Posted on 10/15/2004 4:52:37 PM PDT by woodb01
This peice was so moving that I posted it to the top of my own web site. It brought me to tears...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ posted on 10/15/2004 12:53:57 PM PDT by JFC
Last week, on Tuesday, our school had a field trip to see President Bush speak at the Farm Progress Show in Alleman, Iowa. It was even educational trip to learn about all the security we had to go through at the outdoor event.
It was a typical campaign stop for the President. He spoke for 45 minutes, much of his speech was about agriculture because there were many farmers there, along with thousands of other people.
A few days later we learned something very interesting about George W. Bush's visit to Iowa. Carson's former teacher had some friends there at the speech, whose son had been killed In Iraq as a Marine last April. The ouple's son was named Ben.
Ben's parents had blue tickets, which meant they would be standing outside on the ground with the rest of the crowd to hear the speech. At some point, their tickets were upgraded, and they were given tickets where they could be seated on the stage with the president.
About 45 minutes before President Bush came on stage, 2 secret service men asked them to leave the stage, and come inside a white trailer, behind the stage. The parents were told to wait there, and also told that when the door of the trailer opened, they would want to stand up.
When the door opened, there was President Bush. He greeted them warmly, sat down with them at a table, and said, "Tell me all about Ben."
The parents told of how Ben knew the all the reasons why he was going into Iraq, and how he was glad to be doing what he, as a Marine, had been called to do. They told of how they had a complete peace about his death, and how they were absolutely certain he was in a much better place now.
After about 20 minutes of conversation, Ben's dad said, "We want to tell you, Mr. President, that my wife and I pray for you every day." Then President Bush said, "Let's pray right now." They gathered hands around the table. Ben's dad opened the prayer and the President closed.
This quiet encounter happened on a day when the President had major campaign stops in Tennessee and Pennsylvania, as well as Iowa. He also made an appearance at the Republican National Convention that evening by satellite. We were amazed to hear of this kind and heartfelt deed, which is one of many that the President does without any reporters present, and a deed that will not likely ever hit the mainstream media. It was a lesson to my children, that a truly great leader is a humble person, one who will go out of his way seek out the hurting, and lastly, a man of prayer who loves and trusts God.
I hope that by sharing this, you will see a glimpse of this leader behind a closed door. I hope that we can also ponder, as Ben's parents did even in their sorrow, that God has a plan for our lives, and for our country.
posted on 10/15/2004 12:53:57 PM PDT by JFC ( President Bush, You are being prayed for along with our country daily, by millions of us.)
Very well said.
Thanx for showing me this thread. It helped me too, this AM in church, when you so confidently told me Bush will win this election.
I pray you're right, and we all need to keep praying for this President. Of course, if sKerry wins, we'll need to pray for him too. You never know, he could end up converted!
BTTT
I met Bruce Vincent years ago when we were both working on public lands and natural resource issues out West. I e-mailed him to verify the story, and he confirmed that it's true.
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