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BC-PITTS-COLUMN:MI _ op-ed, xst (830 words)

Where is the Christian left when we need it?

(NOT INCLUDED IN YOUR KRT NEWS SERVICE SUBSCRIPTION. See purchase information below) (EDITORS: Fore release Monday, Nov. 8)

By Leonard Pitts Jr.

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

I have to thank Jimmy Carter for saving my sanity.

Granted, his was not a presidency one looks back to with fondness. Gas lines stretched forever, Iran took our people hostage and there was disco, besides.

But Carter's ex-presidency has been a model of that unofficial institution. He has built homes for the poor, mediated wars, helped feed the hungry in Africa, fought disease in Latin America. In so doing, Carter, a deacon of Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga., has obeyed a directive Jesus issued one of his disciples.

Do you love me? He asked Simon Peter.

Peter said yes.

Feed my sheep, said Jesus.

Remembering Carter's example, his very public embrace of that command, is what has gotten me through the last week without a facial tic. Or to put it another way: If one more ...