Narrow Vision

In 1925, Jane Beeson had an excellent piano student. So talented was he, she thought he could make a concert pianist. Instead, Richard Nixon turned his attention to other areas.

A little over forty years later, at his 1969 inaugural, Mrs. Beeson sat in the presidential box with President Nixon during a concert. The pianist Andre Watts was performing. Inspired, Mrs. Beeson leaned over and whispered to the triumphant new president, “Now, Richard. If [you] had practiced on the piano, [you] could have been there instead of up here!”

Obviously, Mrs. Beeson had a wonderful sense of humor (or a prophetic insight to the future, depending upon your political point of view!) When Richard Nixon was a boy, Mrs. Beeson thought she had clear insight on how Nixon could best use his gifts. Her vision was too narrow. Nixon would grow up to literally impact the world.

Reading this story, I could not help but think about the vision God has for our future. In the Apostle Paul’s case, unlike Mrs. Beeson, God saw clearly that Paul was going to reach the Gentiles for Christ—and impact the entire world. Paul, on the other hand, had early on seen the logical connection between his gifts and reaching the Jews for Christ. Paul’s vision was too narrow.

Have other people shared with you a vision for your gifts? Do you have a vision for your gifts? What might God’s vision be for your gifts?

The Presidential Candidate Who Cared

Imagine a presidential candidate today taking into his home a patient dying of AIDS during the race for the White House—and caring for him. That would be the equivalent of what Andrew Jackson did in 1828.

A family friend sent an individual dying of Tuberculosis to Jackson’s home in Tennessee—the Hermitage. Although stunned by the gesture, Jackson agreed to take the victim in. “… humanity compelled me to take him in, & tender to the distressed, all that a good Samaritan could do, in a few hours the unfortunate being will be at rest, & I will discharge faithfully the last act that humanity can bestow.”

Many contemporary newspapers were portraying Jackson as temperamental, barbaric, and crude. Although, at the time, he was still struggling to formulate his faith, in this instance, Andrew Jackson demonstrated himself to be a kind man who, sought to carry out his Christian duty. His influence came from Jesus, who taught in Luke 10 about the Good Samaritan.

The Day The Mob Stormed The President's Home

In Isaiah chapter six, there is an incredible passage in which Isaiah is confronted by the Lord Jehovah:

"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted..." Surrounding God were angels calling to each other "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'" Then in verse four, "At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke."

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty."
Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for."

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, 'Here am I. Send me.

Without question, Isaiah viewed God with reverence in the temple that long-ago day. It's funny, but sometimes I think it is easier for us to hold more awe for other human beings than for God.

I understand that many early Americans, when they had the chance to physically look at George Washington, did so with wonder. Washington was a courageous man and a selfless leader. Historians consider him to be one of the truly great men of history, and for good reason. Rarely has history seen a man who had such influence among his contemporaries, yet who was so humble.

A few years ago, GM sponsored a mini-series on the life of George Washington. In that series, they showed an incredible scene based upon an incident recorded in the prize winning biography of Washington written by Thomas Flexner.

There was a period in our nation's history when our government became unstable. We were having problems with France and there were some Americans who didn't like that, so they began the American tradition of blaming the president.

One night, some radical Americans so fiercely disagreed with Washington that they formed a mob, containing roughly a hundred people, and began stalking towards Washington's presidential home. Now Washington's home wasn't like the White House today. There was no fence surrounding the property to keep people out. There wasn't even the secret service. So the riotous mob was able to walk directly to Washington's front door. Suddenly, the screaming herd of people began hurling rocks at the presidential home and demanding that the President remove himself from office.

Inside the home, terror reigned. Servants in panic scurried about the house not knowing what to do. A frightened Martha Washington sought her husband. The government was in danger as it's chief officer faced the threat of being coerced into resignation, kidnapped, or worst of all, murdered.

Inside the house, only one was calm. Sensing the danger of the situation, Washington did the unexpected. Quickly, but with great dignity, Washington opened the drapes directly in front of the mob—and stood before them. The way he looked at the people is almost indescribable on paper. Washington's face expressed so much. There was pity—for the people. There was disappointment—that so many people would do something they knew deep down wasn't right. There was determination—that the fiasco taking place would immediately cease. These messages along with greatness and dignity were all chiseled in Washington's face.

