The Kennedy Assassination: 45 Years Later

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. It's hard to believe that it has been forty-five years since that fateful Friday afternoon. For four days, the three major television networks broadcast very little programming that did not directly relate to the assassination and its aftermath. Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's accused assassin, was himself murdered in the Dallas City Jail on Sunday morning by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner. Although there has been a great deal of controversy over the years as to whether Oswald acted alone, we may never precisely know the chain of events that led to JFK's tragic murder in Dallas. Many Americans rejected the findings of the Warren Commission, which essentially concluded that Oswald was solely responsible for the assassination. I will leave that discussion for another time.

At the time, I was fourteen years old and a ninth grader in Plymouth, Michigan. I will never forget when our school principal, Mr. Carl Taylor, came down to our gym class about 1:00 P.M. to inform us that Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas. It was almost surrealistic, and frankly, it took some time for the impact to sink in. I rode home with my dad, who happened to teach in the junior high where I was a student, and we began watching what turned out to be a four-day marathon of the coverage of the assassination, the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson as Kennedy's replacement, and the funeral on the Monday after the assassination.

The course of United States history changed on that day in Dallas. The Vietnam War would become a major political issue in the politics of the 1960s, as many Americans took to the streets to oppose the war. The culture of America, particularly as it related to music and public morality, was also dramatically changed. During the spring of 1968, as the presidential campaign heated up, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were also assassinated. It seemed as if America could not escape its national nightmare.

Eventually, America moved on, but not without further tragedies and scandals. We can be grateful that a sovereign God is still in control, and he holds the hearts of kings in His hand. We can rely on Him, even when things seem to be falling apart all around us.

Election 2008

Now that a few days have elapsed since November 4, I would like to weigh in with a few brief thoughts concerning this year's presidential election:

(1) American voters made a conscious decision to elect Barack Obama with a margin of several million votes, and I respect their right to make that decision. I do not agree with Obama on a number of issues, but he will be the president of all Americans as of January 20, 2009. Indeed, as Christians, God has given us the privilege and obligation to pray for our new president. Nancy and I intend to do just that.

(2) John McCain, the candidate for whom I voted, ran a campaign against fairly overwhelming odds. President Bush's unpopularity, the War in Iraq, and the tanking of the economy in recent weeks all worked against McCain's election. Also, McCain was not as conservative as I would have liked, but he was the best choice that I had on Election Day. No matter who the Republican candidate might have been, it was an uphill proposition this year.

(3) Although President George W. Bush has had many detractors during his eight years in office, I have been saddened by the fact that so many of those who have opposed him have engaged in vicious and unwarranted ad hominem attacks on his personal character. It is possible to disagree with his policies without having to resort to character assassination. George W. Bush is a decent and honorable man. He will be able to go back to Crawford, Texas, knowing that he did his best. He made mistakes as president, but he was not the evil caricature that some on the Left would have us believe.

(4) I trust that during the next four years conservatives will be very careful in their criticism of President Obama. He will support causes that I disagree with; he will oppose causes that I support. My political obligation is to call attention to those issues, but my moral obligation is to support him as the president of ALL the American people. Remember that there will be another election, and President Obama will be held to account by the American people. As a nation, we can disagree with our president and still support him as our president.

These are my preliminary thoughts on the recent election. As they say in Congress, "I reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks."

No Resources . . . No Returns . . . No Regrets

As many of you are aware, Pillsbury Baptist Bible College will be closing its doors on December 31 of this year. Dr. Greg Huffman, who was inaugurated as our new president in September, has been preaching some inspirational and timely messages in chapel. Earlier this week, Dr. Huffman shared with us the story of William Borden. His father founded the Borden Dairy Company, but William was called to be a missionary to Muslims in China. While enroute to China, William Borden died of spinal meningitis at the age of twenty-five. In the flyleaf of his Bible, he had recorded three brief slogans: "No resources . . . no returns . . . no regrets." He had voluntarily given away his fortune, he had decided that he would not return to the United States, and on the day he died, he professed that he had no regrets concerning the Lord's call to become a missionary in China.

Of course, the Pillsbury administration, faculty, staff, and student body are greatly saddened by the closing of Pillsbury. In a sense, the college has run out of financial "resources" to continue operating. We are also unable to "return" second semester to Pillsbury. But most importantly, we have "no regrets" about having been part of a ministry that has been training Christian leaders for over fifty years. Representatives of several sister schools have visited the campus to assist our students in the process of transferring to other schools for the spring semester. Most of our seniors will be able to graduate in the spring from other schools, but they will be able to have a Pillsbury diploma if they so desire.

On a personal note, Nancy and I have been a part of Pillsbury for twenty-five years. We have appreciated the college, our local church, and the Owatonna community. We don't know what the Lord has planned for us, but we are willing to wait on Him to show us the way. As I often tell my students, "Wherever you go, there you are." The problem is that we don't know where "there" is yet, but we will wait patiently for God's direction. Please pray for our students and colleagues as we seek God's will for our lives.

When Nancy and I were married in 1970, we took as our life verse Isaiah 40:31. It seems appropriate for this occasion: "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." May God allow all of us to be "eagles."