[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 170 (Monday, November 5, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H12715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          NATIONAL BIBLE WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to join the many people who 
have come to the floor tonight to talk about National Bible Week.
  My earliest memories are of Mom reading the Bible to us six children. 
We grew up basically in the oil field, in the very low income strata of 
the oil field. My dad was a roustabout. My parents gave us those values 
of faith, family and freedom from the earliest age. And when my wife 
observes the truism that she read recently of the hand that rocks the 
cradle steadies the Nation, it applies in my particular life.
  I've been a Christian from an early age, and so it was about 10 years 
ago that my wife observed that, you know, we profess to be Christians 
but we don't necessarily read the Bible every day, we don't have a 
discipline, and we began at that point to do that.
  Now, my daughter says it best, that what we find written in the words 
in the Bible give context. They give us a way to perceive. It's a 
perception that we gain.
  I would like to share a couple of things that stay with me 
constantly. One is in Micah, Micah, the sixth chapter, where the 
question comes up rhetorically, when we have done wrong, what should we 
do? And the writer asks: With what shall I come before the Lord and bow 
down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt 
offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with 
thousands of rams, with 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I offer my first 
born for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my 
soul? And then we get the answer from the writer.
  He has showed you a man that is good and what does the Lord require 
of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
  This kind of a verse calms me down when things are urgent, when 
things are chaotic, and when I'm out of step.
  Another significant verse is in Psalms 11. When, again, we have 
fears, the Psalms 11 addresses that. It's actually written by David, 
and he asks: How can you say to me flee like a bird to your mountain, 
for, look, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrows against 
the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright and heart.
  And the significant question then comes: When the foundations are 
being destroyed, what can the righteous do?
  The answer is given almost immediately: The Lord is in his holy 
temple, for the Lord is righteous, he loves justice. Upright men will 
see his face.
  Again, we are not so consumed by the fears of the moment, by the 
perils of the circumstance.
  We have a bipartisan group; it's called the Congressional Prayer 
Caucus. I was one of the people who helped found that group. We meet 
every Monday night in the context that we meet under to pray for the 
Nation comes from Second Chronicles 7:14: If my people who are called 
by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn 
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will I 
forgive their sin and will heal their land.
  Now, these words are spoken to those people who believe. It's not 
necessarily an instruction to those who don't share the belief, but 
simply a truism.
  Today one of the deepest pleasures that I get is doing the same thing 
Mom did with me. I see my two grandchildren, Preston and Olivia, and 
were able to read the Bible with them in the mornings. They both are 
intent, listening, one 6, one 3. My daughter trains them daily. Again, 
I am remembering, the hand that rocks the cradle steadies the Nation.
  I give thanks for those people who are dedicated to a belief system. 
I appreciate my belief system. I know there are others that other 
people rely on. But, for me, this Christian belief, this belief in 
Jesus Christ has been what has saved me.

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