Echurch,

This came from my son in NJ.

Phil.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Trent Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>; "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>;
"'Sandy Scovell'" <[log in to unmask]>; "'Everett and Donna Scovell'"
<[log in to unmask]>; "Steve & Ruth" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 5:34 PM
Subject: FW: A Story You Haven't Heard


> I usually don't forward things like this on to other people, but I
> thought it was interesting and worth knowing. I'm also always very
> skeptical of these types of emails, so I researched this particular one
> on a web site called "truth or fiction" (www.truthorfiction.com).
> Anyway, the story is true and encouraging about the man who the Lord has
> made our President.
>
> Trent
>
> ************************
> At the Foot of the Cross -- A Story You Haven't Heard
> BreakPoint with Charles Colson -- January 6, 2004
>
> Angel Tree, our Prison Fellowship program for
> prisoners' children, is one of the great unheralded
> volunteer
> outreaches in
> America.
>
> Over the Christmas holidays, approximately 100,000
> volunteers delivered
> Angel Tree gifts to more than 525,000 children of
> inmates.
> You didn't read about this in the newspapers, nor
> would I expect that you should. It's not really that
> newsworthy that
> Christians help people in need.
>
> But there are two of our volunteers, who delivered
> forty presents, that I think you should have read
> about but didn't. For
> reasons best known to themselves, the media ignored
> the fact that two
> of the
> volunteers were President and Mrs. George Bush. And
> they delivered
> gifts to forty inner-city kids in a church basement
> three days before
> Christmas.
> President and Mrs. Bush arrived at three-o'clock,
> Monday, December 22, at the Shiloh Baptist Church in
> Alexandria,
> Virginia.
> Now, presidents don't move anywhere without a great
> deal of fuss. The
> police
> were out, the roads blocked, and Secret Service were
> roaming around the
> church. And when the president arrived, he was
> accompanied not only by
> his
> own team, but also by a pool of reporters, forty or so
> members of the
> press.
> For ten minutes they popped their flashbulbs,
> scribbled their notes,
> and
> then were ushered out.
>
> I remember from my days with President Nixon what
> photo opportunities are: Get the picture and leave.
>
> So I thought the Bushes would shortly depart, but they
> didn't.
> They stayed long after the cameras were
> gone to greet every child, to have their picture taken
> with them, their
> mothers, and their grandmothers, to talk with them,
> and to ask
> questions.
>
> Though the press didn't report it, I noticed that both
> the president
> and Mrs. Bush talked to the Hispanic children in
> Spanish.
> Just before the president left, I introduced him to Al
> Lawrence, a member of our staff. I told the president
> that I had met Al
> more
> than twenty years ago in a prison. Jesus had got hold
> of Al's life, and
> he's
> been working for us ever since. Then I told the
> president that Al's son
> was now a freshman at Yale. At that point the
> president stopped,
> exclaimed,
> "We're both Yale parents," and threw his arms around
> Al Lawrence-an
> African-American ex-offender being embraced by the
> president of the
> United States in a church basement. The ground is
> indeed level at the
> foot
> of
> the cross.
>
> I tell you this story because it's a wonderful
> Christmas story, and you probably haven't heard it.
> With all those
> reporters
> who crowded into that basement, the visit resulted in
> almost universal
> media
> silence. I suppose there are many explanations for
> this, but
> I'll offer mine.
>
> The president is a Christian who really cares for "the
> least of these," who does this not for photo ops, but
> because he's
> genuine.
> That
> is something that his detractors in the media simply
> can't handle.
> Conservatives caring for the poor? Never. It dashes
> the stereotypes.
>
> But surely Christians ought to be rejoicing that the
> most powerful man
> in the world and his wife, a couple of days before
> Christmas, had a wonderful visit with the most
> powerless people in our
> society.
> After all, that echoes the Christmas message, doesn't
> it? The most powerful came to be with the least
> powerful to give us
> hope.
>
> =====
> Jesus is a friend who walks in
> when the world has walked out.
> "These things I have spoken to you,
> that in me you might have peace.
> In the world you have tribulation,
> but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.
>              John 16:33
>
> __________________________________
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