Former President Jimmy Carter talks frankly about his faith walk in "Though the Year with Jimmy Carter," his 26th book.
Carter, who continues to work around the globe for human rights, includes anecdotes from his childhood, his Plains, Ga., church and from his term as the 39th president of the United States to outline how his faith has guided him while urging others to be Christ-like in their lives.
"We can't all go to Peru or to the Philippines to build homes with Habitat for Humanity," he writes. "But we can ascertain who among our acquaintances seems lonely or suffering. We can minister to them in a spirit of Christian love."
Carter has long been outspoken about his commitment to Christ. But he confesses that he once had "serious setback" in his faith in 1966, when he lost the Democratic nomination for governor of Georgia.
" I felt I had been deprived by God to serve in Georgia," he wrote. "My sister, Ruth Carter Stapleton, was a famous evangelist. She came down to my hometown of Plains and tried to minister to me. She told me how I should see my setback as a challenge that that God had other things for me. She said I should give up and be patient. It restored my faith and was one of the turning points in my life."
On Wednesday, Carter will sign copies of his book from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Emory University Bookstore (1390 Oxford Road).
Below are excerpts from a recent interview catching up with the former president.
Q: You write that a common thread among these devotionals is that God calls on us to live our faith. How we define that and how we do that may vary. What does living your faith mean to you and how do you do it?
A: Well, I think everybody in their life adopts a certain number of principles or basic moral values they try to observe. For Christians, those are very high standards. The standards are much higher because we try to emulate the perfect life of Jesus Christ and we commit ourselves to follow the Prince of Peace. ... One of the basic principles is justice and equality of treatment for everybody in our society. ... It's up to us individually to decide how well we follow those examples.
Q: How important is it to have to set aside time to connect with the Lord every day? How do you make time for those “daily walks?”
A: In addition to going to church at Maranatha Baptist Church (in Plains), we (he and wife Rosalynn) also go to Sunday school. We're leaders in the church and have to set an example. Every night we read the Bible aloud to each other. She reads one night and I read one night. We read in Spanish. We have meditation and have conversations on how how the different verses seem applicable in our lives now and when we read that verse last year or so ago.
Q: Which religious leaders do you most admire?
A: In the Christian faith, the Rev. Billy Graham has been my most revered Christian associate. His ministry has never been tainted by any sort of scandal or accusation. ... He's a personal friend of mine and I visited him in North Carolina recently. He's been one of the best guiding lights for me as a fellow Baptist and as a fellow Christian. I also know the Dalai Lama quite well. He's a very devoted person with a sense of humor. He and I are fellow Nobel Laureates. We get together on occasion. He's been to my home and visited with me and I've visited with him. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi also exemplified moral principles in life. Anwar Sadat was a very devoted Muslim and another hero of mine.
