Sermon Illustration

President Truman Delighted by Workman Thinking About Him

Robert Morgan provides this thought provoking illustration in Moments of Reflection: Reclaiming the Lost Art of Biblical Meditation:

When Harry Truman became president, he worried about losing touch with common, everyday Americans, so he would often go out and be among them. Those were in simpler days, when the president could take a walk like everyone else.

One evening, Truman decided to take a walk down to the Memorial Bridge on the Potomac River. When he grew curious about the mechanism that raised and lowered the bridge, he made his way across the catwalks and came upon the bridge tender, who was eating his evening supper out of a tin bucket. The man showed absolutely no surprise when he looked up and saw the best-known and most powerful man in the world. He just swallowed his food, wiped his mouth, smiled, and said, "You know, Mr. President, I was just thinking of you." According to Truman's biographer, David McCullough, it was a greeting that Truman adored and never forgot.

The Lord adores it when he finds us just thinking about him.

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