Written by:
United States President, George W. Bush
From his book, "A Charge to Keep"
Pages 136-139*
The seeds of my decision had been planted by the Reverend Billy Graham. He
visited my family for a summer weekend in Maine. I saw him preach at the small
summer church, St. Ann's by the Sea. We all had lunch on the patio overlooking
the ocean. One evening my dad asked Billy to answer questions from a big group
of family gathered for the weekend. He sat by the fire and talked. And what he
said sparked a change in my heart. I don't remember the exact words. It was more
the power of his example. The Lord was so clearly reflected in his gentle and
loving demeanor.
The next day we walked and talked at Walker's Point, and I knew I was in the
presence of a great man. He was like a magnet; I felt drawn to seek something
different. He didn't lecture or admonish; he shared warmth and concern. Billy
Graham didn't make you feel guilty; he made you feel loved. Over the course of
that weekend, Reverend Graham planted a mustard seed in my soul, a seed that
grew over the next year. He led me to the path, and I began walking.
It was the beginning of a change in my life. I had always been a
"religious" person, had regularly attended church, even taught Sunday
School and served as an altar boy. But that weekend my faith took on a new
meaning. It was the beginning of a new walk where I would commit my heart to
Jesus Christ. I was humbled to learn that God sent His Son to die for a sinner
like me. I was comforted to know that through the Son, I could find God's
amazing grace, a grace that crosses every border, every barrier and is open to
everyone. Through the love of Christ's life, I could understand the life
changing powers of faith.
When I returned to Midland, I began reading the Bible regularly. Don Evans
talked me into joining him and another friend, Don Jones, at a men's community
Bible study. The group had first assembled the year before, in spring of 1984,
at the beginning of the downturn in the energy industry. Midland was hurting. A
lot of people were looking for comfort and strength and direction. A couple of
men started the Bible study as a support group, and it grew. By the time I began
attending, in the fall of 1985, almost 120 men would gather. We met in small
discussion groups of ten or twelve, then joined the larger group for full
meetings. Don Jones picked me up every week for the meetings. I remember looking
forward to them.
My interest in reading the Bible grew stronger and stronger, and the words
became clearer and more meaningful. We studied Acts, the story of the Apostles
building the Christian Church, and next year, the Gospel of Luke. The
preparation for each meeting took several hours, reading the Scripture passages
and thinking through responses to discussion questions. I took it seriously,
with my usual touch of humor.
Laura and I were active members of the First Methodist Church of Midland, and we
participated in many family programs, including James Dobson's Focus on the
Family series on raising children. As I studied and learned, Scripture took on
greater meaning, and I gained confidence and understanding in my faith. I read
the Bible regularly. Don Evans gave me the "one-year" Bible, a Bible
divided into 365 daily readings, each one including a section from the New
Testament, the Old Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. I read through that Bible
every other year. During the years in between, I picked different chapters to
study at different times.
I have also learned the power of prayer. I pray for guidance. I do not pray for
earthly things, but for heavenly things, for wisdom and patience and
understanding. My faith gives me focus and perspective. It teaches humility. But
I also recognize that faith can be misinterpreted in the political process.
Faith is an important part of my life. I believe it is important to live my
faith, not flaunt it. America is a great country because of our religious
freedoms. It is important for any leader to respect the faith of others.
That point was driven home when Laura and I visited Israel in 1998. We had
traveled to Rome to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter, who was attending a
school program there, and spent three days in Israel on the way home. It was an
incredible experience. I remember waking up at the Jerusalem Hilton and opening
the curtains and seeing the Old City before us, the Jerusalem stone glowing
gold. We visited the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. And we
went to the Sea of Galilee and stood atop the hill where Jesus delivered the
Sermon on the Mount. It was an overwhelming feeling to stand in the spot where
the most famous speech in the history of the world was delivered, the spot where
Jesus outlined the character and conduct of a believer and gave his disciples
and the world the beatitudes the golden rule, and the Lord's Prayer.
Our delegation included four gentile Governors-one Methodist, two Catholics, and
a Mormon, and several Jewish-American friends. Someone suggested we read
Scripture. I chose to read "Amazing Grace," my favorite hymn. Later
that night we all gathered at a restaurant in Tel Aviv for dinner before we
boarded our middle-of-night flight back to America. We talked about the
wonderful experiences and thanked the guides and government officials who had
introduced us to their country. Toward the end of the meal, one of our friends
rose to share a story, to tell us how he, a gentile, and his friend, a Jew, had
(unbeknownst to the rest of us) walked down to the Sea of Galilee, joined hands
underwater, and prayed together, on bent knee. Then out of his mouth came a hymn
he had known as a child, a hymn he hadn't thought about in years. He got every
word right: "Now is the time approaching, by prophets long foretold, when
all shall dwell together, One Shepherd and one fold. Now Jew and gentile,
meeting, from many a distant shore around an altar kneeling, one common
Lord." Faith changes lives. I know, because "faith has changed
mine."
I could not be Governor if I did not believe in a divine plan that supersedes
all human plans. Politics is a fickle business. Polls change. Today's friend is
tomorrow's adversary. People lavish praise and attention. Many times it is
genuine; sometimes it is not. Yet I build my life on a foundation that will not
shift. My faith frees me. My Faith frees me to put the problem of the moment in
proper perspective. Frees me to make decisions that others might not like. Frees
me to try to do the right thing, even though it may not poll well.
