with the
front legs sawed off an inch or two shorter than the back, to keep the
interviewees off balance. Nice guy, hey? In his autobiography, Why Not the
Best, President Carter tells about his own Rickover interview.
The Admiral asked how he had stood in his class at the Naval
Academy. “I swelled my chest with pride and answered, “Sir, I stood 59th in a
class of 820.” I sat back to wait for his congratulations. Instead came the
question: “Did you do your best?” I started to say, “Yes, sir,” but I
remembered who this was. I gulped and admitted, “No, Sir, I didn't always do my
best.” He looked at me for a long time, and then asked one final question,
which I have never been able to forget-or to answer. He asked, “Why not?”
That question is a good one for us to ask ourselves. Are we doing
our best? What, if anything, could we do today to improve our ability as
employers/employees, teachers, fathers, mothers, students, and yes
pastors, who are seeking to live as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ?
I occasionally sign my letters with an added scripture verse from
Colossians 3:23-24. It is a challenging reminder to myself and to the reader of
my letter. The Apostle Paul exhorts us that “Whatever you do, work
at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know
that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward; It is the Lord
Christ you are serving?”
Some years ago, typesetters for the “Times of London” failed to
produce a copy free from typographical errors. The editors thought long and
hard about how to correct the situation. They announced that the first copy of
every edition would be sent free to their majesties, the King and Queen.
Immediately the errors dropped to virtually zero.
Every child of the Kingdom should so strive to produce excellence
in the sight of His Majesty, the King of Kings, so that we will never have reason
to be ashamed of that which we offer to Him.
Today, may each of us determined to give nothing but the best of
ourselves in whatever we are called to do.
Yours in ministry,
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