In Georgia where I attended seminary, the legacy and presence of Jimmy Carter was inescapable. Many of my colleagues made the pilgrimage to Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, GA, to be taught by him in Sunday School there. And as this was 20 or so years ago, President Carter was still quite active in Habitat for Humanity projects around the state.
I’m old enough to have been alive during Carter’s presidency, but young enough to not remember any of it. My knowledge of the man is from his “after years” — years which he seemed more free to focus on those things that mattered to him most: humanitarian and peace projects.
As I tuned in here and there to the tributes of this past week and caught the passing article on the interwebs, I couldn’t help but marvel at the remarkable legacy of this man that most everyone described as a complete failure at the end of his presidency. That end wasn’t THE end — not for one who leans into God’s ways and wants. And as Jimmy-Carter-the-follower-of-Jesus was transformed by the journey, his legacy and the world was changed too. At the end of his earthly life, it wasn’t a failed presidency that was remembered but rather it was a life of character, integrity, honesty, compassion and love… a “Sermon on the Mount” kind of life.
As we are reminded in Revelation 21:5, God is the one making all things new. That means you, and that means me. Thanks be to God.
Pastor Michael