Paul Senator Rand - Our presidents & their prayers : proclamations of faith by Americas leaders

A s I contemplate the quest to be one of our nations leaders, I try to remember the stabilizing forces that keep me grounded in who I am and where I come from.

As I travel the nation, spreading a message of freedom and commerce, the long hours spent in airports and on planes and trains are sometimes a draining experience.

While our government definitely needs better leadership, our country also desperately needs something beyond the secular. Our country needs spiritual leadership and direction, because no amount of government will ever create a home or mend a broken family.

Some people have to go to church to see God. To me, it seems easier to see Him outside.

I look at the trees and the stars and I see His handiwork. The fireflies flicker and entice. They direct your gaze, encapsulate something fleeting, a feeling that accentuates something in nature more beautiful than anything man could ever create.

All around me, I see the mystery of Gods creation.

But just as natural as it is to see Gods hand in nature, I also find it natural and inevitable that man will doubt and question and search for truth.

Politics sometimes creates such blinders that the search gets ignored. Politics, at times, becomes so full of dead-enders with minds so closed that facts become irrelevant. They lose track of the search, if they ever cared to search. Easy answers, glib phrases and little left for the problem solver.

Is it any wonder that only ten percent of the people approve of Congress? The joke iswho are the ten percent who approve of Congress and why?

When I think of Congress, I think of Walker Percys description of the search: The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life. The everydayness of life in Washington is that politicians are so caught up in the game of winning, of partisan plots and ploys, that no one seems to have time for the search. No one seems to have time for problem solving.

As a physician, I was trained to diagnose the problem and attempt a cure. In eye surgery we search for the visual obstruction and we try to remove it. In medicine, no one bickers for personal gain. There often isnt time for pointless delay. Physicians work together regardless of our political affiliation, regardless of our religious beliefs and mostly regardless of our personal differences.

Unfortunately, every good attribute of my medical colleagues is in serious deficit in Washington. In Washington, the atmosphere is so dysfunctional that even when we agree on an issue, we rarely can execute a solution. If legislation were a patient, we would still be fighting long after rigor mortis set in.

I think we face daunting challenges as a country and as a people. When I read the prayers of the Presidents it encourages me and gives me hope that our traditions, our belief in a Supreme Being, and our belief in the saving Grace of our Savior will help guide us toward a better future.

I want to be a part of discovering how we fix America, how we fix a broken spirit, and how we make America whole again.

The painter Robert Henri wrote: Dont paint the material. Push on to paint the spirit. Reagan said dont paint in pastels, paint in bold colors.

Several years ago, Kelley and I traveled to Israel with pastors, evangelical ministers, orthodox rabbis and just friends. There were about 50 people on this big bus and it reminded me of the church camp buses of my youth. I kept waiting for it to break down. It didnt, but we were almost washed away. It rained so hard we nicknamed the trip the Flood Tour and wondered what was next, plague or locust? About halfway from Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee the road was literally washed out. We had to turn around and go back all the way to Tel Aviv. By the time we neared the Sea of Galilee we were all a little punchy. I knew we needed the mood to change. I told them to play some music. We drove down into the valley of the Sea of Galilee, lush and green from the rain, with Guns and Roses Knocking on Heavens Door blaring from the speakers. It was perfect.

We all boarded a boat, some sort of old, wooden replica. It looked like something from the time of Jesus. Kelley and I both exchanged a worried lookwondering if wed make it across. As if on cue, the winds began to blow and the sky darkened. What started out as a wet wind turned into a driving rainstorm. The boat began to rock sideways. It reminded me of New Testament storms that popped up from nowhere: A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swampedMark 4:37. Thankfully, we made it to the other shore. When we looked back, we could still see the rain falling halfway out into the sea, but there in front of the storm were two complete rainbows stretching over the Sea of Galilee. Our trip was filled with little miracles.

During that trip to Israel we traveled from biblical site to site and at each a pastor would give us a little homily or explanation of the significance of where we were. There is a terrific book called Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses by Bruce Feiler and it reminded me of that. On the edge of the Dead Sea, surrounded by a forbiddingly harsh and rocky desert, is the lush oasis Ein Gedi. Its where David and his men hid out from King Saul, its many rocky caves providing him a natural refuge. As we gathered there one of the pastors in our group gave a powerful prayer ending with Psalm 18:

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Standing in that holy place, hearing that scripture read, I could feel the land beneath my feet and the inspiration for Davids famous psalm, one that has sustained many leaders throughout our history as they seek discernment, wisdom and strength.

My fondest memory of the trip to Israel was standing in front of the Garden of Gethsemane. Like many others, I was introduced to my faith at a time when other things were much more important to me. But, as I grew into a man, and became a physician, that shaky foundation began to steady. As I stood in front of that garden of tears, the place where Jesus prayed and was betrayed the night before his crucifixion, I realized that I had walked my path to faith. I am a grateful loving husband and father. My God has given me the strength to be so. Though I need little else from Him, He continues to give me so much moreas He did that day at Gethsemane. I held Kelleys hand, and along with others we sang: How Great Thou Art. Like the language of the communion rite of my youth, I didnt have to reach for the words.

Singing that hymn in the Garden of Gethsemane was powerful and it moved me deeply.

It is indeed a good day, any day, when we can listen and hear a song that sings so sweetly it stirs the soul. My hope for our great nation is that we listen and hear that song and that it guides us toward a better place.

For me, Christianity is not about being perfect. Its about being hopeful. God pitched His tent among us through Jesus who, from his humble birth to his brutal crucifixion, felt and understood human pain, fear and suffering.

Our spirits, bodies and minds may be broken but we know Christs healing grace flows toward our weakness.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10; 14