Barbara Bush, former First Lady

The Commencement Address

Barbara Bush, former First Lady during the presidency of her husband, George H.W. Bush, passed away
Tuesday, April 17th, at the age of 92. One of the prominent memories that has been shared over the
last few days is Bush's commencement speech to the 1990 graduating class of Wellesley College, a
private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

"I believe it was the first, last and only time all three networks interrupted regular programming
to cover a first lady's speech live," Edward McNally, a speechwriter in the Bush White House,
recalled Tuesday, hours after Bush's passing. "It was an unusual national moment, to say the
least."

One thing that made it unusual was that first lady Bush was accompanied by Russian President Mikhail
Gorbachev's wife, Raisa, who also spoke at the commencement.

As Bush addressed the graduating class, she said, "I hope that many of you will consider making
three very special choices."

"The first is to believe in something larger than yourself . to get involved in some of the big
ideas of our time." Bush spoke of how she had chosen to promote literacy because "if more people
could read, write and comprehend, we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems
that plague our nation and our society."

Bush encouraged the graduates to make a second choice in their lives: "Find the joy in life." Bush
shared one of the reasons that she chose to marry a young Navy Pilot by the name of George H.W.
Bush: "he made me laugh."

"The third choice that must not be missed," Bush continued, "is to cherish your human connections:
your relationships with family and friends." Bush pressed the point adding, "As important as your
obligations as a doctor, lawyer or business leader will be, you are a human being first and those
human connections - with spouses, with children, with friends - are the most important investments
you will ever make. At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test,
not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a
husband, a child, a friend or a parent."

To these three great points, I would like to respectfully add one more: At the end of your life, the
most important connection will be the one with your Heavenly Father.

Our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), but God loves us so much that He gave His Son Jesus
to die on the cross to redeem us from sin (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7). Through Jesus, we can be
reconciled to the Father (2 Corinthians 5:17-21), receive the gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23),
and look forward to spending an eternity in heaven (John 14:1-3).

The most important "connection" that we need to have is with the Heavenly Father through His Son,
Jesus. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except
through Me" (John 14:6).

God will save and give eternal life to those who "connect" with His Son by placing their faith and
trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turning from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confessing Him before
men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts
2:38). God will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1
John 1:7).

First Lady Bush beautifully highlighted three great choices that we need to make. Please be sure
that you make the most important and eternal "connection" by choosing to trust and obey Jesus.

Won't YOU?

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from "'Find the joy': The day Barbara Bush wowed Wellesley's feminist
protesters with a graduation speech" by Steve Hendrix of The Washington Post and the transcript of
Bush's speech as shared at www.time.com.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

His Robe

If you've ever lost a loved one, I think you'll be able to relate to and appreciate the words of a
good man who lost his father:

"Following the death of my father, I had the unenviable task we all eventually face of sorting
through our parents' remaining earthly possessions and disposing of them. Among the items I wanted
to keep were the usual personal jewelry items and accessories, family photos, and so forth. I also
decided to keep one article of clothing that was worn by my father: a green, corduroy housecoat with
a thin gold border. My father wore it often in the final months of his life. The first time I put
it on, when I got up in the morning, was just seven days after the death of my father. The
housecoat quickly warmed me and brought back a flood of memories of good times with my father. I
was comforted by it and allowed myself to imagine that I was in the strong and loving embrace of my
father. I plan to wear my father's housecoat till I wear it out."

These words of a loving son for his father remind me of another son and his father in the story that
Jesus told that is often called, "The Parable of the Prodigal Son" in Luke 15:11-24. Please take
the time to read (or re-read) that story.

After the prodigal had wasted his father's inheritance in riotous living and ended up in the pigpen,
he thought of home. He thought of how well his father's servants fared under his care. He
determined that he would go back home and ask his father if he would take him back, at least as one
of his servants. He prepared his plea.

"And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and
had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I
have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But
the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his
hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be
merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be
merry" (Luke 15:20-24).

I've read that the robe was a symbol of sonship. The father welcomed the prodigal back, not as a
servant, but as his son. Notice that the robe came after the embrace. I picture the father
scouring the horizon daily, looking and longing for his son to return. And when the day came that
he finally saw his son coming home, he ran to meet him and embraced him as his son who was lost but
had been found.

Perhaps by wearing the robe, the son would also be continually reminded of the embrace of his
loving, forgiving father - just like wearing that green, corduroy housecoat with a thin gold border
signifies to another son the embrace of his loving father.

The father in Jesus' story is God. You and I are represented by the prodigal. The Good News is
that we can "come home" and be embraced by a loving, forgiving Father, because He gave His Son to
die for our sins.

