By Charlie Gray

I was a student at East Carolina studying political science when Jimmy Carter was President. The studies in my major included a concentration in southern politics so I was entrenched in following Carter’s presidency. In the context of worldly measures, history has not treated his four years very kindly. Our country was in a recession and energy crisis. The peanut farmer from Georgia was never fully accepted by the Washington power brokers, even those in his own party. With that said, I believe most people join me in celebrating his decency and contribution to world peace during those years.

My appreciation for President Carter was heightened when Joseph and I traveled to Plains and attended his Sunday School class. Carter returned to Plains after leaving Washington for Maranatha Baptist Church. The crowd there averaged around thirty worshipers on Sunday except when Carter was scheduled to hold his class. Then the sanctuary built to seat 300 was crowded with 450. Joseph and I were privileged to be among that crowd. It was a great experience. Years later Joseph was proud to be involved in the production of the CNN documentary “Jimmy Carter: Rock ‘n’ Roll President”.

Carter is best known for his leadership in the Middle East Peace Accords held at Camp David. For his efforts, he was deservedly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Can’t help but to recount the words of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5:19. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”

On our way out of the service that Sunday, I handed President Carter’s assistant a copy of one of my devotional books. I really had no idea that it would ever reach his hands. Several weeks afterwards I received a note from the President thanking me for the book and invited me to “look him up the next time I was in Plains”. They will bury his worldly body this week beside his wife of 77 years on a hill at the family home place, but his heavenly soul is already at rest.