The Obama Diary

Nathan Allen, the man who received the letter from the President, has posted a comment under this post - thank you Nathan.

PNJ: Writing the president a letter is like writing to Santa Claus — you really don’t expect to get a response.

Nathan Allen, 26, of Pensacola wrote a letter last year to President Barack Obama to apologize for a sign he held up in front of Obama’s motorcade as it drove into Pensacola on June 14. The president was in town to get a firsthand look at how the BP oil spill was affecting the area. The sign read: “Mr. President, Why did you wait so long?”

Allen said he didn’t think President Obama would reply to the letter …. he received the surprise of a lifetime when he opened his mailbox about four weeks ago. Inside was an envelope from the White House that held a handwritten note from the president.

“I have to say that I have seen signs a lot worse, and part of my job is to take criticism,” Obama wrote.

….Allen said several months after he made the sign, he was reading Acts 23:1-5. He said the passages led him to believe he did the wrong thing by holding up the sign. Part of the passage reads: “You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people.”

“Right when I read that, it kind of went straight to my heart,” Allen said. “I was like, ‘Shoot, I guess that’s kind of what I did.’ Yes, I have got freedom of speech, but as a Christian I need to be respecting the leader of my people.” Allen said he prayed, and he knew the only thing he could do to make things right was to write Obama.

“I just … told him I will be praying for him instead of holding signs on the side of the road from this point forward,” Allen said.

Full article here here