This is one of those posts that I write on a whim. When I am overcome with emotion, but I don’t have the time to write well. There will be no proofing of this text, so bear with me.

I cry at all funerals now. Ever since I was first caught up in the whirlwind of cancer and had to write my own funeral program. My children arriving one by one, between paragraphs, to say their final goodbyes. That was six years ago this week?

My tears today were much more than those I would shed watching a movie about a funeral. It was much more than the moving service and the loss of a good man. These were tears of loss of time when Christianity made sense, at least for this good man, Jimmy.

Before I go much further, I must suggest that you listen to at least the message given by his grandson, Jason’s speech (below) so you will understand what I am talking about.

If part of Jesus’s ministry was to live an exemplary life, something for us to emulate, then Jimmy Carter was God’s refresher course. I thought I knew him well, but I had forgotten so much.

But speaking in general terms, the American Christian church has gone off the rails. Those who have steered off the right have given up their aspirations for truth, in exchange for political power. Political power as an advantage in the culture wars their hate has inspired.

Those steering off the left side of the tracks have given up their aspiration for truth, in exchange for harmony. All opinions are the same so there can be harmony, right? Maybe that is a little better, but not by much. Don’t they understand that harmony, love, and justice can only stand when buttressed by truth? Jimmy was profoundly tolerant, loving, and a master of harmony, but built on his aspiration of truth. A good man.

Don’t get me wrong. Jimmys still exist. Within my own church, there are plenty of Jimmys. I would try to name them, but there are too many. I’m not included. Too selfish, eyes turned inward.

But I shed a tear for what has been lost, Jimmy Carter, a vestige from a lost epoch. An embodiment of doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.

Mike