The impact on the people was monumental. Slowly, the people in the back of the mob lowered their heads in shame, released the rocks from their hands, and in silence walked away. Like a wave that engulfed the people from the back to the front, the rest of the riffraff did likewise, until the mob's ringleaders were alone. And they, too, dropped their heads and walked away in shame. The nation was saved. When the rebels came face-to-face with Washington, he exuded such greatness, that the people were filled with awe, and they would never be the same.

Oh, that we will look at God with an even greater sense of reverence and submission. Today, God confronts us with a more glorious countenance than a president could ever muster.

That's what the cross and the tomb are all about. We angrily stalk to the cross with our stones of sin, ready to rebel and live like we want. But it is at the cross that we see God's love and grace. And we are changed. With bowed heads we walk to the tomb—it is empty.

We see the majestic Christ of the book of Revelation—Lord of Lords, King of Kings, a light as brilliant as the sun, possessing a voice which sounds like a deafening roar. And, as Isaiah humbly stood before God, now we stand before the King. We are one step closer to being poor in spirit. May we go to the cross, and to the tomb, daily.

“Useless”

3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope (Rom. 5:3-4).

An eight-year-old boy nicknamed by his dad, ’Lyss, had a mission from his father—go to a prominent man in town and bargain with him for a horse he owned. ’Lyss faithfully complied.

’Lyss was good boy who honored his parents. He was a quiet boy, gentle and sensitive. His personality revealed no emotion. These traits were often misinterpreted to mean the boy was slow.

In one area he stood out—he handled horses exceptionally well. Because ’Lyss was so good with horses, his father had charged him to bring back a horse from a horse owner. Approaching the gentleman, ’Lyss told him, “Papa says I may offer you twenty dollars for the colt, but if you won’t take that, to give you twenty-five.”

Those words sealed the fate of ’Lyss’s childhood. In his day, horse trading was art. To practice it well was important to the people of a town. Now, to citizens pre-disposed to believe that Jesse Grant’s boy, ’Lyss, also known by his full name—Ulysses—was a dullard, no further confirmation was needed.

Boys of the town cruelly tweaked Ulysses name. They began to call him—Useless.

The pain of that event and its aftermath burned his heart. Even as a man, fifty years later, he never forgot the words of the boys. “This transaction caused me great heart-burning. The story got out among the boys of the village, and it was a long time before I heard the last of it. Boys enjoy the misery of their companions, at least village boys in that day did.”

Perhaps experiences like these explain why this individual knew so much failure for almost the first half century of his life. Although, he attended West Point, his military credentials for much of his career were unimpressive. He developed a drinking problem, perhaps due to self-loathing and feelings of inferiority.

Amazingly, during the time of war, some of the powers-that-be identified him as outstanding military leader. Most importantly, his commander-in-chief became his champion. Because of his leadership, we Americans today enjoy living in the United States of America.

After achieving the highest rank ever in the United States Army, shared only with George Washington, he completed two terms as President of the United States and became, literally, the most famous man in the world.

Success did not wipe out occasional failures. Robbed by a trusted business partner, he lost everything he had. Battling throat cancer, he decided to write his memoirs. Completion of his autobiography would assure that he would provide for his widow.

Racing death, he completed his memoirs a few days before he died. Today, they are considered along with Julius Caesar’s, GALLIC WARS, to be the finest works ever written by a military leader.

Maybe, Ulysses S. Grant was not “Useless” after all.

I like what Rick Warren has said. If I may paraphrase, he has stated that our lives here on this earth do NOT represent all that we will experience. We will spend more time on the other side of eternity than we do on this side. God is more interested in our character than our comfort.

I am thankful for all that Ulysses S. Grant experienced that helped prepare him for his successes. I am less thankful for my adversity. Still, by faith, I forbear through life’s difficulties as God produces blessings that I cannot foresee.

A Man of Sorrows

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not (Is. 53:5.)

I take that passage for granted. What does a “man of sorrows” look like when he is not the son of God?

