Raise your hand and tell me who the seventeenth president of the United States was. I am sure there are plenty of history buffs who would raise their hand and spout it off his name as if they were reading it from a book. Some could give you the dates of his presidency and maybe even tell you what happened to lead him all the way to the oval office. But I am sure that nine-five percent of the people would answer the question by calling out names, “U.S. Grant? Thomas Jefferson? Hank Williams?”
We have laugh at the Hank Williams reference not only because he is a country singer from the 1900’s but also because I am not sure how many people would know that he really wasn’t a president. Obviously, such people aren’t familiar with “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “I saw the Light.”
But while we may stumble at the question regarding the seventeenth president, we likely would not do flaunter when asked about the sixteenth. Most of you would holler out exclaim immediately, “Oh, that was Abraham Lincoln” – and you would be right. But it is hard to remember who had the unenviable task of following the man most people would regard as our greatest president ever.
That man was Andrew Johnson, a Southern democrat that Lincoln chose to run with him in his reelection campaign in 1864. History turns out to be ambivalent to Lincoln’s successor: He was a president with strong views that endeared him to some, while those views – and his brashness – eventually led him to impeachment. The good news is that in the vote for the removal of office that he won out by one vote. What he lacked that the sixteenth president had was a certain Lincoln grace that is difficult to duplicate.
Some men have big shoes to fill, and – as far as American history goes – none had bigger than Andrew Johnson. But the narratives of Bible history also unveil for us a good many Andrew Johnson’s.
Elisha has to take the mantle from Elijah, Timothy fills the pulpit after Paul, Isaac steps into the shoes of his father Abraham, and Jacob has to stand in the place of Isaac. And, perhaps the biggest of all, Joshua has to become the point man in the place of Moses.
It is difficult to have to fill such big shoes. The truth is, there’s not a man alive who could completely fill the shoes of Moses, Elijah, or Paul.
But when someone walks through your door one day holding a big pair of shoes, don’t sell yourself short: The world needs the Andrew Johnsons of the world, too.
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