Genesis 7-9; Proverbs 1:8-19

Wednesday's Bible Reading: Genesis 7-9; Proverbs 1:8-19

Jay and I went this morning to pay our respects to President Ford. We got to DeVos Center just as church bells chimed 6:30. The line was much shorter than last night. The wait when we went to bed was estimated to be eight hours. This morning the wait in line was only about an hour. We went through DeVos Center, signed the guest book, and then took our place in line on the pedestrian bridge and slowly passed all the media outlets covering the events of the memorial services. We arrived at the museum shortly after 7 a.m., viewed the flag-draped casket with its impressive military guard, and then headed back out. We stopped at the entrance to the parking lot to view the memorials people had left. We then walked across the Pearl Street Bridge, which is lined with media trucks from every major news outlet. We walked through the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel and stopped at Starbucks for an eggnog latte. As we left Starbucks, church bells were chiming 7:30. So it took us less than an hour to make the loop. It was a lovely morning to be in the city. The full moon was perched just above the museum as we waited on the bridge crossing the river. I'm glad we went. It was quite moving to see all the news coverage and all the tributes. It's been good to remember God's graciousness in sending along a good person to lead our nation at a bad time in our history.

Gerald Ford: Prayer and a Quiet Faith, 30 August 1974, Christianity Today

Gerald R. Ford: Lessons from the Presidency, commencement address to his son and 180 other Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary graduates, 28 May 28 1977. (Published in Christianity Today, 29 July 1977.)

Excerpt from More to be Desired than Gold by J. Christy Wilson:

Goodness And Mercy

When I came to Gordon-Conwell in the fall of 1974, Michael Ford was a student here while his father was President in the White House. Because of this, he had to have two Secret Service men with him at all times. They tried to look like students, but you could easily spot them. For one thing, most of them were chain smokers. Since no one was allowed to smoke in classes, you would see them take turns rushing outside and lighting up quickly to keep from getting a nicotine fit.

Mike and his wife Gayle lived on the top floor of a house in Ipswich while the Secret Service rented the floor below. Since the Secret Service men were with Mike so much, he had wonderful opportunities to witness to them about the Lord Jesus Christ, even as Paul did to the Roman soldiers who were constantly with him.

Whenever Mike and Gayle would take a walk in the woods, the two men would always be seen stumbling along behind them.

This led some at Gordon-Conwell to remark that the secret service men reminded them of Psalm 23: "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life...."

So they nicknamed the two men "Goodness" and "Mercy"!

—The Network for Strategic Missions