E-Letters

Fox Connor

By Jeff Andrechyn
Jul 29, 2009

We received a lot of responses (thank-you) from the e-letter last week about "Elder" and we thought it appropriate to write a follow-up. I would love to see this word recovered where everyman would desire to be called one. I would like to start with a quote from an elder in my life, Tom Mohn. He is a man who has seen a lot, and has made his fair share of mistakes on the journey. They have made him into a wise sage.

"For centuries man has tried to climb a religious ladder to reach God. But God has descended a ladder in the person of Jesus Christ to reach me where I am at."

Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890 and raised in a poor home in Kansas. He grew up loving football and American history. He was enamored with George Washington.

He was the middle child of six kids who amazingly was admitted to West Point where he played football until a knee injury. He graduated in the middle of his class.

Ike married Mamie in 1917 and they had a son they nicknamed Icky.

Icky was an active energetic boy and his father's delight. The soldiers under Ike's command stateside adopted Icky as their mascot. They even made him a tank uniform with a red hat. Icky went with them on field maneuvers, to football games where he cheered madly at every play, and to parades where he stood at stiff attention and always saluted as the colors passed.

In 1920 Icky developed scarlet fever and was quarantined. Ike paced back and forth, constantly peering through a small window at his boy.

Apparently Icky was infected by the disease after the Eisenhowers hired a maid, who unknown to them, was recovering herself from the fever.

The boy died of the fever, and with that death Ike incurred a deep wound of, "It's your fault." Can you hear the accuser saying, "If you would have done a more thorough background check of the maid this would have never happened."?

In writing his memoirs after his presidency Ike said the loss of Icky was the greatest disaster of his life. Ike and Mamie fell into a deep depression.

Shortly after the death of Icky, Fox Conner, who served with General Perishing in WWI, invited Ike to Panama where he pulled Ike out of the lethargy that threatened to engulf his life by asking him what he liked about American history.

Fox then insisted Eisenhower become a serious student of military literature which was the desire of Ike's heart. They both enjoyed riding horseback through the jungle, spreading their bedrolls on the ground at night and Fox would drill Ike with questions on history around the fire.

Fox told Ike there was going to be another war within 20 years and America would have to fight it in Europe with her allies. Fox Conner then had the wisdom to send Ike over to George Marshall in Europe who toured the battlefields with him.

Ike was built by men like Conner and Marshall. Because of these men Ike was ready to answer the call from Roosevelt in America's darkest hour. Ike not only knew the history and the battlefields of Europe but he knew what it felt like to lose a son.

In Eisenhower's retirement he said, "In a lifetime of association with great men, Fox Conner is the one figure to whom I owe an incalculable debt."

Fox Conner reached into a pit to rescue a struggling nobody who was racked with grief and guilt. The eventual effects of this rescue were felt around the world.

The life of Christ reaches down into murky waters and rescues. Then He builds the man, revealing a certain glory that reflects His image.

I for one, as a man, know what it is like to be rescued.

God gave Ike the desires of his heart. He became a general who then became a president. Just like his hero George Washington.

Jeff