Years ago, I toyed with the idea of writing a book entitled, THEY WERE PEOPLE TOO. My motivation was to address the tragedies, so many of our nation’s chief executives faced.

Abraham Lincoln knew tragedy. Before the White House years (known then as the Executive Mansion), he and his wife, Mary, lost a son. Then, as president in 1862, during the dark days of the Civil War, Willie, age 11, contracted "the fever." Tragically, he died. Lincoln stoically mourned his loss.

Almost two years later, in February 1864, a fire alarm rang out. The Executive Mansion’s stables were on fire. A tall man dashed out of the mansion and vaulted over a hedge calling out, “Have the horses been taken out?” Seeing they had not, he used his strong hands to rip open the stable door. Inside, the stable was an inferno. In spite of the hellish conditions, the man prepared to sprint inside.

At this point, it dawned on bystanders that the man hurrying inside was the president of the United States. Furthermore, the thought occurred to the captain of his bodyguards, the fire might be arson, set to lure the president outdoors for an attempted assignation. Taking control of the situation, a Captain Bennett of the Union Light Guard, along with some of his men, seized the president and hurried him back into the Executive Mansion.

The night was controlled pandemonium as dozens of men sought to contain the fire and minimize its damage. Sadly, the stables burned to the ground. All of the horses inside perished.

Throughout the night, the president maintained a solitary presence in East Room, standing at the window watching the fire systematically destroy the stable. One of the guards noted the president weeping the entire time. Why? And why had he so foolishly risked his life attempting to rush inside?

Another of Lincoln’s boys, Tad, offered an answer. Inside the stable, was Willie’s favorite pony and constant companion. The president willingly risked his life to save Willie’s pony.

When Reliability is Not an Issue

23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving (Col. 3:23-24.)

Nicole Mamo made a mistake. A citizen of the United Kingdom, she attempted to place an ad with Jobcentre Plus, a government employment agency seeking people to fill cleaning positions. Her error was to state in her ad that she was looking for only “reliable” and “hard-working” people to hire.

As WORLD magazine reports, the government agency rejected her advertisement because they considered it discriminatory against people who are unreliable. I hope none of the people she would have “discriminated” against were Christians.

Look at Me, I’m Willie Mays!

I love sports for a myriad of reasons. One of them is this: I think sports has done more to attack racism than any other societal entity, excluding those Christian churches willing to defy the societal and individual sins of prejudice.

I can think of a number of examples including:

Jackie Robinson and Branch Ricky collaborating to break baseball’s color barrier.

USC playing the University of Alabama in football in Birmingham in 1970, when Sam “Bam” Cunningham almost single-handedly destroyed the Crimson Tide. Suddenly, Tide fans were motivated to break the racial barrier.

However, my favorites are those innocent moments when a young child looks to an athlete of a different race as a role model. I speak from experience. When I was a boy, I loved Roberto Clemente. (As an adult, I view him not only with affection, but with respect for his humanitarianism.) I had posters of Julius Erving and Hank Aaron on my bedroom wall.

Sports make the color barrier melt, not because of the decree of Scripture or government, but because of the desire to become like the athlete.

It was in this vein, I read a line that caught my attention. James Hirsch, in his newly completed biography of Willie Mays, tells about a Little League baseball game played in Texas a few years ago. On one team was the grandson of a Ku Klux Klan member. A fly ball came his way and he made the catch. With great joy he shouted, “Look at me! I’m Willie Mays!”

Something powerful happens when the son of a member of the Ku Klux Klan enthusiastically and publically imagines himself—to be a black man.

A Life-Changing Cab Ride

In 2005, a Southern California cab driver named, Haider Sediqi, gave a man ride that would change a life. Here’s what happened.

A jeweler took a ride in Sediqi’s cab. When he left the cab, he forgot something in the back seat—$350,000-worth of diamonds.

Sediqi tracked the jeweler down and returned to him the bounty. Out of gratitude, the the jeweler sent the cabdriver a check for $10,000 check and a diamond bracelet for Sediqi’s wife.

Unquestionably, the cab driver was grateful for the reward, but he was equally touched to receive a thank-you note from the jeweler. In the note, the jeweler wrote that Sediqi’s good deed had changed his life.

