{"id":7843,"date":"2025-02-16T08:20:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T12:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/?p=7843"},"modified":"2025-02-17T14:57:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T18:57:50","slug":"the-man-who-stepped-down-to-become-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/16\/the-man-who-stepped-down-to-become-president\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man Who \u2018Stepped Down\u2019 To Become President"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2-17-25<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Presidents\u2019 Day, it has been my wont to regret the holiday\u2019s celebration of insipid ubiquity \u2013 instead of recalling Lincoln, or Washington (whose birthday it generally approximates) of the \u201cGreats,\u201d we implicitly honor nonentities like the briefest-tenured William Henry Harrison, who died of ice cream; and the near-traitor James Buchanan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a holiday fostered and featured by used-car dealers and mattress salesmen, and enjoyed by families seeking three-day weekends instead of beneficial civics lessons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past \u2013 my past \u2013 I have written essays and given talks reminding people of the greatness of presidents who deserve honor. America has been blessed by a disproportionately high number of exceptional men. Similar to the miracle that saved Donald Trump\u2019s life, the Lord has ordered the affairs of this nation so that men who were spectacularly prepared and equipped became president \u2013 Washington, surely; Theodore Roosevelt. Even more remarkable is how obscure men proved to be the right leaders at the right moments, confounding anyone\u2019s expectations. Lincoln, of course; Reagan too, I would say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have gathered, and could here again, great words by great presidents \u2013 words that defined crises, moved peoples\u2019 hearts, and inspire us yet today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this Presidents’ Day, however, I will quote the simple words of a neglected Chief Executive; a sentiment that is as profound as any president\u2019s\u2026 or any citizen\u2019s. This president was born in a log cabin, and from humble beginnings became a Civil War general, a congressman, and a president. James Abram Garfield was also a born-again Christian, saved at age 18, and was an elder in his church when elected president. He said, before leaving for Washington:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I resign the highest office in the land to become President of the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I focus on this short quotation by one of the shortest-tenured presidents \u2013 Garfield was shot in the back after 200 days in office, and died from his wounds; a hack politician grasping for a job in government was the assassin. I mean no slight of eloquent thoughts of better-known presidents. But Garfield\u2019s views of life\u2019s relative tasks \u2013 and opportunities \u2013 are lessons for all of us today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all have professions; but we must not lose sight of our jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all have resumes, but putting them into action is what really makes them relevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all must exercise humility. Bosses, the public \u2013 and God \u2013 put us in places. It is not as important where we serve, as how <\/em>we serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are men and women, we hear occasionally, who leave jobs, even consequential activities and perhaps comfortable situations and homes \u201clate in life,\u201d to serve as missionaries or ministers. These decisions are admirable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I think far less do we hear of clergy and ordained ministers \u2013 Garfield was a pastor of his Disciples of Christ church \u2013 who \u201cleave the pulpit\u201d and join the ranks, so to speak, of lay people. They bring the Gospel with them to work in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James A Garfield is one my favorite presidents, despite his being robbed of time to prove himself in the White House. He was honest, brilliant (he could write something in Greek in one hand; and write something in Latin by the other, simultaneously), and was a tested leader. In his young days he was an anti-slavery crusader, and was martyred for fighting the cancer of his later days, government corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Short was his time as president, but deserves to be honored \u2013 yes, on Presidents\u2019 Day, and all days \u2013 for his example to us as a Christian patriot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

+ + +<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clic<\/strong>k: WHEN I GET TO THE END OF THE WAY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2-17-25 On Presidents\u2019 Day, it has been my wont to regret the holiday\u2019s celebration of insipid ubiquity \u2013 instead of recalling Lincoln, or Washington (whose birthday it generally approximates) of the \u201cGreats,\u201d we implicitly honor nonentities like the briefest-tenured William Henry Harrison, who died of ice cream; and the near-traitor James Buchanan. It is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[53,9,31],"tags":[175,166,176,1134,164,173],"class_list":["post-7843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-government","category-service","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-charles-d-tillman","tag-george-washington","tag-james-a-garfield","tag-lynda-randle","tag-theodore-roosevelt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1bRYz-22v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7843"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7848,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7843\/revisions\/7848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mondayministry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}