This is a true story. It actually happened along the often messy intersection of faith and politics.
Yet here is good news: there wasn’t a wreck at that intersection. Instead something positive – something spiritual happened.
The story begins with a man who had been elected to office and was serving in a state legislature. He was a Christian. He was a daily student of the bible. He was a long-time church deacon, Sunday school teacher, and a missionary to Mexico, Russia and various other places.
There was a debate coming up in the legislature on a bill that this man felt strongly about. From his desk on the House chamber, he had witnessed not a few debates where tempers flared and honorable men and women sometimes reacted in bitterness and anger. He wanted to avoid participating in that kind of behavior.
That was not an easy task as the House of Representatives was almost always divided, rife with partisan politics and full of many strong-willed, Type-A personalities.
He told me later the reason why he wanted to avoid losing his composure. It was because he was afraid it would damage his Christian witness.
As a professing believer in Jesus Christ, his faith was of the utmost importance in his life. He tried hard every day to live what he believed. And by the grace of God, he was often successful at so doing. But not always.
The debate started and tempers begun to fray. This man felt that he needed to weigh in and make a few important points about the bill. From his desk he could notify the Speaker that he wished to enter the debate. Once he did so it would only be a matter of time before he would have his opportunity to speak.
Among the myriad of papers on his desk, he took a blank sheet of paper and drew on it. He wasn’t an artist; neither was he doodling. But he was very purposeful in this act.
On the top of that sheet of paper he drew a cross.
Then he pressed his button, and waited; praying silently for God's help.
Soon enough came his turn to speak. He rose to the floor. He had placed the sheet of paper with the picture of the cross over the page with his speaking points.
As he spoke, every time he glanced down at his notes, the first thing he saw was the cross. It helped him navigate a potentially dangerous intersection. For by the grace of God, with the cross before him, he completed his speech without any outbursts of anger, without enmity or strife. Afterwards he simply sat down.
Looking back today I can’t remember what the issues were then, whether his side won or lost the debate; whether the bill he spoke to passed or failed. But when he shared this story with me afterwards, he was so thankful he hadn’t lost his composure or his Christian witness. That was the most important thing to him.
I praise God for men such as this one. I wish we had more examples of Godly faith in action among us today.
Sadly that man passed away a few years ago. He was my dad. Though he is gone to his reward in heaven, his witness remains. He showed me, and many others, how to live out the Christian faith. He wasn’t perfect, but he learned to keep one thing always in front of him. Not yielding to temptation, but instead yielding to the glory of the gospel of Christ.
And today, scarred from my own encounters with so many messy intersections of life, I am learning by God’s grace to do the same.
Jerry Dan Deutschendorf
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” – Galations 6:14
“Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.” – Proverbs 4: 26-27.
