Bigger than Washington

I had the honor of attending an evening at Oklahoma Weslyan in Bartlesville last night.  The dinner included an evening with Gov. Frank Keating titled, "Crisis Leadership."  Powerful topic, even more powerful was the prelude by Dr. Everett Piper where he clearly and poetically declared the mission of the University - a quest for absolute truth and the integrity to live out the findings.
So, as I am sitting there intrigued by the paths that led the woman and men around me to their careers, I realize that we've all had to address "crisis leadership."  Crisis, bad times, they come to all of us.  What a gift.  Sure, you are thinking - what????  But seriously, think about it.  The gift is the equal playing field and the reminder of the Coach.  Humans, no matter what title, all have a time of crisis.  Most of us have a time in our life that we have a visual so tattooed in our noggin that we can resurrect it at will and become watery-eyed over it.  Moments that are bigger than us.  Moments that are bigger than words.  Moments that we can only cry.
Last night, Mr. Keating had a moment like that.  Despite the honorable introduction, the long list of accomplishments, the name dropping, the rhetoric of political agenda - despite it all - even he had to stop mid-sentence as he was recalling seeing a soldier's dress blues and shiny shoe under the rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing.  That moment - was even now, over a decade later, bigger than him.  As his eyes teared and his chin quivered, I thought, "praise God."  I praise Him because He has created an emotion to remind us all that He is bigger than us and that even the brightest and best of humankind still hold no candle to the steadiness through a crisis that He keeps lit.
We are told that there are no tears in Heaven.  I believe that.  He does not need them because He is huge.  It all makes sense to Him.  But thank goodness we have tears here.  They are our reminder that even the most polished man still has moments that are bigger than him.
God Bless America.