FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 7, number 19, May 8, 2008

But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and perseverance, II Timothy 3:10.

A Dearth Of Leadership

"Where have you gone, Teddy Roosevelt? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson, Theodore has left and gone away. . ." How marvelous it would be if God would be gracious and give us a leader like Theodore Roosevelt. Born into untold wealth and privilege, his father a millionaire from New York, his mother from a southern aristocratic family with roots at Midway, GA, Teddy Roosevelt was a sickly child, who had numerous life threatening bouts with asthma. Marvelously precocious and curious, Teddy, along with his siblings, was homeschooled at their Manhattan home and their summer home at Oyster Bay, Long Island. Teddy was constantly outside examining birds, insects, plants, and flowers of all kinds. His father bought him workout equipment when he was a young teen and urged him to lift weights and box in order to overcome his physical frailty. Teddy no doubt had a photographic memory and could easily read a 350 page book in one night, and tell you the next day the precise page to find any quote you wanted. He graduated from Harvard and within a year or two of graduation wrote The Naval War of 1812, which, I am told, is still a reference book at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. He attended, though never graduated from, Columbia Law School in New York City, and married Alice Hathaway Lee before enrolling there. He shortly entered politics and was elected Assemblyman in New York City at the age of twenty-two, as a Republican, breaking the political machine of Boss Conkling. The day his young wife gave birth to their first child, TR rushed home from Albany to be with her, only to find her dying from complications in delivery. His mother died on the same day in the same house. He left shortly after Alice’s death for North Dakota and stayed for nearly a year, leaving his infant daughter behind with his sister. Within a few years Teddy married his childhood friend, Edith Carow, and they had five more children.

By the time he was forty-two TR had served as Governor of New York, deputy sheriff in the Dakota Territory, Police Commissioner of New York City, U.S. Civil Service Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Colonel of the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, Vice President, and President of the United States. He was one of the original members of the American Institute of Arts and Letters. He also served as President of the American Historical Society and was a world renowned naturalist, often having sent to him at the White House from the Smithsonian, birds or plants no one there knew anything about, asking him to name them. He was a big game hunter in Africa and South America. He won the Nobel Peace Prize, made the Panama Canal a reality, founded the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), wrote thirty-five books, read on the average of one book per day in a variety of fields, including French literature and philosophy. He wrote over 150,000 letters in his life time. He brought conservation to our country. During his Presidency from 1901 to 1909 TR designated 150 National Parks, the first eighteen National Monuments, the first four National Game Preserves, five National Parks, and provided protection for almost 230 million acres, a size equivalent to the coastal states from Maine to Florida. He broke up monopolies, provided legislation for fair wages, regulated the railroads, passed the Meat Inspection Act, established the Food and Drug Administration, and the Federal Employers’ Liability Act for Labor.

When running for President in 1912 he was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin on his way to make a speech. He refused medical care until after his speech, nearly two hours later. He set up a boxing ring at the White House and sparred occasionally with other fighters. He was the first President to invite a black man to dine at the White House, Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute. He was a devoted Christian who taught Sunday School every Sunday in his Reformed Church.

He was the kind of leader and politician we so desperately need in our day. He was conservative and liberal, all at the same time. By that I mean he saw injustice and inequity and did something about it, no matter who he may alienate. He was wealthy but he took on corruption in big business. He was a politician but he stood against machine party politics. He was strong on national defense but concerned about union workers. He significantly reduced the deficit yet brought forth legislation to help the poor.

Where are our leaders? Who out there on the political horizon, from either party, approaches the stature of TR? In a day of projecting the right Presidential image, how refreshing it would be to have a candidate who was not afraid to speak intelligently, compassionately, and boldly from the heart on the issues of the day, persuading people by the sheer logic of his arguments. TR had a temper. He could be bombastic. But he was a real man. He wanted the good of all people, and he founded that on his Christian faith.

As in the days of Judges, due to the fact that we as a nation do what is right in our own eyes, God may give us what we deserve, not what we desire. None of the candidates in the Presidential race, nor in any Senatorial or Congressional race of which I am aware, can hold a candle to TR. We have a dearth of leadership in our country. May God have mercy on us! In His just wrath, may He remember mercy! May God raise up for us in the next few years young men and women with godly character, rigorous intellectualism, bold, confident people who will lead us to righteousness and justice.

I realize there is only one TR but may God be working in our country to give us men and women who begin to approach the gifts he had. May they heed Paul’s words to Timothy, that many will follow his teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and perseverance. Who knows? Perhaps there is some young person reading this who will be inspired to say, "By God’s grace, I will be that man. I will dedicate myself spiritually and academically to become a person of integrity to serve all the peoples of our nation and world, from a solid, Biblical framework, putting aside party politics, doing what is just and righteous, regardless of what others may say." Now, that’s the kind of person I could get excited about leading our nation.

FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.

If you would like to add your, or someone else’s, name to the list to receive this weekly devotional (or be removed from it), please contact us at admin@christcpc.org.