What kind of man is George Bush?

I received this in email today from a friend.

You won't hear about this on the evening news . . ..

Last week, on Tuesday, our school had a field trip to see President Bush speak at the Farm Progress Show in Alleman, Iowa. It was even educational ( ! ) to learn about all the security we had to go through at the outdoor event.

It was a typical campaign stop for the President. He spoke for 45 minutes, much of his speech was about agriculture because there were many farmers there, along with thousands of other people.

A few days later we learned something very interesting about George W. Bush's visit to Iowa.

Carson's former teacher had some friends there at the speech, whose son had been killed In Iraq as a Marine last April. The couple's son was named Ben.

Ben's parents had blue tickets, which meant they would be standing outside on the ground with the rest of the crowd to hear the speech. At some point, their tickets were upgraded, and they were given tickets where they could be seated on the stage with the president. About 45 minutes before President Bush came on stage, 2 secret service men asked them to leave the stage, and come inside a white trailer, behind the stage. The parents were told to wait there, and also told that when the door of the trailer opened, they would want to stand up.

When the door opened, there was President Bush. He greeted them warmly, sat down with them at a table, and said, "Tell me all about Ben."

The parents told of how Ben knew the all the reasons why he was going into Iraq, and how he was glad to be doing what he, as a Marine, had been called to do. They told of how they had a complete peace about his death, and how they were absolutely certain he was in a much better place now.

After about 20 minutes of conversation, Ben's dad said, "We want to tell you, Mr. President, that my wife and I pray for you every day."

Then President Bush said, "Let's pray right now."

They gathered hands around the table. Ben's dad opened the prayer and the President closed.

This quiet encounter happened on a day when the President had major campaign stops in Tennessee and Pennsylvania, as well as Iowa. He also made an appearance at the Republican National Convention that evening by satellite. We were amazed to hear of this kind and heartfelt deed, which is one of many that the President does without any reporters present, and a deed that will not likely ever hit the mainstream media.

It was a lesson to my children, that a truly great leader is a humble person, one who will go out of his way seek out the hurting, and lastly, a man of prayer who loves and trusts God.

I hope that by sharing this, you will see a glimpse of this leader behind a closed door. I hope that we can also ponder, as Ben's parents did even in their sorrow, that God has a plan for our lives, and for our country.