I don’t know if Haider Sediqi appreciates the Bible. If so, maybe some of his favorite verses are found in Proverbs:

Proverbs 11:4-6 (The Message)

4 A thick bankroll is no help when life falls apart,
but a principled life can stand up to the worst.

5 Moral character makes for smooth traveling;
an evil life is a hard life.

6 Good character is the best insurance;
crooks get trapped in their sinful lust.

Come On, Tiger, Tell Her You’re Sorry

Last week, one of Tiger Woods’ mistresses, Jaimee Grubbs, told a Los Angeles
TV station she wanted an apology. Tiger Woods made her "feel like I was the only girl." She went on to ask, "Why put me through that if I didn't mean anything?"

Hmm, I wonder if Tiger’s WIFE wondered the same thing.

This reminds of Proverbs 18:1. If I may paraphrase:

An unfriendly woman pursues selfish ends
She defies all sound judgment.

Dances With Rabbits

WORLD magazine ran a story about a man in Sweden, who was wheelchair-bound for life. He had "proved" to the Swedish government that he was so severely disabled, he needed help eating, moving about, and needed someone to turn him over in his bed. Consequently, the government’s Social Insurance Agency paid out over $420,000 of disability during a three-year period.

However, there was a neighbor watching. This neighbor informed local authorities that the disabled man was perpetrating a fraud. The appropriate people searched the man's house and found incontrovertible evidence of a great scam. It was photographs of the "disabled" man merrily dancing the night away with a female friend who was wearing a rabbit costume.

I am amazed at the human capacity for self-deception, and our ability to convince ourselves we can cover up our sin. David suffered the same illusion when he engaged in a sexual relationship with Bathsheba, and then arranged for her loyal husband to be murdered. He too thought he could escape. He could not, and neither can we.

He Knew, But Did Not Do

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I want to share a parable about the perils of neglecting in love. Several years ago, I heard Chuck Swindoll tell a story on the radio about the great writer, Thomas Carlyle.

Carlyle had married his secretary and, unfortunately, treated her like an employee. She became ill with cancer and died shortly thereafter.

After her death, Carlyle came upon his wife’s diary. He began to read it. In one entry she had written, "Today he spent an hour with me." In another she wrote, "I heard his steps and thought he would come in. He did not."

This was more than Carlyle could bear. He fled to the cemetery and, in the rain and mud, he wept over grave and uttered over and over again these words, "If only I knew. If only I knew."

At this point in the story, Charles Swindoll said, "No Carlyle, you knew. You simply did not do."

Typically in love, we have all the information we need. It is just a matter of doing. I think this is one of the things Paul had in mind when he wrote of the servant heart that comes with the love known as agape, “Husbands, love your wives…”

“The Employers Will Love this Generation”

Clark Kerr had recently been installed as the new president of the University of California. From his perch, he observed intensely the new generation of college students. He witnessed their habits, their motives, their values, and much more. All of the data registered one thought on his brain:

The employers will love this generation…. They are going to be easy to handle. There aren’t going to be any riots.

The year of this prophetic utterance was—1959. Little did Kerr realize that the world was about to receive the most chaotic and anarchistic generation of youth in the history of Western Civilization.

I think about what God said (that sounds good—“God said…”). God said:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Is. 55:8-9.)

I’m sure Clark Kerr was a nice man, and he certainly was not guilty of something exclusive to him. We are all tempted to think we have good insight into the future. This leads to the illusion that we have some degree of control over our it. However, there is a God, and we are not Him. Only God can see what is to come. Sometimes, unfortunately, the future spins out of control.

Reaping What We Sow

Here is a parable, possibly true, that I enjoyed. My source was Erik Peterson.

Several years after inventing radar, Sir Robert Watson Watt was arrested in Canada for speeding. He'd been caught in a radar trap.

Later, he wrote this poem:

PITY SIR ROBERT WATSON WATT
STRANGE TARGET OF HIS RADAR PLOT,
AND THIS, WITH OTHERS I COULD MENTION,
A VICTIM OF HIS OWN INVENTION.

Paul said something similar:

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows (Gal. 6:7).

Addie

Paul Harvey tells the story of a twelve year old boy named Addie, who was asked by his older sister to stay for a party that she was giving, to which some of her school friends were coming. Addie stayed, but he found himself bored with the games of the older kids.

