Ike Throws His Club!

            Anger can get you. Just ask President Dwight Eisenhower.

            Normally, Ike kept his emotions in check. Once, though, he was playing golf with his personal physician, Dr. Howard Snyder. Ike was having a bad back nine when he grew furious about a shot he hit with his sand wedge on hole number 17. Dr. Snyder did not think the shot was so bad and told him, “Fine shot.”

            Eisenhower exploded and threw his sand wedge at the doctor. The shaft of the club wrapped itself around the Dr. Snyder’s shin; meanwhile, the club head barely missed. Had it struck him, it would have broken his leg.

            Watch out for anger!

Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly (Prov. 14:29 ESV.)

Source: IKE’S BLUFF by Evan Thomas

Demerits!

Mother’s Day has caused me to reflect upon the high cost of raising boys.  Recently, I saw a PBS special on Dwight Eisenhower. He entered West Point at 21 to play football and get a free education. He had no military career in mind.

Then, he hurt his knee and his football career was over. Devastated, he became despondent.  He recovered enough to graduate, but that was about all he did. He showed no academic promise. He was among those, who had received the most demerits. Here was a 25-year-old man at the U. S. Military Academy—and he has disciplinary problems.

Then, maturity began to kick in. He married. His wife bore him a son. Heading into his thirties, he began to treat his military service seriously. It became a career to him.

Slowly, he rose through the ranks. Upper level officers began seeing his gifts for organization. He entered Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and graduated first in his class. By his mid-fifties, he had completed leading the greatest collection of armed forces in the history of the world.

Still, I think about his mother. What did she think when she got reports that her 25-year-old single (unusual for that era) son was having disciplinary issues at West Point? I suppose she had to summon what most mothers have in the history of the world—patience. But they usually do.

Do mothers self-generate this discipline? I think not. I believe their creator instilled it within them. The Creator is the patient one (see II Pet. 3:15 for an example).

Who do we see more patient than a mother? No one—except for God.