God will embrace and enrobe us when we place our faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from
our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38). As long as we "stay at home"
and walk with God, He will continue to cleanse us from sin and embrace us as His children (1 John
1:7; 2:1).

And this robe won't ever wear out; it will last for an eternity. "For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

Won't YOU accept the embrace of the Father by submitting your life to Him through your trusting
obedience? He's waiting and longing for you. He has a robe for you.

-- David A. Sargent

Matthew 9:29

 

Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you--Matthew 9:29

 

These words spoken by Jesus to two blind men bring to mind the thought that when we one day stand before our God accounting for how we have lived in this life, we will stand or fall according to the faith we have in him while living on this side of eternity (Acts 17:30-31; 2 Cor. 5:10). If one day we hear those glad words, "Well done good and faithful servant", it will be because we have striven each day of this earthly sojourn to walk a little closer to God. If that is to be, we will have to vigilantly watch for our souls, standing fast in the faith, adhering firmly to God's word and his word only lest we be corrupted by the world around us or be led to deny or reject his word by listening to and heeding the theories and philosophies of mortal man (1 Cor. 16:13; 1 John 2:15-17; Eph.6:13-14;  Matthew 7:21-23; 1 John 4:1).

 

Every waking moment we are walking in harms way (1 Peter 5:7). Know this, our walk on this side of eternity will be a safe one if we will place ourselves into God's hands with an unwavering faith in his promises believing that he is able to do all that he has promised (Jude 24-24; Ephesians 3:20-21; Hebrews 10:23). With a steadfast faith in God, we do not worry about what will or will not happen tomorrow (Colossians 2:5; 1 Corinthians 15:58). Often we sing, "Living by faith in Jesus above, Trusting, confiding in his great love; From all harm safe in his sheltering arm, I'm living by faith and feel no alarm".

 

I wonder, is our faith a trusting, unwavering faith that allows us to place ourselves into the arms of Jesus believing that he will safely see us through each day and night, knowing that he will always be there surrounding us with his love and care?  Suppose for a moment that you are standing before the judgment bar of God and he says to you, "According to your faith, be it unto you". Where, O where will you spend eternity?

 

Charles Hicks

Hanover, Germany

The Open Grave

In the city of Hanover, Germany, is a graveyard which has been closed for a number of years — the
Garden Cemetery.  Owing to its antiquated monuments and the fact of its being the resting place of a
number of celebrated characters, it awakens the liveliest curiosity.  A few paces east of the
unassuming little church in the graveyard is a monument tottering from its foundation.  It is built
in the form of steps, and the massive stones are secured by heavy iron clasps.  The monument was
erected in the year 1782 for Henriette Juliane Caroline von Rüling (1756-1782), the wife of the
Hanoverian state secretary Georg Ernst von Rüling.

Beside the usual family inscriptions, at the base of the monument are engraved these arrogant lines:
"The sepulcher, purchased for all eternity, is not permitted to be opened."  Opposed to this
determination of man, a birch tree seed, perhaps carried by the wind, found its way into a crevice
of the foundation.

In the course of years this little seed grew to be a strong, luxuriant tree, mocked the proud
inscription of the monument, raised the massive stones from their foundation, and rent the strong
iron clasp asunder.

This open grave reminds the visitor of the mutability of earthly scenes, and the fallacy of man's
resolution to escape the Resurrection. *

Jesus said, "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will
hear His voice and come forth; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who
have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29).

Will L. Thompson proclaimed these truths in a song entitled, "There's a Great Day Coming":

There's a great day coming,
A great day coming;
There's a great day coming by and by,
When the saints and the sinners
Shall be parted right and left,
Are you ready for that day to come?
There's a bright day coming,
A bright day coming;
There's a bright day coming by and by.
But its brightness shall only come
To them that love the Lord.
Are you ready for that day to come?
There's a sad day coming,
A sad day coming;
There's a sad day coming by and by,
When the sinner shall hear his doom:
Depart, I know you not!
Are you ready for that day to come?

One day, when Jesus returns, the graves will be opened.  The guarantee is the fact of Jesus' own
resurrection from the dead.  It will be a glorious day for those that love the Lord, a sad day for
those who don't.  The difference will be whether or not one has accepted Jesus' offer of salvation
and eternal life.

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts
16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans
10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  Those
who continue to walk in the light of His Word will be in a continual state of readiness because the
blood of Jesus continues to wash his/her sins away (1 John 1:7).

Are YOU ready?  You can be, if only you'll accept His offer on His terms.  Won't YOU?

-- David A. Sargent

* Sources: Dictionary of Anecdote, Incident, Illustrative Fact, Selected and Arranged for the Pulpit
and the Platform by Walter Baxendale and "Open Grave, Hanover" in Wikipedia.com

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