“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
–the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)

It was 1976–my first chance to vote in a presidential election. Ford vs. Carter. President Ford faced two large obstacles: First, he’d chosen to pardon former President Nixon, a move that infuriated much of the public (in hindsight, it was the correct thing to do); Second, his opponent was an Annapolis grad with the appealing backstory of a peanut farmer who’d made it to the Georgia Governor’s Mansion.

Of course, Jimmy Carter won, and then he faced strong headwinds. At that time, we had inflation that would make today’s economy look like a walk in the park. I think our first mortgage was at 18% interest!

He also was intentionally humiliated by the Iranian government that held Americans hostage for 444 days. They were released on Ronald Reagan’s Inauguration Day–clearly a slap in the Carter Administration’s face.

To be clear, President Carter had some wins. Notably, he negotiated the Israel-Egypt peace treaty in 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords–a treaty that remains in place today. Imagine if Israel didn’t have Egypt as an ally.

Finally, President Carter’s opponent in the 1980 election was the charismatic and formidable Ronald Reagan. It wasn’t even close. But Carter left the White House not bitter, or in a histrionic dumpster fire, but as a man determined not to let the Presidency define him. It is fitting that we reflect on his life in this week when we begin a new chapter in America’s history.

Former President Carter set his sights on loftier goals, not to garner public attention, but because he believed in the causes for which he fought. He championed the elimination of much-ignored, Third-World diseases like Guinea worm disease and river blindness.

He fought for free, open, and transparent international elections in countries where the people had never experienced such a thing.

And, when he wasn’t traveling the world for such causes, he always returned to Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife Rosalynn lived out their days. In fact, during his presidency and in the years after, he continued to teach Sunday School in Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, where members, locals, and out-of-town folks lined up to hear him.

Perhaps we know him best for his tireless work with Habitat for Humanity. The Carters would show up in overalls and tool belts, “all in” on helping folks realize the dream of owning a home.

My point? Carter didn’t have to do any of this and, in fact, did none of it for his own advancement or recognition, but to raise public awareness of causes so dear to him. In essence, he was fulfilling Jesus’ lesson that it’s imperative we meet the needs of the least of these. In my lifetime, there’s never been a more decent president.

Jimmy Carter fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. If a former U.S. president can do that, shouldn’t we resolve to do the same?

Rest in peace, Mr. President.