God's Man for Man's Time       

   We hope you followed the coverage of late President George H.W. Bush this week. We were moved by the music, scenes and heart-felt words Monday at the Capitol and again yesterday at the national cathedral. Excuse me while I wipe a few tears. 

   Singers, musicians and the military reminded us something is still right in the USA. This week they honored an honorable president. Inaugurations are special; memorial services touch heaven. 

   Nobody's perfect, but President Bush 41 deserved his long list of accolades. Our favorite description is his humility. This man knew the office was greater than himself, and his God is still greater.

   Of several things he accomplished (with a Democratic Congress during his term, 1989-1993), many of us remember how he rallied to force Iraq out of Kuwait. After 100 days of war, Hussein's famed army was in full retreat. The president could have changed the regime, but he chose to stop the killing. Oil fields were safe again.

   Later that year, finishing President Reagan's work, Bush quietly managed the end of the Cold War. Soviet hardliners could have gone "scorched earth" like Hitler, only with nukes. He also convinced Western Europeans to allow Germany - bitter enemy twice over - to reunite. 

   That June, in 1991, I took an office job at a Department of Energy nuclear site in South Carolina. They were restarting a nuclear reactor to resume production of weapons-grade uranium. 

   In September, they shut it down. There was no speech in Washington, no rally, no parade, no bragging, no fireworks, no surrender ceremony, no end-of-war date for history books. 

   Credit President Bush. I believe God provided the right man for the times. A year later, "the times" ended. Credit 19 percent of voters swayed by rogue candidate Ross Perot. How quickly some chase the next shiny object. 

   Bush was the last president from our "greatest generation." A terrible depression followed by terrible world war produced strong people who valued freedom, the flag and human initiative. 

   Tomorrow: reflections   

      Jimmy