Just a man

At the end of the day, a person is just that...a person.

We are reminded of this time and time again through recollections, biographies, historical texts, or documentaries of well-known individuals throughout history.

Having been inundated in the texts of Jimmy Carter in the past months, I've grown really attached to this man and hopefully have a better picture of him than does the typical person walking around.

Even at the pinnacle of his profession, as president of the United States, Jimmy Carter still had professional worries, family worries, relationship worries...basically the worries that are present in each of our lives. Yes, sometimes his were on a bigger stage, but at the end of the day he wanted to make sure he was doing his best to take care of those he cared about. The archive of his old diary entries (un-edited I have to add) is an amazing look into the daily struggles of a genuine man seeking not his own acclaim, but the improvement of the world he lived in. Yes, not everything worked out, and the media had a great deal of say in how the public perceived certain things...and he was definitely politically punished for not participating daily in the Washington social scene and media outreach events. But he truly seems to be a man of his word, and of solid faith in his savior. He was one of the few presidents to have not invited Billy Graham to the White House, not because of his lack of faith, but rather his desire to keep separate Church and State. In his language and actions we are shown that he truly depended on God. One of the questions he retained from his youth was when he was young, someone said:

"If you were accused of being a Christian and brought before a jury, would they have enough evidence to convict you?"

Well, the point is that I have grown to love President Carter. I feel as though he is truly the first well-known person I can connect with and truly want to spend time with. We definitely share a lot in common: love of the outdoors, country-boy heart, dependence on our faith, desire to serve publicly, Navy life (hopefully soon for me), and the desire to make things as simple as possible.

Flaws and shortcomings are also shared in abundance, but I probably have quite a few more. I'm definitely a man who makes mistakes all the time, but like to think of myself as always seeking improvement.

If we improve, may our first improvement always be our relationship with God. This will give give birth to further fruit in our lives. But none compares to our relationship with Christ.