Finally, one of the older boys casually mentioned to him that he had learned the manual of arms—an army drill which involves the twirling of a rifle with crisp precision. The only problem was they needed a gun. Then Addie remembered that his dad had a .22 rifle. Quickly, he ran to fetch it. After a demonstration by the "military expert", Addie decided he wanted to give it a try.

What followed remained locked in the mind of Addie until the day he died. The eyewitness accounts varied. Some said that after the older boy showed Addie the manual of arms, Addie tried to duplicate his actions. Others said that he was trying to put the rifle away, while one person swore that Addie "took the gun from the older boy...pointed it at one of the girls... and pulled the trigger."

However it occurred, the gun was loaded and in Addie's hands when it was fired. The resulting gunshot killed a young girl named Ruth Merwin.

In the years that followed, this incident was never mentioned by Addie. He went on to have an outstanding career in public service, serving as governor of his home state, and twice being nominated for the presidency of the United States. And there are those who say that had he run against anybody besides a certified world hero (Dwight Eisenhower), he would have won.

Interestingly enough, there are many historians who feel that he would have been a better president. At any rate, despite his success, Adlai Stevenson astounded his contemporaries by retaining a sense of humility in spite of being in a field known for ego. Many times when he received honors, Stevenson would receive them reluctantly, saying, "I should have preferred to hear those words uttered for a stronger, a wiser, and a better man than myself."

It strikes me as one looks at the career of Adlai Stevenson in light of this tragedy that a major reason he was so humble, and a major reason that he had such an outstanding sense of duty to his fellow man, was that he was responsible for the death of another human being. It may have been an accident, but it was HIS accident.

You almost get the feeling that at some point in his life, he sat down and said to himself, "Okay, I am responsible for Ruth's death. So what do I do? Do I kill myself, or do I just give up and die? No, I can't do that. That wouldn't help anyone. Instead, I am going to devote my life to public service..." Of course that is only speculation, but perhaps it is accurate speculation.

According to Paul, as Jesus' ambassador, as Jesus' representative, I have taken Jesus' place. I am now Jesus' body here on earth (as a member of His church, I am part of the “body of Christ”).

While I live, I am to continue His mission. The world can no longer see Jesus, they can only see me; therefore, I have the duty to live my life like He would have lived it. This may sound like a heavy responsibility, but after all, Jesus is my Lord, and I am His servant.

The Kid Who Did Not Want to Play the Trombone

Farmersville High School in Farmersville, Texas, assigned their band director, Stanley Walker, the task of monitoring a study hall period. He did. One of his students was a young man named Charles Watson. Charles graduated, moved to California, and became known as “Tex.” He joined the infamous “Family” of Charles Manson and is now serving a life sentence for murder.

Shortly after Stanley Walker monitored Charles Watson in study hall, he accepted a job as the Band Director at a high school near Linden, Texas. While there, one of his students told him, “Mr. Walker, I think I am going to quit the band. I don’t like playing the trombone.”

Walker replied, “Well, Don, why don’t you play the drums?”

Don did. Later, playing the drums, Don Henley became a founding member of the Hall of Fame rock group, The Eagles.

Obviously, Stanley Walker and other teachers at Farmersville High School attempted to influence Charles Watson to do something more positive in life than join a cult and commit murder. Unfortunately, sometimes, people like Charles Watson reject the message. Others times, people can be influenced to make a seemingly minor decision that ends up producing a major positive impact—such as the case with Don Henley.

Jesus called for his disciples to be salt and light. We infiltrate our culture, allow God to work through us, and accept the results with a faithful trust in God’s Kingdom work.*

* Thanks, Jamie Whitley, for sharing this story from the life of your family’s long-time friend—Stanley Walker.

When There is Nothing Left to Shock

I got a good laugh when I read several years ago in NEWSWEEK that at a Nudist colony in France, a frustrated fifteen year old girl donned a bikini at the beach. The reason?-"When I'm nude, the boys don't look at me!"

The poor girl reflects a problem that is starting to be addressed in our culture in the U.S.—what does a permissive society do when it runs out of shock value? Our society hasn't quite reached the point of being a nudist colony, although in some cases we are getting close.

