For those who are unfamiliar with the tale, teddy bears came about due to a hunting trip that President Theodore Roosevelt took in the early 20th century.
Members of Roosevelt's staff tied up a bear for the president to kill, but he was defiant and stated his refusal to kill a captured animal. News spread, and political cartoons were made depicting the occasion. A candy store owner created a stuffed toy bear called “Teddy's Bear” after receiving permission from the president to use his name, and the rest is history. Now, you will typically hear the stuffed animal simply referred to as a teddy bear.
Joe Wiegand, who presented at the Missouri Valley Public Library last week as the 26th president, tossed out a teddy bear to the youngest crowd member in attendance. Micah Gutzmer was the lucky recipient, and after the event Micah was able to take a photo with and talk to the well-known Teddy Roosevelt impersonator.
Wiegand, who is well-read on Roosevelt's life, talked to Micah about Roosevelt's favorite Bible verse – Micah 6:8.
“What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
Roosevelt believed this verse encapsulated the values of the New Testament, notably saying that the whole teaching of the New Testament was foreshadowed by Micah 6:8. In 1917, he inscribed a message in pocket New Testaments and Book of Psalms given to World War I soldiers which incorporated the verse's teachings.
As we are currently progressing through Holy Week, this verse should be close to our hearts. We should deal justly with our neighbors, love the mercy displayed by Christ and seek to imitate it ourselves, and walk humbly with Him through his Passion and Resurrection. And then after that, too.
We often hear verses from Isaiah, the Psalms, Daniel, all the way back in Genesis, and even earlier in Micah (Micah 5:2) that prophecy on the incarnation of the Son of God and the events of His life.
But thanks to a Teddy Roosevelt impersonator and a young boy named Micah, I will meditate on Micah 6:8 a bit more than I have in the past.
Serendipity can be so funny, can't it?