The death penalty is a difficult issue for supporters as well as its opponents.
I have a reverence for life; my faith teaches that life is a gift from our
Creator. In a perfect world, life is given by God and only taken by God. I hope
someday our society will respect life, the full spectrum of life, from the
newborn to the elderly. I hope someday children will be protected by law and
welcomed in life. I support the death penalty because I believe, if administered
swiftly and justly, capital punishment is a deterrent against future violence
and will save other innocent lives. Some advocates of life will challenge why I
oppose abortion yet support the death penalty. To me, it's the difference
between innocence and guilt.
Today, two weeks after Jeb's inauguration, in my church in downtown Austin,
Pastor Mark Craig, was telling me that my re-election was the first Governor to
win back-to-back four-year terms in the history of the state of Texas. It was a
beginning, not an end. People are starved for faithfulness. He talked of the
need for honesty in government. He warned that leaders who cheat on their wives
will cheat their country will cheat their colleagues, will cheat themselves.
Pastor Craig said that America is starved for honest leaders. He told the story
of Moses, asked by God to lead his people to a land of milk and honey. Moses had
a lot of reasons to shirk the task. As the Pastor told it, Moses' basic reaction
was, "Sorry, God, I'm busy. I've got a family. I've got sheep to tend. I've
got a life." "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons
of Israel out of Egypt? The people won't believe me, he protested. I'm not a
very good speaker. Oh, my Lord, send, I pray, some other person," Moses
pleaded. But God did not, and Moses ultimately did His bidding, leading his
people through forty years of wilderness and wandering, relying on God for
strength and direction and inspiration.
"People are starved for leadership, Pastor Craig
said," starved for leaders who have ethical and moral courage."
"It is not enough to have an ethical compass to know right from
wrong," he argued. "America needs leaders who have the moral courage
to do what is right for the right reason. It's not always easy or convenient for
leaders to step forward," he acknowledged. Remember, even Moses had doubts.
"He was talking to you," my mother later said. The pastor was, of
course, talking to all of us, challenging each one of us to make the most of our
lives, to assume the mantle of leadership and responsibility wherever we find
it. He was calling on us to use whatever power we have, in business, in
politics, in our communities, and in our families, to do good for the right
reason. And his sermon spoke directly to my heart and my life.
There was no magic moment of decision. After talking with my family during the
Christmas holidays, then hearing this rousing sermon, to make the most of every
moment, during my inaugural church service, I gradually felt more comfortable
with the prospect of a presidential campaign. My family would love me, my faith
would sustain me, no matter what. "During the more than half century of my
life, we have seen an unprecedented decay in our American culture, a decay that
has eroded the foundations of our collective values and moral standards of
conduct. Our sense of personal responsibility has declined dramatically, just as
the role and responsibility of the federal government has increased. The
changing culture blurred the sharp contrast between right and wrong and created
a new standard of conduct: 'If it feels good, do it,' and 'If you've got a
problem, blame somebody else.'
"Individuals are not responsible for their actions," the new culture
has said. "We are all victims of forces beyond our control." We have
gone from a culture of sacrifice and saving to a culture obsessed with grabbing
all the gusto. We went from accepting responsibility to assigning blame. As
government did more and more, individuals were required to do less and less. The
new culture said: 'if people were poor, the government should feed them. If
someone had no house, the government should provide one. If criminals are not
responsible for their acts, then the answers are not prisons, but social
programs.'
"For our culture to change, it must change one heart, one soul, and one
conscience at a time." Government can spend money, but it cannot put hope
in our hearts or a sense of purpose in our lives." "But government
should welcome the active involvement of people who are following a religious
imperative to love their neighbors through after school programs, child care,
drug treatment, maternity group homes, and a range of other services. Supporting
these men and women -- the soldiers in the armies of compassion -- is the next
bold step of welfare reform, because I know that changing hearts will change our
entire society."
"During the opening months of my presidential campaign, I have traveled our
country and my heart has been warmed. My experiences have reinvigorated my faith
in the greatness of Americans. They have reminded me that societies are renewed
from the bottom up, not the top down. Everywhere I go, I see people of love and
faith, taking time to help a neighbor in need. These people and thousands like
them are the heart and soul and greatness of America. And I want to do my part.
I am running for President because I believe America must seize this moment.
America must lead. "We must give our prosperity a greater purpose; a
purpose of peace and freedom and hope. We are a great nation of good and loving
people. And together, we have
a charge to keep.
~A CHARGE TO KEEP~
A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.
To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill;
O may it all my powers engage,
To do my Masters will!
George W. Bush has kept hanging in his office a beautiful oil painting by W.H.D.
Koerner entitled A Charge to Keep. The painting was inspired by the above hymn
written by Charles Wesley. It pictures a horseman determinedly charging up what
appears to be a steep and rough trail. The painting and hymn have been an
inspiration for George W. Bush and the members of his staff. A Charge to Keep
calls us to our highest and best. It speaks of purpose and direction. George W.
Bush started his Texas gubernatorial inauguration day with a church service. A
Charge to Keep I Have was one of the hymns that he selected. In many hymnals, it
is associated with the following Bible verse.
Moreover it is required in stewards
that one be found faithful.
1 Corinthians 4:2
*
Pages 136-139 A CHARGE TO KEEP
Copyright 1999
By President George W. Bush ISBN
0-06-095792-1
HarperCollins Publisher 2001 USA $14.00