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We Miss You, Walter…!

By February 27, 2022December 7th, 2022Devotional

For those of you too young to remember him, the most trusted man in America for decades was a newsman by the name of Walter Cronkite. He was revered in this country – by both political parties. For eons he anchored the evening news for CBS and America came to depend on him for truth in reporting. What made him special was the fact that he really didn’t comment on the events of the day – he didn’t slam political parties or try to persuade the audience to take one view or another. He reported the facts – without bias or editorial comment.

Mr. Cronkite believed in the truth – no embellishments, no commentary, but just hard news facts. He left it up to the audience to form their own opinions about what they heard on the news. Of course, that is far different that what we have today in our news programs. The Republicans bash the Democrats and the Democrats bash the Republicans. Walter Cronkite would have none of that.

The country looked forward to what he had to say each evening. We didn’t filter every word to see what we could believe – or not. We trusted that if Cronkite told us something it was the truth – pure and simple.

And it didn’t matter what topic he was speaking about. Those of us who are older probably remember where we were when news of the assassination of President Kennedy came across the television. There he was, Walter Cronkite, giving us the news that Kennedy had been killed. I still remember Mr. Cronkite taking off his glasses, wiping his eyes and then continuing with the grim news report. A human emotion, revealed to the audience, during the reporting of one of the saddest news stories in a generation. He was like family to us – the father or grandfather you could trust.

He also was involved in helping to keep us up to date on what was happening with the space race. Back in the late 1950’s, the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik, a small, manmade, orbiting sphere that announced the beginning of the space age. In response, the US selected a group of astronauts, the Mercury 7, who would represent us in trying to beat the Russians to space, in orbit and eventually to the moon. Every step of the way, Walter Cronkite was in the middle of the news – telling it like it was. In fact, every night as he signed off the air at the end of his broadcast, he said “And that’s the way it is…” Those were trustworthy words from the most trusted man in America.

For those of us who grew up watching and listening to Mr. Cronkite, we came to believe in him and his honest reporting of the news – so different from what we have today. Every major event of our childhoods was somehow touched by this great newsman. And that’s what we came to expect from all broadcast newsmen. Throughout the years, we have had a degradation of the rules of engagement when it comes to dealing with the media. Today, politicians and news channels take sides, trying to demean the other point of view.

As much as we trusted Walter Cronkite, we need to return to that way of life. And for now, the best way to do that is to strengthen our relationship with God. After all, the world is in turmoil. Just this week, Russia has invaded Ukraine and things are rapidly escalating. There has even been talk of a nuclear option for forcing the surrender of Ukraine. The world is on high alert.

Or verse for tonight is from the Psalms. David, the author of this particular psalm, implores his people, and us, to trust in God always. David tells us, in Psalm 62:8, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. ”   Selah

Notice the word “Selah” at the end of this verse. Selah is a term that we see throughout the psalms and it means “chew on this” for a while. It has overtones of a cow chewing its cud – and David wants us to consider and dwell on the importance of trusting God. My encouragement this evening is that God is trustworthy and is the same yesterday, today and always. My prayer is that we will find other leaders who we will be able to trust and that the problems in the world will de-escalate; and that we will once again find out about things in factual, objective ways. Thank you, Walter, for what you taught us! Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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