Jesus words two thousand years ago ring louder than ever today, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

The Average Shoplifter

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9.)

The people of today are not perfect, but neither were they in the 1950s, in spite of how some might remember. William Manchester, in his masterful, historical work entitled THE GLORY AND THE DREAM, wrote of a 1957 study undertaken in a typical Illinois community. Shoplifting had increased dramatically in the 1950s, despite the dramatic economic upturn of the decade. To understand why, the police department researched their records to discover who the typical shoplifter was.

They expected to discover it would be a person of poverty, perhaps from a bad background. Instead, the standard shoplifter was a housewife, married to an upwardly mobile junior executive making $8000 a year (almost $60,000 in today’s dollars.) She was active in her church and PTA, a member of a bridge club. She had $50 (almost $400 in today’s money) to spend—per week.

The First Postmodern Marriage

Do you remember the first postmodern marriage? It occurred in 2003. Jennifer Hoes, in the Netherlands, married—herself. She served as both bride and groom. (Now that had to be hard!)

At the time, she was quoted in the German magazine DER SPIEGEL as saying, "We live in a 'Me' society. Hence it is logical that one promises to be faithful to oneself."

One thing about it, Jennifer Hoes did not hold anything back when it came to her reception. It cost $22,000. I thought one reporter at the time had a good line “… what if she ceases to like herself—will divorce be an option, and which Hoes will get the car?"

I think Jennifer’s little quote speaks volumes about the world we live in:

“We live in a ‘Me’ society.”

Sunday School for Atheists

I’ve often wandered what atheists do on Sunday mornings. Well, according to a story in TIME magazine I read a couple of years ago, apparently more and more are taking their children to Sunday school.

"When you have kids, you start to notice that your co-workers or friends have church groups to help teach their kids values and to be able to lean on," the magazine quoted Julie Willey as saying. Consequently, she and her husband, both atheists, would weekly take their four children to the Humanist Community Center in Palo Alto, California, for what they called atheist Sunday school.

The Willey’s are not alone in their quest for non-religious training. Other communities of non-faith have sprung up in locations as diverse as Phoenix, Albuquerque, N.M., and Portland, Oregon. Moreover, more and more secular camps are opening up for children of atheists.

Bri Kneisley was one parent, who sent her son to a camp saying, "He's a child of atheist parents, and he's not the only one in the world." She became aware that she needed to teach her son her secular values after the child of one of her neighbors began to show her son the Bible. "[My son] was quite certain this guy was right and was telling him this amazing truth that I had never shared." So Kneisley made the decision to be proactive in sharing her faith.

More and more atheistic parents are coming to grips with a truth that fewer and fewer Christian parents recognize: the importance of parents actively sharing their faith with their children. They are taking pages out of the church’s playbook to assist them in their mission. Maybe that is one reason why their numbers are growing, while Christian numbers (some studies show that 18 out of 20 children of evangelical Christians grow up to leave the faith) are shrinking.

Like a Father

Frank Leahy is a name forgotten by most today. He coached the Notre Dame Football team during the forties and early fifties. He won four national championships with Notre Dame. Throughout the 50s, 60s, and early 70s, he was generally considered the second greatest coach of all time next to the legendary Knute Rockne. Unfortunately, he was not considered by his family to be a great father.

In his authorized and official biography on Leahy, Wells Trombley tells of a sad moment immediately after Leahy's death. Before I share that moment with you, let me brief you on the context.

Although, Leahy was portrayed by the press as being a model father, the reality was he neglected his wife and children. Leahy, who died in the early 70s, battled various diseases before they took his life. Trombley, who accompanied Leahy much of the time during the final months, observed the battle Leahy's wife and children faced mediating grief and bitterness. It is in this context in the aftermath of Leahy’s death, his biographer observed a sad encounter.

A person who had worked under Frank Leahy, whose life had been directly touched by Leahy, approached famous man’s widow and said, "Mrs. Leahy, I'm going to miss the coach so much. We had a very special relationship. He was just like a father to me."

Leahy's widow wearily replied, "That's very nice. I just wish he had been just like a father to some of his children."