Wednesday, January 03, 2007

America the Amazing.... Gerald R. Ford is laid to rest after a 6 day state funeral.



After watching the final moments of the state funeral for President Gerald R. Ford I was reminded, once again, just how amazing our wonderful nation is.

God has truly blessed America and we so easily forget it. How beautiful it was to watch President Ford be honored with a beautiful flag draped across his casket while folks passed through the capital rotunda to pay their respects.


How astonishing it was to watch his casket be carried to his burial site on his museum grounds by the soldiers who so carefully honored him by following their duties eloquently.






Amazing to see the 21 gun salute and the 21 jet planes fly overhead to honor President Ford. More amazing, the parallels to our precious Heavenly Father's number of perfection 7. When we use that number of perfection and multiply it by the Triune number of our Godhead (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit... 3) we get 21. Is it coincidental? I think not.


It's all in God's plan to bless America for honoring and standing up for Israel. Thank God we have a Godly, Christian president President George W. Bush, who is continuing to follow God's lead in leading our country. As sad as it is that we have soldiers dying and that we are still at war, America is doing the right thing. God's holy word proves it and I fear what will happen to our nation when the next Presidential election is held. Lord help us!


I leave you with a biography of Gerald R. Ford from The White House website.




Gerald R. Ford
When Gerald R. Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974, he declared, "I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances.... This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts."
It was indeed an unprecedented time. He had been the first Vice President chosen under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment and, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, was succeeding the first President ever to resign.
Ford was confronted with almost insuperable tasks. There were the challenges of mastering inflation, reviving a depressed economy, solving chronic energy shortages, and trying to ensure world peace.
The President acted to curb the trend toward Government intervention and spending as a means of solving the problems of American society and the economy. In the long run, he believed, this shift would bring a better life for all Americans.
Ford's reputation for integrity and openness had made him popular during his 25 years in Congress. From 1965 to 1973, he was House Minority Leader. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1913, he grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He starred on the University of Michigan football team, then went to Yale, where he served as assistant coach while earning his law degree. During World War II he attained the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy. After the war he returned to Grand Rapids, where he began the practice of law, and entered Republican politics. A few weeks before his election to Congress in 1948, he married Elizabeth Bloomer. They have four children: Michael, John, Steven, and Susan.
As President, Ford tried to calm earlier controversies by granting former President Nixon a full pardon. His nominee for Vice President, former Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, was the second person to fill that office by appointment. Gradually, Ford selected a cabinet of his own.
Ford established his policies during his first year in office, despite opposition from a heavily Democratic Congress. His first goal was to curb inflation. Then, when recession became the Nation's most serious domestic problem, he shifted to measures aimed at stimulating the economy. But, still fearing inflation, Ford vetoed a number of non-military appropriations bills that would have further increased the already heavy budgetary deficit. During his first 14 months as President he vetoed 39 measures. His vetoes were usually sustained.
Ford continued as he had in his Congressional days to view himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a dyed-in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs." A major goal was to help business operate more freely by reducing taxes upon it and easing the controls exercised by regulatory agencies. "We...declared our independence 200 years ago, and we are not about to lose it now to paper shufflers and computers," he said.
In foreign affairs Ford acted vigorously to maintain U. S. power and prestige after the collapse of Cambodia and South Viet Nam. Preventing a new war in the Middle East remained a major objective; by providing aid to both Israel and Egypt, the Ford Administration helped persuade the two countries to accept an interim truce agreement. Detente with the Soviet Union continued. President Ford and Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev set new limitations upon nuclear weapons.
President Ford won the Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1976, but lost the election to his Democratic opponent, former Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia.
On Inauguration Day, President Carter began his speech: "For myself and for our Nation, I want to thank my predecessor for all he has done to heal our land." A grateful people concurred.
For more information about President Ford, please visit the
Gerald R. Ford Library and Museum



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