On Sunday, Aug. 6, 2006, my wife and I were blessed to participate in Sunday school and worship with Jimmy Carter at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. Following the service that day, as he almost always did, Jimmy Carter allowed people to have their pictures taken with him. As we stood beside him, we could feel the glorious presence and light of Jesus Christ.

Though that was over eighteen years ago, I can still feel the warmth of Christ whenever I reflect upon that moment. In life, we all need to have heroes to follow. But we need to choose those heroes wisely so that our heroes are helping us follow the right path. As followers of Jesus Christ, we want to follow in “the way, the truth,” and the light of Jesus (John 14:6 GNT).

There are evil spirits and weak heroes all around us. We must ask Jesus to help us choose wisely to follow those who lead us into the light of Christ.

Jimmy Carter was, for me, one of those human beings who helped me keep my eyes fixed on Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told us that, as His followers, we were to “let your light so shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Jimmy Carter has done that with his life. Looking upon his light that showed through his every smile, I was drawn closer to our Creator and to the footsteps of Jesus that I should follow.

Ephesians 2:10 says to us “God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.” Jimmy Carter showed us how, as a follower of Jesus, to be the servant leader Jesus calls us to be.

The work of Jimmy Carter, from his outreach in his town of Plains to his international ministry outreach through The Carter Center, speaks to and reflects the light of Christ. May we do the same as we follow in the footsteps of Christ doing the “life of good deeds, which [Jesus] has already prepared for us to do.”

Jimmy Carter once asked a missionary with whom Carter was working how he kept his life and heart focused for the ministry of Christ that he was doing. The man told him that every day he asked God to help him keep two things foremost in his daily walk: first, love in his heart for God. And secondly, love in his heart for the person in front of him.

“Day by day, O dear Lord, three things I pray: To see thee more clearly, Love thee more dearly, Follow thee more nearly, Day by day” (St. Richard of Chichester, adapted for “Godspell” by Schwartz and Tebelak).

May it be so for us. Thank you to my hero and my brother in Christ, Jimmy Carter. Thank you to so many other followers of Jesus who have been a light for me in my journey.

“Jesus, help me to follow in the way that you would have me go. Amen.”

Pastor Bob Wallace, retired UMC pastor