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Summit Lecture Series: Politics in the Public Arena with Tim Goeglein, part 3

Summit Lecture Series: Politics in the Public Arena with Tim Goeglein, part 3

Last updated on: December 4, 2015 at 12:51 pm by Christian Podcast Central

Summit Lecture Series: Politics in the Public Arena with Tim Goeglein, part 3 2015-12-04T12:51:36-08:00 Christian Podcast Central

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In the political classes where I spent my professional life, when you embarrass the President or the Senator or Congressman, there is a kind of divorce that takes place. I was cut off. Persona non grata.

And that was fully what I expected and deserved for what I had done.

I immediately wrote a letter to President George W. Bush, resigning from my position at the White House, and I left the White House in total and utter disgrace. It was as if I had opened up the double doors and descended down, not into the cellar, but into the sub-cellar.

I was a hypocrite.

God had blessed me, yet I had embarrassed the President, my White House colleagues, not to mention my wife, kids, parents, and everyone who had ever believed in me and trusted in me.

And, when I came in on the Monday after the Friday I resigned to begin cleaning out my office, I received the call that no one wants to receive: the call from the White House Chief of Staff telling me, “The boss would like to see you.”

You see, there’s a code amongst White House Staffers. If it’s good news, the message is, “The President wants to see you.” But, if it’s bad news, it’s “The boss…”

Needless to say, I was ready for my much deserved woodshed moment.

So, I went to the Oval Office and it was just the President and me.

When I shut the door behind me, there seemed to be an echo. I knew that the worst was about to come. So, I looked President George W. Bush squarely in the eyes and I said, “Mr. President, I owe you…” and before I could get another word out, he told me, “Tim, I forgive you.”

Now, I have to tell you, in my whole life, this was one of the most surreal moments ever. I was actually inclined to clear out my ear and ask him to repeat himself. I tried to apologize again. And he interrupted me again.

“Tim, grace and mercy are real. I’m extending them to you, and you are forgiven.”

I told him, “Mr. President, you should be taking me by the lapels and tossing me out onto Pennsylvania Avenue for what I have done.”

Instead, he repeated himself. “Tim, I’m going to say it again. You are forgiven. Grace and mercy are real. I’ve known them throughout my own life, and I forgive you. Now, we can talk about all of this for the next 20-30 minutes, or we can talk about the past eight years. Reluctantly, I walked over to take my place on one of the two couches in the middle of the Oval Office. Instead, he directed me to the chair below George Washington’s portrait – the place of honor in the President’s office where either the Vice President or another Head of State sits when they meet with the President. The two of us spoke together. We prayed together. We embraced. And I thought to myself, “This will be the last time that I will ever see George W. Bush.”

Yet, as I was leaving, he told me, “By the way, I want you to bring your wife and children here so that I can personally tell them what a wonderful husband and father you have been.”

Image: Bush Presidential Library

It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, Independant, None of the Above, or All of the Above – that is NOT how Presidents behave. Sure enough, my bride and my sons were invited to come to the Oval Office. He gave them gifts and hugs all around. He kept his promise. And today, he and I remain dear friends.

Now, it’s very tempting for me to speak about the relationship between politics and the Christian faith. And I can tell you that the U.S. is the greatest country in the world, without peer. As Christians, living in the United States is Thanksgiving Day every day. I could go on and on about the theoretical and philosophical discussions about faith within a political context. But, for me, at the most vulnerable and lowest part of my life, I was extended a grace and a mercy – and a love and a forgiveness – that could have only come from Jesus Christ.

So, the takeaway is singular: Proverbs is right, pride does go before the fall.

I hope that if there is even just one person who hears this who is prideful by nature, I pray that they would immediately make a commitment between them and God to toss pride out on its ear.

But even more importantly, “humility is endless”. And those three words are the most beautiful consequential in the English language. They were written by my favorite poet, T.S. Elliot. Humility, in my view is the seedbed of true greatness. And, in the Christian life, it is the seedbed of our obedience to God, Himself and love and service to other people. It’s very tempting in a world of boundless theories and ideas to conclude by saying that intellect is really preeminent.

But it is not.

I have learned that, in actuality, the real world is run by B and C students. At the end of the day, it is Character and Integrity before Intellect.

Character and Integrity are preeminent. Everything else follows therefrom.

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Tim Goeglein

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